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Is sound card worth

Julius159

Hello I just bought Audio Technica ATH-ADG1x and I was thinking about sound card is it worth, I use now Z170 ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO integrated sound, I just want to know if sound card is worth investing in to, I play games most time its rainbow six siege

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For gaming alone I would say no, the onboard sound of your motherboard is plenty enough.

 

If you have some small audiophile urges, then you can invest in an external DAC instead of a sound card, but I won't be able to give you much advice on those as I didn't have a chance to try out enough of them to be able to point you to a good one.

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  • 1 month later...

Most people don't even hear a difference between the onboard-sound and a dedicated soundcard. 

 

If you want to: try it. Just buy a Sound BlasterX G5 for example - it's a external sound card with 7.1-Simulation and many gaming-features, a very good DAC and headphone-amp.

 

But you can also simulate the surround via Equalizer APO and Hesuvi - it's basically the same, if you know what to do.

Most modern games already have surround built-in (look for a sound-preset named "headphones"), which already uses surround trough your stereo-headphones (only simulated though). 

 

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If you don't have a quality pair of cans or studio monitors stick to your onboard. I blew up my sound chip on my old motherboard and had to get a sound card for the remainder of the life of that PC. I noticed a considerable Improvement in how well it pushed my Headset ( Sennheiser 598) or my wifes game zeros which are very similar anyway... But both of these are higher impedance headphones that average. If your sitting on a set of cans with impedance of 50ohms or greater give a sound card a shot it may open them up  but otherwise stick with your onboards and save your money.

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  • 3 weeks later...

even its a bit older but its the top hit so here more details.

 

do you need it for that headset you just bought , well i dont know them so cant tell for shure but most likely not.

however understand this

 

all sound from pc needs a DAC (digital to analog converter) and htis dac needs good analog parts like filters and caps (on mainbaords youll find crap)

also a standard onboard soundcard is basically a software emulation with little bit of chip, and designed for low impedance very low power output.

its just enough for cheapo headsets and cheapo active speakers on a basic level.

 

now is a dedicaded soundcard an upgrade - well always yes if you can utilize it (with good audio equipment)

however regular in the pc world known soundcards like soundblaster or xonars are simply put overpriced (still better then onboard sound) - simpyl speaking from an audio output

not even going into more features list.

 

however the audiopart goes much deeper and frankly, if you consider a 200+ soundcard then dont.

were now in such an overpriced aerea that you can get entry level stuff from pro aduio stuff that would really make a difference.

 

soundcards from focusright/roland/camaha whatnot, if you wanna stream a real xlr microphone, xlr monitors and studio headphones are already in the relative compareable pricerange.

the soundboard you can even buy an older one on ebay, most of them are top notch quality. if it runs after unboying it should hold many more years (until you kill it yourself by poor choices that is.

 

what you want and need depends on your use case.

anything more then output - yes you need a good soundboard

anyhting better then low impendance headphones - yes defently

anyhting higher end at the other end

or you have simply to much statics

 

also as a rule of thumb, you want XRL not RCA connectors to your speakers or other target equipment

you want beefy big caps and filters on your soundcard with high impendance and high power output and ofc a very good DAC

you want distance from noise sources so usb/thunderboltor firewire cards. forget shielded pice cards, just dont...

you want a real name with expierience behind it, naaa not soundblaster but something like camaha, roland,or or or... many good names out there.

 

so soundblasters and friends are usually someone in the middle, between the absolute minimum (onboard) and pro stuff but sadly overpriced compared to performance and features (only RCA and 3.5mm outpout somethimes at least 5 1/4.

 

 

soundcards are not dead, its just most people dont care really about audio output.

as long something comes out its enough, but in reality there worlds in between

 

only issue is consumer grade stuff got way to expensive. something  like asus sound essence stx is good, but for 200$ easy outperformed and outfeatured by

focusright on almost the smae price

 

here a short checklist / differences in audioequipment

-higher impendance better

-bigger connectors always better

-high bitrate only important for recording as headroom for your dynamic range, its basically loudness, everything above 16bit kills you anyway but is useful in mixing and recording

before buying something over 150$ consumer grade stuff take a look in a pro hifi shop

-most features like 7.1 are borderline to useless and often just buzzwords. if your source material dont support it its useless.

better go for good stereo or 2.1

-if you see "pc speakers" run away

-gaming headsets are medicore and overpriced to performance ratio

-same goes for all consumer headphones (beats and bose are the worst)

-3.5mm connected headphones  are toys, same goes for speakers.

 

iif you wanna hear some podcasts and sometimes a tv show over cheapo pc speakers use onbaord sound.

if you wanna real good audio listening, even gaming and stuff go for dedi sound cards but then consider to go all the way to pro equipment

 

 

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On 3/10/2019 at 5:07 AM, quasides said:

 

here a short checklist / differences in audioequipment

-higher impendance better

-bigger connectors always better

-high bitrate only important for recording as headroom for your dynamic range, its basically loudness, everything above 16bit kills you anyway but is useful in mixing and recording

before buying something over 150$ consumer grade stuff take a look in a pro hifi shop

-most features like 7.1 are borderline to useless and often just buzzwords. if your source material dont support it its useless.

better go for good stereo or 2.1

-if you see "pc speakers" run away

-gaming headsets are medicore and overpriced to performance ratio

-same goes for all consumer headphones (beats and bose are the worst)

-3.5mm connected headphones  are toys, same goes for speakers.

 

 

 

What the fuck are you talking about?

"Higher impedance better" - why? Even a headphone with LOW impedance can sound much better than any headphones with "high" impedance.

 

"bigger connectors always better" - Yeah, sure - they can last much longer. But... do you expect more "sound" coming through more surface of the headphone-jack? That's simply not true.

 

"3,5mm connected headphones are toys, same goes for speakers" - one simple question: what the fuck? Read the text about "bigger connectors".

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4 minutes ago, ToflixGamer said:

What the fuck are you talking about?

"Higher impedance better" - why? Even a headphone with LOW impedance can sound much better than any headphones with "high" impedance.

 

"bigger connectors always better" - Yeah, sure - they can last much longer. But... do you expect more "sound" coming through more surface of the headphone-jack? That's simply not true.

 

"3,5mm connected headphones are toys, same goes for speakers" - one simple question: what the fuck? Read the text about "bigger connectors".

Agreed. My sennheiser 598 special editions came with a 3.5mm cable 400 dollar headphones aint toys lol

LTT's Resident Porsche fanboy and nutjob Audiophile.

 

Main speaker setup is now;

 

Mini DSP SHD Studio -> 2x Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC's (fed by AES/EBU, one feeds the left sub and main, the other feeds the right side) -> 2x Neumann KH420 + 2x Neumann KH870

 

(Having a totally seperate DAC for each channel is game changing for sound quality)

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On 3/10/2019 at 4:07 AM, quasides said:

even its a bit older but its the top hit so here more details.

 

do you need it for that headset you just bought , well i dont know them so cant tell for shure but most likely not.

however understand this

 

all sound from pc needs a DAC (digital to analog converter) and htis dac needs good analog parts like filters and caps (on mainbaords youll find crap)

also a standard onboard soundcard is basically a software emulation with little bit of chip, and designed for low impedance very low power output.

its just enough for cheapo headsets and cheapo active speakers on a basic level.

 

now is a dedicaded soundcard an upgrade - well always yes if you can utilize it (with good audio equipment)

however regular in the pc world known soundcards like soundblaster or xonars are simply put overpriced (still better then onboard sound) - simpyl speaking from an audio output

not even going into more features list.

 

however the audiopart goes much deeper and frankly, if you consider a 200+ soundcard then dont.

were now in such an overpriced aerea that you can get entry level stuff from pro aduio stuff that would really make a difference.

 

soundcards from focusright/roland/camaha whatnot, if you wanna stream a real xlr microphone, xlr monitors and studio headphones are already in the relative compareable pricerange.

the soundboard you can even buy an older one on ebay, most of them are top notch quality. if it runs after unboying it should hold many more years (until you kill it yourself by poor choices that is.

 

what you want and need depends on your use case.

anything more then output - yes you need a good soundboard

anyhting better then low impendance headphones - yes defently

anyhting higher end at the other end

or you have simply to much statics

 

also as a rule of thumb, you want XRL not RCA connectors to your speakers or other target equipment

you want beefy big caps and filters on your soundcard with high impendance and high power output and ofc a very good DAC

you want distance from noise sources so usb/thunderboltor firewire cards. forget shielded pice cards, just dont...

you want a real name with expierience behind it, naaa not soundblaster but something like camaha, roland,or or or... many good names out there.

 

so soundblasters and friends are usually someone in the middle, between the absolute minimum (onboard) and pro stuff but sadly overpriced compared to performance and features (only RCA and 3.5mm outpout somethimes at least 5 1/4.

 

 

soundcards are not dead, its just most people dont care really about audio output.

as long something comes out its enough, but in reality there worlds in between

 

only issue is consumer grade stuff got way to expensive. something  like asus sound essence stx is good, but for 200$ easy outperformed and outfeatured by

focusright on almost the smae price

 

here a short checklist / differences in audioequipment

-higher impendance better

-bigger connectors always better

-high bitrate only important for recording as headroom for your dynamic range, its basically loudness, everything above 16bit kills you anyway but is useful in mixing and recording

before buying something over 150$ consumer grade stuff take a look in a pro hifi shop

-most features like 7.1 are borderline to useless and often just buzzwords. if your source material dont support it its useless.

better go for good stereo or 2.1

-if you see "pc speakers" run away

-gaming headsets are medicore and overpriced to performance ratio

-same goes for all consumer headphones (beats and bose are the worst)

-3.5mm connected headphones  are toys, same goes for speakers.

 

iif you wanna hear some podcasts and sometimes a tv show over cheapo pc speakers use onbaord sound.

if you wanna real good audio listening, even gaming and stuff go for dedi sound cards but then consider to go all the way to pro equipment

 

 

Also my mobo outputs plenty of voltage (not line level, signal level) to my monacor and tube amps lol. Some mobo's can drive 500 ohm headphones.

LTT's Resident Porsche fanboy and nutjob Audiophile.

 

Main speaker setup is now;

 

Mini DSP SHD Studio -> 2x Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC's (fed by AES/EBU, one feeds the left sub and main, the other feeds the right side) -> 2x Neumann KH420 + 2x Neumann KH870

 

(Having a totally seperate DAC for each channel is game changing for sound quality)

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On 12/22/2018 at 6:20 PM, Julius159 said:

Hello I just bought Audio Technica ATH-ADG1x and I was thinking about sound card is it worth, I use now Z170 ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO integrated sound, I just want to know if sound card is worth investing in to, I play games most time its rainbow six siege

No. Soundcards are not worth it. First of all it takes up space within your case and may restrict airflow to your GPU.

 

The Asus XonarEssence STX is pretty much the only soundcard that gives an improvement over a high-end motherboard.

 

However much less than a DAC+Amp for the same or even less the price than a soundcard.

 

I personally own the Asus Xonar Essence STX, but the SCHIIT Fulla (which i bought because my laptops onboard audio broke) is way better than my soundcard for half the price. 

 

Sorry for my bad english.

 

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depends on what you value in audio. I wouldn't buy sound cards regardless if I want to listen to muisci or game in first placce the only situation I would buy a sound card is If I have a sytem that doesn't support 5.1 audio oroptical and I need optical out or 5.1 suround sound out. Im on the team that buys and external DAC and AMP to power our headphones. 

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