I just got my first sound card

[Almercenary]

I just got my first sound card. I got the asus xonar dg and it is f**king amazing there is soo much of a difference between my onboard audio and my sound card and it is loud. my first time not having to have my volume all the way up when watching the WAN Show. Thank You Linus for saying it is better to have a low end sound card a then on board audio

Probably not the best thing to post on these forums.  But I hope your happy with your new purchase. I won't criticize it (:

[Prikk]

Im satisfied with my Sound Blaster Z as well. It does gives better sound through their much much better equalizer and sound processing. And yes, it does make stuff louder.

Why so much hate on a guy who just trying to enjoy the stuff he bought?

[ALXAndy]

If you want louder then good, you got louder, but as previously stated by others Louder doesn't equal better

 

Only it isn't just making it louder.

 

Now look. Whilst I agree that for gaming specifically little more than the onboard is needed I don't agree at all when it comes to music. Why doesn't a good sound card make a difference in gaming? quite simply because the sound files being played by the game and passed through the sound card are usually so so in quality. They're almost always compressed which degrades the sound quality.

 

There are many other things that sound cards are judged by which have not been covered by this video. Namely -

 

Frequency response.

Noise level (measured in DB)

Dynamic range (DB)

THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) THE most important part of any piece of sound equipment.

IMD+

Crosstalk.

 

Now here's the thing. Let's take a look at Realtek HD onboard audio -

 

http://g4zfq.alotspace.com/RightMarkTests/RealtekHD-on-board-Audio.htm

 

Or rather -

 

Summary Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB

+0.12, -0.44

Good

Noise level, dB (A)

-72.7

Average

Dynamic range, dB (A)

72.8

Average

THD, %

0.012

Good

THD + Noise, dB (A)

-66.3

Average

IMD + Noise, %

0.090

Good

Stereo crosstalk, dB

-68.8

Good

IMD at 10 kHz, %

0.089

Good

General performance

 

Good

 

 

 

 

Now I'm hoping that posts as it should. Note - Good, good, average. 

 

Now high end sound cards (dependent on model) rate FAR more highly than that. They use higher quality components (BTW there's no difference between a Realtek HD on a £40 motherboard or, say, a Crosshair ROG)

 

Let's add in the results from the sound card I went to so much trouble to fit in my PC shall we?

 

 

Ain't that a bitch !

 

And it's when you start getting out things such as lossless FLAC and other forms of audio that you absolutely WILL notice a big difference.

 

Now I sort of understand what Logan is saying there (not technically, I worked for the British Broadcasting Company or BBC producing all of their studio speakers) but simply banging on about resistance is not going to cut it here. Audio is FAR more in depth and complex than Logan seems to understand.

 

If what he is saying holds any water then companies such as Rogers (who I used to work for producing near field monitors to BBC spec) and other high end audio companies would not be in business, and all we could possibly want is any old set of speakers with a decent impedance and high sensitivity. But unfortunately it doesn't work like that. The same can be said for amplifiers, DACs, hell, ANY piece of audio equipment.

 

Just because you may lack the correct set of ears and more importantly the critical listening skills needed to differentiate good quality audio from run of the mill doesn't mean we all do ! 

[Scia]

I bought a Xonar STX a month ago. Can't say if I had bought it after Logans video, but I am really happy with the cinch and 6.3mm jacks nice for my DT 880 pros and my Stereo amp behind me, 1 click switch

 

And decent headphone amps are really really really expensive here. The Mayflower ones are within a decent price range but they'd cost 2x by the time they've been shipped + customs. Soooo I'm quite happy with it

[EPICSNIPER145]

Probably not the best thing to post on these forums. But I hope your happy with your new purchase. I won't criticize it (:

thank you

Im satisfied with my Sound Blaster Z as well. It does gives better sound through their much much better equalizer and sound processing. And yes, it does make stuff louder.

Why so much hate on a guy who just trying to enjoy the stuff he bought?

thank you

[ALXAndy]

I suggest you take a look at those Realtek results, then compare them to a few high end sound cards.

 

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2005/10/31/creative_xfi/6

 

The results are night and bloody day.

[Giggitygoebbels]

I have the Xonar DG and I'm satisfied with it. Why? Because fuck Realtek and their pathetic shit fucking up constantly. Through three motherboards and nothing but driver problems. It was the best 20€ I have ever spent on a PC component, not just for the amp, but simply because it just works. The amp is a great addition to drive more demanding headphones without having to bother with a tiny, bound-to-get-lost amp. 

 

Stop masturbating over Logan's advice in a thread about one of the cheapest sound card you can find. If it was an Essence STX, you'd be free to go.

Driver problems?What kind?I never had issues with driver problems(realtek Integrated audio).Running XP and 7 btw.

[ALXAndy]

Driver problems?What kind?I never had issues with driver problems(realtek Integrated audio).Running XP and 7 btw.

Ah now see this part I can empathise with.

 

Ever since Microsoft (in their twattish infinite wisdom) decided that sound no longer needed accelerating by hardware they created serious fucking headaches for companies like Creative.

 

I got my Fatal1ty FPS from a guy on Ebay for £26. This was a £250 card (well, with remote and IO box with built in filters and a cracking headphone amp !) because the guy thought it was broken. Now without the correct knowledge of these cards you would rip your hair out in frustration and remove it. The thing is the issues are all fixable. However, on Creative's drivers you'd want to scream. Out of the box it pops,crackles, distorts - you name it.

 

It's all because Creative can't seem to get their heads around this software sound. The fix? well basically it's all created by clipping. IE - the sound card is trying to output the sound at too high a level to remain stable, so it pops and clips.

 

Nothing a few hours in the control panel can't fix mind you.

 

Now Asus? oh fucking hell Asus ! I was given (for free) a Xonar worth $400 by a pal of mine in the USA who quote "If I don't give it to you I'm going to snap it up and throw it out the fucking window".

 

It was a complete nightmare. Games crashing with a sound sample looping, BSODs, sound card vanishing from the PC... That was one pile of shit product that even I gave up on.

 

I must have tried all sorts of drivers,including ones hacked by Yellowbeard @ Corsair and still it just refused to work.

 

Things have changed for the better, though. Later model Soundblasters and Xonars have much better drivers. Still, even with the set up headaches you'd have to pry my XFI from my lifeless grip !

[JaeDee884]

Gotta love the anti sound card peeps. Soundcards have a place. And an amp does help. Linus's videos were to quiet for me till I got a new sound card, using on board with multiple headsets and everything maxed in system. Soundcard fixed that and allowed me to use my Q701s and don't need to max the volume. Nor other headphones either, run the system at low volumes and it's louder than on board and also sounds clearer.

But honestly would of got an o2+odac if I didn't need optical in for ps3 and separate speaker, headphones and mic connections

[Giggitygoebbels]

Ah now see this part I can empathise with.

 

Ever since Microsoft (in their twattish infinite wisdom) decided that sound no longer needed accelerating by hardware they created serious fucking headaches for companies like Creative.

 

I got my Fatal1ty FPS from a guy on Ebay for £26. This was a £250 card (well, with remote and IO box with built in filters and a cracking headphone amp !) because the guy thought it was broken. Now without the correct knowledge of these cards you would rip your hair out in frustration and remove it. The thing is the issues are all fixable. However, on Creative's drivers you'd want to scream. Out of the box it pops,crackles, distorts - you name it.

 

It's all because Creative can't seem to get their heads around this software sound. The fix? well basically it's all created by clipping. IE - the sound card is trying to output the sound at too high a level to remain stable, so it pops and clips.

 

Nothing a few hours in the control panel can't fix mind you.

 

Now Asus? oh fucking hell Asus ! I was given (for free) a Xonar worth $400 by a pal of mine in the USA who quote "If I don't give it to you I'm going to snap it up and throw it out the fucking window".

 

It was a complete nightmare. Games crashing with a sound sample looping, BSODs, sound card vanishing from the PC... That was one pile of shit product that even I gave up on.

 

I must have tried all sorts of drivers,including ones hacked by Yellowbeard @ Corsair and still it just refused to work.

 

Things have changed for the better, though. Later model Soundblasters and Xonars have much better drivers. Still, even with the set up headaches you'd have to pry my XFI from my lifeless grip !

One of my machines are running W7 but it does not clip when watching videos...is it because you need to game with it?Or is it because the realtek drivers i used are the good ones?

Also someone had suggested to replace the dsdmo.dll and dsound.dll files from windows 7 with ones on XP.I doubt it work though especially 64 bit versions.

[ALXAndy]

Gotta love the anti sound card peeps. Soundcards have a place. And an amp does help. Linus's videos were to quiet for me till I got a new sound card, using on board with multiple headsets and everything maxed in system. Soundcard fixed that and allowed me to use my Q701s and don't need to max the volume. Nor other headphones either, run the system at low volumes and it's louder than on board and also sounds clearer.

But honestly would of got an o2+odac if I didn't need optical in for ps3 and separate speaker, headphones and mic connections

 

I agree. TBH through headphones my Realtek sounded bloody pants. I mean seriously, parts of music were either dull or just completely flat almost to the point of being inaudible. Realteks have pretty bad THD levels too, so music sounded pretty fuzzy.

 

It's amazing what a decent sound card can do in that regard. I've got a lossless FLAC of Citizen Cope singing One Lovely Day live and if I close my eyes it's like I'm in the same room.

 

Mind you, my whole means of employment used to be that I could pick out sounds some people wouldn't even know existed.

[darren49402]

I see the placebo effect being argued a lot, but can't it be argues the other way as well. If you don't think there will be a difference you might not here one especially if you don't know what to listen for. I've used daqs internal soundcards and on board A high end sound card does give better audio you all are just blindly following what Logan said.

[ALXAndy]

One of my machines are running W7 but it does not clip when watching videos...is it because you need to game with it?Or is it because the realtek drivers i used are the good ones?

Also someone had suggested to replace the dsdmo.dll and dsound.dll files from windows 7 with ones on XP.I doubt it work though especially 64 bit versions.

 

I'm on Windows 8. TBH it makes so many improvements over 7 that you don't see (like AMD FX support for one) that I couldn't go back now even if I wanted to. It also seems to manage and handle sound cards far better than 7 does. Thankfully two guys (PAX and Daniel K) made it their life's ambition to fix all of the older sound cards that Creative couldn't be assed to. For £26 I've got the equivalent of a £200 Fatal1ty (with the front IO box). Not much has changed under the hood on Creative's cards. I mean, if you're already smashing the ball out of the park when it comes to ratings (like the ones I posted above) then it's hard to better it. They just rebadge/box their cards tbh.

 

A good sound card will last you a lifetime, because the format hardly ever improves.

 

Realtek cards do have good drivers. They would, they're pretty much your industry sound card. Thing is that doesn't make them good. Honestly I would rather try pulling my ears off than spend even ten minutes listening to audio from a Realtek with a good set of headphones. It's actually painful.

[carolkarine]

i 

 

thanks i go and post saying i am extremely happy with it i notice a massive difference and people go and tell me it is a waste of money i dont care what people say if your going to come in here say good for you just watch this not basically oh your stupid look at this. so again thank you .

 

dear god, use punctuation.

[dizmo]

I'd be interested to see what the people who are saying sound cards don't make a difference are running for gear.
I mean, you can dump a ton of money into a wicked sound card, but if you're listening to them with the $100 gaming headset you got, or the $75 set of speakers, you're not really doing it any justice.

[EPICSNIPER145]

dear god, use punctuation.

sorry i will start 

[Bob]

My laptop sounds the same as my GD65 with the "audio boost" stuff on it. I know what stuff should sound like and  I hear no difference. 

[EPICSNIPER145]

Look how now there is more people saying sound cards do make a difference, the people that said there is no difference went away.

[Speedstack79]

Despite what everyone else said I noticed a difference between my creative soundblaster se and my onboard sound and so did my sister that I did not warn that a soundcard is in the computer(who knows almost nothing of computers and yes I tried my best to put the soudblaster and onboard at the same volume)

I bought it at the swapmeet for $5

[carolkarine]

what I don't get is how people are suggesting these sub-par soundcards. get a real dac and amp. Something like an o2 dac+amp at least, but preferably something like WooAudio's Firefly tube amp used with a seperate Dac. AUDIOPHILES UNITE!

[Art Vandelay]

I'll just leave this here.

 

That video is like 80% BS.

 

With USB vs PCIe sound card, there is no significant difference. It's down to the DAC and amp on the thing.

 

That video really sounds like Mayflower trying to sell their unit. Especially that BS about how the game designers wanted their music to sound. Was BF3 really more enjoyable with the horrible blue filter?

 

I'd like to point out that Logan tends to have videos that contradict the opinions of the majority. For example there was that video where the FX-8350 beat the Core i7 2600k by a large margin in several games. I'm pretty sure that result could not be recreated by many people, which leads me to believe that they have some bad testing practices or are doing these for publicity.

 

 

Yes.  My own ears.  There is no difference.  Even tested on my dads stupidly old motherboard.  Still no difference.

Which sound card did you test it on?

 

I've noticed a greater resolution of sounds between my Xonar DX and my ALC 882. I've also noticed an improvement in the quality of bass between my Xonar DX and my Fiio E10.

 

There's definitely a difference in the sound that they produce, and the difference definitely is an improvement.

 

For a blind taste test, you could consider that I had multiple people tell me that my microphone quality had improved when I switched from my onboard to my sound card. People asked if I got a new mic, but it was just the sound card.

 

 

 

 

That's the AMP on the soundcard, nothing else.

It just boosts the volume.

This can be persevered as "better quality" by people, but its not.

Except an amplified signal will improve the quality on anything with high impedance drivers.

 

You don't need an amp for making it loud, you need an amp for the drivers to function properly, if you have high impedance headphones.

[Ja Krispie]

I'd be interested to see what the people who are saying sound cards don't make a difference are running for gear.

I mean, you can dump a ton of money into a wicked sound card, but if you're listening to them with the $100 gaming headset you got, or the $75 set of speakers, you're not really doing it any justice.

 

I can tell you I have Astro A40 for my gaming headset and I use a Yamaha 5.1 500W surround sound system

[Ineko]

I'll just leave this here.

 

 

Logan's not the smartest person on the world when it comes to tech related things, I never take anything he says to seriously because it's usually wrong. He probably doesn't have this opinion anymore, but I remeber a while back he made a comment on Youtube replying to someone saying all 2011 chips overclock better than any other socket.

 

I enjoy "The Tek" but that's all I watch his channel for.

 

I also find it a little weird, if this is true that is, that every company that makes sound cards knows that they're pretty much selling fancy PCBs that do nothing at all. And how long have sound cards been around now? Why was almighty Logan the first to stumble upon this.

[Art Vandelay]

what I don't get is how people are suggesting these sub-par soundcards. get a real dac and amp. Something like an o2 dac+amp at least, but preferably something like WooAudio's Firefly tube amp used with a seperate Dac. AUDIOPHILES UNITE!

After watching that Video, I'd suggest you buy your O2 from JDS labs because that's some hardcore scumbag marketing by Mayflower. They're the same unit, just manufactured by a different company.

 

A cheap sound card like a Xonar DGX will make a reasonable difference, especially if you're playing video games where hearing footsteps is important.

 

 

Logan's not the smartest person on the world when it comes to tech related things, I never take anything he says to seriously because it's usually wrong. He probably doesn't have this opinion anymore, but I remeber a while back he made a comment on Youtube replying to someone saying all 2011 chips overclock better than any other socket.

 

HAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAH a 980x could beat a 3960x when you go sub zero.

 

Yeah, he is wrong a lot. I don't ever trust his reviews or build guides, but he is funny.

[GlobalCorey]

I can tell you from switching to a nice soundcard the difference in quality from my Asus P8Z77-V (which does have good audio on it) compared to my Xonar Essence STX was fairly noticeable. Much cleaner sound floor (no static sound when there was nothing playing) and just much cleaner sounding audio when it came to listening to music. The better sounding audio did not come from the card making the sound louder either as I don't blast my audio to the max 24/7, nor does the card automatically make the sound loud. Audio on PC's is a pretty subjective topic and everybody is different when it comes to their audio solutions. This is just my experience with decent onboard audio and switching to a higher end sound card solution.