sound-card or not

[Ambandion]

Hey all.

 

I have been watching a few videos lately about soundcards. Are they worth to get? I have mainly been wondering because i have gotten my hands on a somewhat high end headset, and that's the Sennheiser Game Zero. My motherboard is the Asus prime X370-pro, and the sound is fine. But as i have seen in videos on youtube, people tend to recommend a soundcard when i got the headset i have. But will i notice any difference if i get one? I have been looking on a few, the Asus Soar Strix, the Creative Sound Blaster Z, and the Asus Xonar. I'm mainly using my pc for gaming, but also watching youtube and movies on it, as well as listening to music once in awhile. 

 

Hope some of you will take your time to help me out a bit.   

[Ofbasecfin]

Hey, ambandion!

 

We understand your issues, so I'll help you out!

 

I have no idea!

 

If you want more help please press 1.

[m0nss7erKill]

Hell naw! Better get DAC. "hi-end" soundcards are pretty useless these days. 

[Matu20]

32 minutes ago, Ofbasecfin said:

Hey, ambandion!

 

We understand your issues, so I'll help you out!

 

I have no idea!

 

If you want more help please press 1.

Neither funny nor helpful. 

[xtroria]

33 minutes ago, Matu20 said:

Neither funny nor helpful. 

Translation: There's no problem with your current motherboard audio so you don't need to get a sound card

[Ofbasecfin]

54 minutes ago, Matu20 said:

Neither funny nor helpful. 

That's the point...

[Matu20]

Just now, Ofbasecfin said:

That's the point...

Too dank for me, maybe I am too old.

[Ofbasecfin]

Just now, Matu20 said:

Too dank for me, maybe I am too old.

Hey, don't see me as the typical lil punk, or whatever his name was, fan.

IRL everyone doesn't even think I'm 14, cause I hate every f-in 14 yo cause all they think is, smoke to be cool and drink to be cool, and apple is the best cause it's expensive.

I hate people my age...

 

[Ambandion]

What about being a bit more serious instead of joking around?

[seduce_me]

Better headphones then better source. Source upgrades right now are meaningless unless you have a problem with your onboard audio like interference.

[xtroria]

10 hours ago, Ambandion said:

What about being a bit more serious instead of joking around?

I've pretty much answered your question. You don't need a sound card, since you're already running X370 board which most of the time will have a decent if not good audio onboard

[an actual squirrel]

The main reason to get a sound card and not just use a usb dac is going to be hardware virtual surround sound for headphones and a low noise mic input. The sennheiser gsx 1000 has this stuff and looks pretty nice, but it is going for like $200. I think you can get the same basic feature set in a used soundblaster z for like under $50.

[Canada EH]

Is DAC the new wave for audio in pc?

[an actual squirrel]

20 minutes ago, Canada EH said:

Is DAC the new wave for audio in pc?

yea, I think so. Although sound cards do usually have optical out, so you could use them with an optical dac and have a foot in both worlds. But some of these dacs, like the topping d30, have ridiculously good usb performance, so it would be the obvious audiophile choice to just use a usb dac.

[unknownmiscreant]

8 hours ago, xtroria said:

I've pretty much answered your question. You don't need a sound card, since you're already running X370 board which most of the time will have a decent if not good audio onboard

I'd sit a bit more on the fence than that. I got a sound card (Asus strix Soar) a while ago for my Crosshair VI Hero build. It definitely brings out more detail. Although I have a fairly decent 2.1 hifi setup connected to my PC. It sounded better for my higher quality recordings. But I would say for youtube music, the soundcard actually made it worse, as it brings out more imperfections.

 

Not sure about the DAC side o things, never looked into it.

[xtroria]

53 minutes ago, unknownmiscreant said:

I'd sit a bit more on the fence than that. I got a sound card (Asus strix Soar) a while ago for my Crosshair VI Hero build. It definitely brings out more detail. Although I have a fairly decent 2.1 hifi setup connected to my PC. It sounded better for my higher quality recordings. But I would say for youtube music, the soundcard actually made it worse, as it brings out more imperfections.

 

Not sure about the DAC side o things, never looked into it.

You don't put a $2500 set of wheels on a $10,000 car, you put it on a $100K car. It's the same thing for audio, if you're not running some headphone that's just expensive enough or needs the amplification, why spend the money.

[GitGud]

I bought soundcard few years ago, now i regret it, onboard audio was just fine for my needs afterall, so unless you have really serious headphones or speakers, then its a waste to get a soundcard.