Quick Comparison - Realtek HD Audio vs High Definition Audio (NVIDIA)

[Exaco]

Hello guys so i was testing the differences between HDA and my Onboard ( ALC887 - 2018 Drivers ).
If there's Sennheiser owners or other Entry Audiophile/Audiophile headphone users i would like to hear about your results.

Little pic of my ghetto setup:


Tested on:
25yo Male Ears
Sennheiser HD 598SR
Monitor ( as Amp/Connection to Nvidia via HDMI ) - LG 25UB55-B
Motherboard ( Back panel )- GA-P61-S3
GPU: 980Ti
Website: https://www.audiocheck.net


Results:

Test #1: https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_subwooferkicktest.php
!Kick #6
Onboard: Rattling/Cracking on the end of the kick.
Nvidia HDA: Clean and Smooth

Test #2:  https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_frequencychecklow.php
No noticeable Differences besides the rattling and cracking in Test #1.

Test #3: https://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_frequencycheckhigh.php
Onboard: Starting to suddenly notice only at 15kHz ( 16kHz pure silence )
Nvidia HDA: Sound slowly starts appearing inbetween 17-18kHz

Test #4: Flac vs Mp3
Onboard: Nearly impossibe to hear the difference, sounds bit more muddy and punchier like as if there was extra layer of bass over the whole range.
Nvidia HDA: Clear sound, easier to tell diference between Flac and MP3 ( mainly the soundstage details are better, youtube sounds muddy and noisy compared to FLAC, never noticed the difference between youtube and flac using onboard ).


Conclusion:  Get real amp/dac. F*#K Onboard.
P.S. A friend had similar experience with ALC1220 + 598SR ( Ryzen motherboard, forgot the name ).
Also im pretty sure even the best onboard can't drive the HD 598 since my friend has issues with the volume levels on his onboard both back/front panels ( ironically my 100$ 2015 smartphone and iPhone 4s can drive them ). 

[Phentos]

Another ding against Realtek is that it's been implicated in contributing to massive DPC latency in certain hardware configurations and certain Nvidia drivers on Windows 10 if a Pascal-based Nvidia GPU is installed. Probably has to do with the way Realtek's driver components interface with Nvidia and DirectX components that causes certain systems to freak out. 

 

I personally haven't experienced these issues but I know a couple people who have, and for one of them the issues more or less went away entirely upon transitioning to dedicated sound output from onboard. I was able to do a dodgy workaround for the other and so far the issue hasn't cropped up yet.

 

Definitely going with a Amp/DAC setup for my upcoming build though.

[JZStudios]

I only use Nvidia sound through my receiver so I can't even compare... I do keep the headphones plugged in via a long 15 foot extension cord though but I'm not convinced I've necessarily heard a difference. Maybe I need better headphones?

Sometimes though when I want to really listen to my headphones I plug them into my AVR and at least pretend like it sounds better. As is, I usually use them when laying in bed watching bullshit before falling asleep so it's not a huge issue.

[EsaT]

22 hours ago, Exaco said:

Also im pretty sure even the best onboard can't drive the HD 598 since my friend has issues with the volume levels on his onboard both back/front panels ( ironically my 100$ 2015 smartphone and iPhone 4s can drive them ). 

Then motherboard maker f*cked up something, which wouldn't be surprise with marketing a**clowns as designers nowadays, and you're barking the wrong tree.

HD598 is on more sensitive end of headphones and Realtek chips themselves can easily put out enough power to drive it to seriously hearing dangerous volume.

Myself tested ALC892 driving 250 ohm Beyers past hearing safe volume.

Though that was in basic motherboard of early decade, instead of "modern" marketroid's BS hype motherboards.

 

This is basically how badly motherboards are designed nowadays:

 

[Exaco]

11 hours ago, EsaT said:

HD598 is on more sensitive end of headphones and Realtek chips themselves can easily put out enough power to drive it to seriously hearing dangerous volume.

Myself tested ALC892 driving 250 ohm Beyers past hearing safe volume.

Though that was in basic motherboard of early decade, instead of "modern" marketroid's BS hype motherboards.

 

Well my crappy 10 year old mobo cant drive 598, also newer motherboards like PRIME B350-PLUS cant drive them. In my case the onboard doesn't even get to 40% of the volume compared to the monitor i use, so for example using onboard is fine for music, but when gaming on max volume its not enough.

I highly doubt that motherboards can drive 250ohm beyers, maybe the very best onboard audio such as SupremeFX could drive some 300ohm HD 600, but not Beyer's. Even FiiO E10K cant drive them, you need O2 AMP minimum.