Looking for high-end internal PC sound card Recommendations

[Rolling2405]

I have just recently bought the Beyerdynamic MMX 300 2nd gen gaming headset and I don't think the sound on my ROG Maximus XI Extreme motherboard is good enough because I have to turn the volume up higher on these to hear at a good noise level than on my previous headset which was a Lucidsound (ls30 I think). I want to get a sound card, not an external DAC because I don't have room on my desk and I want the software and was looking at the Creative Sound Blaster AE-7 sound card is this a good sound card? Or do you guys have any recommendations for any better sound cards or any reasons why I should not get this sound card?

[Derkoli]

6 hours ago, Thomas001 said:

I have just recently bought the Beyerdynamic MMX 300 2nd gen gaming headset and I don't think the sound on my ROG Maximus XI Extreme motherboard is good enough because I have to turn the volume up higher on these to hear at a good noise level than on my previous headset which was a Lucidsound (ls30 I think). I want to get a sound card, not an external DAC because I don't have room on my desk and I want the software and was looking at the Creative Sound Blaster AE-7 sound card is this a good sound card? Or do you guys have any recommendations for any better sound cards or any reasons why I should not get this sound card?

The best internal soundcard is most likely the EVGA Nu Audio, EVGA cares about audio quality alot, as their CEO is an audiophile nut, like I am.

 

Plus, It supports DSD, and I don't think any other internal sound card does this, Plus Audio Note helped work on it, and they make some amazing audio gear.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EVGA-Audio-Lifelike-CO-Engineered-712-P1-AN01-KR/dp/B07NBXM9BK/ref=asc_df_B07NBXM9BK/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=375464623894&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17781499857261177503&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045309&hvtargid=pla-736939481698&psc=1&th=1&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=82480544528&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=375464623894&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17781499857261177503&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045309&hvtargid=pla-736939481698

[rice guru]

1 hour ago, Derkoli said:

The best internal soundcard is most likely the EVGA Nu Audio, EVGA cares about audio quality alot, as their CEO is an audiophile nut, like I am.

 

Plus, It supports DSD, and I don't think any other internal sound card does this, Plus Audio Note helped work on it, and they make some amazing audio gear.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/EVGA-Audio-Lifelike-CO-Engineered-712-P1-AN01-KR/dp/B07NBXM9BK/ref=asc_df_B07NBXM9BK/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=375464623894&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17781499857261177503&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045309&hvtargid=pla-736939481698&psc=1&th=1&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=82480544528&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=375464623894&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17781499857261177503&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045309&hvtargid=pla-736939481698

is dsd support that big of a deal though? so many DACS DAPS and combos support DSD these days.

[Derkoli]

1 minute ago, rice guru said:

is dsd support that big of a deal though? so many DACS DAPS and combos support DSD these days.

Well, Not many internal soundcards support DSD, It kind of tells of the effort that EVGA put into it. Even though I and probably 99.9% of people can't tell the difference between FLAC and DSD/MQA

[rice guru]

Just now, Derkoli said:

Well, Not many internal soundcards support DSD, It kind of tells of the effort that EVGA put into it. Even though I and probably 99.9% of people can't tell the difference between FLAC and DSD/MQA

true most people cant even tell the difference between flac and a high quality MP3

[Derkoli]

3 hours ago, rice guru said:

true most people cant even tell the difference between flac and a high quality MP3

I'd be really interested to see if people could tell the difference on lets say a 250 dollar setup, then do the same test on a setup such as mine, Because I can definitley tell the difference between Spotify premium on "extreme" quality, which is 320kbps Ogg Vorbis, and Tidal Hifi with 24/44.1khz, then a slight difference between Tidal Hifi and a Tidal Master, but I can't really tell the difference on other setups, except for one of my friends which is this uber high end headphone setup which was around 20k I believe. But on his speakers I can only tell the difference between spotify and Tidal Hifi, but not between Tidal Hifi and a Tidal Master.

[Rolling2405]

9 hours ago, Derkoli said:

Plus, It supports DSD

 

8 hours ago, rice guru said:

dsd support

What is DSD?

[Derkoli]

2 minutes ago, Thomas001 said:

 

What is DSD?

It's a high resolution digital format, Direct Stream Digital

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Stream_Digital

https://www.whathifi.com/advice/what-dsd-audio-how-it-works-where-to-download-files-and-more

 

This should not in any way matter to you, as even I cannot tell the difference between a 32bit 192kHz FLAC file and DSD, even on my system which is extremely resolving.

[Rolling2405]

3 minutes ago, Derkoli said:

It's a high resolution digital format, Direct Stream Digital

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_Stream_Digital

https://www.whathifi.com/advice/what-dsd-audio-how-it-works-where-to-download-files-and-more

Thanks I will look into the EVGA NU Audio.

[Metallus97]

To be honest: THe best general use but i want nice sound card is not a card but the external Schiit fulla 3

[Metallus97]

7 minutes ago, Thomas001 said:

 

What is DSD?

But DSD is overrated as well as MQA and stuff. A simple high resulting flac does the trick just as well. Besides that Software decoders for DSD or MQA are also fine (if done properly however)

[Derkoli]

7 minutes ago, Metallus97 said:

But DSD is overrated as well as MQA and stuff. A simple high resulting flac does the trick just as well. Besides that Software decoders for DSD or MQA are also fine (if done properly however)

It is very over rated, I personally can't tell the difference between 32/192kHz FLAC and DSD

[Metallus97]

1 minute ago, Derkoli said:

It is very over rated, I personally can't tell the difference between 32/192kHz FLAC and DSD

There even is mathematical prove that DSD is not thhhhat much better from a numbers perspective. And yah i was at HigEnd Munic last year and compared 32/192 to DSD and MQA on friggn Sennheiser Oprheus. Could not hear the difference. Though THOSE CANS MANNNNNN  

[Derkoli]

Just now, Metallus97 said:

There even is mathematical prove that DSD is not thhhhat much better from a numbers perspective. And yah i was at HigEnd Munic last year and compared 32/192 to DSD and MQA on friggn Sennheiser Oprheus. Could not hear the difference. Though THOSE CANS MANNNNNN  

Funnily enough DSD is used for archival storage in studios mostly, to replace analogue tape.

 

I genuinely wonder how the Sennheiser Orpheus compare to the HiFiMan Shangri-La and their amp, the HiFiMan Shangri La Sr, especially since theyre both about 50k for the setup

[Rolling2405]

Is DSD 64 good? I checked the EVGA NU Audio and software did not look very good but, I read that the Creative Sound Blaster AE-7 has DSD 64 support so I am wondering if that is good and if the sound card overall is good because if it is I am planning on getting this one.

[Derkoli]

10 minutes ago, Thomas001 said:

Is DSD 64 good? I checked the EVGA NU Audio and software did not look very good but, I read that the Creative Sound Blaster AE-7 has DSD 64 support so I am wondering if that is good and if the sound card overall is good because if it is I am planning on getting this one.

The AE-7 is pretty decent, and to be honest you probably won't notice the difference between it and the Nu Audio.