How much difference is there between onboard solutions

[Ginga_NZ]

So I'm looking at an upgrade of cpu and motherboard and one of the things I'm considering is the motherboards onboard audio solution. Looking at b460 there are options with alc1200 but there are no b560 boards with the same, they mostly have 898. So I'm wondering how much of an impact that'll have on the sound quality, if it'll even be noticible.

[Chris Pratt]

Any modern onboard audio is perfectly sufficient for anyone but the most dedicated of audiophiles or professionals.

[Tigerleon]

42 minutes ago, Chris Pratt said:

Any modern onboard audio is perfectly sufficient for anyone but the most dedicated of audiophiles or professionals.

I can tell you there are headphones out there more power hungry than you think.

[Tegneren]

Partially agree with @Chris Prattover here. The difference between different on-board audio solutions are negligible.

But if you have very demanding headphones I will recommend a external solution. For my Beyerdynamics DT770 Pro there are noticeably better sound with my external sound card than on the onboard audio.

[Tigerleon]

50 minutes ago, Ginga_NZ said:

So I'm looking at an upgrade of cpu and motherboard and one of the things I'm considering is the motherboards onboard audio solution. Looking at b460 there are options with alc1200 but there are no b560 boards with the same, they mostly have 898. So I'm wondering how much of an impact that'll have on the sound quality, if it'll even be noticible.

Sound quality difference between motherboard specs varies because of amplification quality etc. You'll never get close to a good DAC/amp that is dedicated for headphones or speakers. I guess if you don't have popping or hissing sounds you'd be fine driving easy to drive headphones. But it can be improved with a better DAC/amp seperately.

[KaitouX]

Most people should be okay with most modern onboard solutions, but the ALC1200 should theoretically be better. In reality it's extremely dependent on the implementation by the manufacturer, and due to the fact that almost no one really tests onboard audio, in general it's extremely hard to tell if it's actually going to be better or not.

[Derkoli]

Really, the difference isn't gonna be huge.

 

All measurements available online of onboard solutions are uh, not brilliant.

 

The only real decent performance you'll get from an internal setup is from a PCE-e card. You can get these from manufacturers such as RME, AVID, Lynx, SSL, Marian, etc.

[Ariolander]

Considering how cheap a Sound BlasterX G1 soundcard is, $25-30, I don't think its worth fretting too much. Get whatever, try it, if you don't like it a G1 USB solution will likely solve your problems.

[Ginga_NZ]

Thanks everyone. Headset I use is a pair of senheiser 280HD believe they are 32ohm impedence so not too hard to drive.

 

Will just go with the b560 offer and the benefits of a better CPU.

[H713]

46 minutes ago, Ginga_NZ said:

Thanks everyone. Headset I use is a pair of sennheiser 280HD believe they are 32ohm impedence so not too hard to drive.

 

Will just go with the b560 offer and the benefits of a better CPU.

HD280s aren't a difficult load by any means. As long as your headphone amp (whether that is onboard or external) can handle 32 ohm impedances (and there will be some reactive component to that- they aren't a just a 32 ohm resistor), you're fine. The HD280s are really not my cup of tea, but they are robust and easy to drive. 

[H713]

Accidental double post.

[VoidX]

Audio quality is barely a problem today, and they mostly use the same chip, so there isn't much difference also. The issue is always with the horrible noise, and some manufacturers perform exceptionally poorly. Notable examples imo are ASRock (worst) and MSI (best).

[Ginga_NZ]

On 6/19/2021 at 2:45 PM, H713 said:

HD280s aren't a difficult load by any means. As long as your headphone amp (whether that is onboard or external) can handle 32 ohm impedances (and there will be some reactive component to that- they aren't a just a 32 ohm resistor), you're fine. The HD280s are really not my cup of tea, but they are robust and easy to drive. 

I'm completely in love with the headphones, they're the best I've ever had and comparatively cheap compared with what you can pay.

[Imannudein]

I have an ROG Maximus Hero 12 with the Realtek S1220. What I didn't like the most was the myriad of software that were installed automatically when I installed the driver. I upgraded to the Audient Evo 4 and it is not necessarily more powerful but the stereo separation was improved and it's cleaner. 

 

Plus no software aside the driver install.