Sound card VS Audio programs???

[AusSandman]

What would be better to run 

 

a sound card or programs like 

Dolby dts??? 

[IoanK]

Hi, I'm not considering myself a PRO, but I would start asking the following: what would be better to run on what device?

The first thing you have to understand, whatever you are trying to achieve, you probably want the best possible sound or effects or latency... no matter what you do, you need a final ANLOGUE wave that your brain will understand as sound. And that sound will be processed from digital information by a digital-to-analogue-converter chip on your sound card that any digital device has. If that chip is garbage or cheap, the software part does not matter really.

[manikyath]

dolby DTS is an audio format for multi channel audio

 

a sound card is a piece of hardware that turns a digital signal from your computer, into an analog signal that drives speakers or headphones.

 

you're essentially asking "what is better: a banana or a roll of toilet paper?"

[AusSandman]

1 hour ago, IoanK said:

lol On a Pc and I assumed stuff lol but you get audio out put on main boards, ect  and your O.s has default audio options but program add ons vs a sound card that has its own software... maybe would be a better way to ask lol 

 

[IoanK]

It does not matter if you get an audio output from your motherboard directly or from an internal or external sound card. All of them have to convert the signal and the cheaper the electronics in the converter chip... you can guess the quality simply by the price. Motherboards on PC's does have inexpensive chips, not suited for music production and the software does not matter as well in this scheme. The few options in a music player should do. Do not fall in spending money for snake oil. 

[AusSandman]

19 hours ago, IoanK said:

It does not matter if you get an audio output from your motherboard directly or from an internal or external sound card. All of them have to convert the signal and the cheaper the electronics in the converter chip... you can guess the quality simply by the price. Motherboards on PC's does have inexpensive chips, not suited for music production and the software does not matter as well in this scheme. The few options in a music player should do. Do not fall in spending money for snake oil. 

Thanks 

[oeci]

It entirely depends on the use case. If all you want to do is passing on a digital signal 1:1 to an av receiver, for example vià HDMI or optical out, any solution that supports your desired connection is fine (including on-board solutions) as there is no signal processing and no digital/ anal/og conversion involved. But as soon as you want to produce an analog signal using your PC's audio device (e.g for headphones) or you plan to record analog signals (e.g. line in) the quality of the audio device starts to matter as now analog/ digital conversion (or vice versa) is involved.

[AusSandman]

5 hours ago, oeci said:

It entirely depends on the use case. If all you want to do is passing on a digital signal 1:1 to an av receiver, for example vià HDMI or optical out, any solution that supports your desired connection is fine (including on-board solutions) as there is no signal processing and no digital/ anal/og conversion involved. But as soon as you want to produce an analog signal using your PC's audio device (e.g for headphones) or you plan to record analog signals (e.g. line in) the quality of the audio device starts to matter as now analog/ digital conversion (or vice versa) is involved.

Hey thanks for that,

i output into my amp receiver and use headphones depending on the time of day, it’s only for gaming. 
 

so need to find something I guess for when I use headphones 

[oeci]

You don't have to. It entirely depends on your expectations. If you want the best audio quality in any given situation (playback and recording) this would be a yes, get either a decent sound card (internal or USB) or an external DAC (Digital/ Analog Converter). But on-board sound solutions can of course handle playback as well as recording, just don't expect very good sound quality. What's more dedicated sound cards often come with additional software features, especially for gaming. If gaming is indeed your thing I'd look into a card by Creative.