Audio for dream Pc Build - Help needed.

[Annihilator_OFGT]

Hey All

 

I am in the process of building my dream pc and I want to have the best I can have within my budget.

 

I am thinking a dedicated sound card or a external DAC as my mobo has a  (Gigabyte B650 Aero G) Realtek 1220 on board.

 

I am using the following currently:

 

DT 990 Pro headphones 250 Ohm
Presonus 3.5 speakers
LG C2
Balliba Lapel Mic - might replace
HyperX Usb Microphone
Panasonic Lumix G6

Elgato 4k60 pro

 

So I am looking for something that can drive the headphones and the speakers and screen and record at high quality.

 

I am also going to be:

Streaming
Recording games for YouTube
Recording PC building footage and technical content

 

I also have a Panasonic Lumix G6 that I record off of as well.

 

I have had a lot of audio noise through the G6, so I want to solve that as well.

 

I am looking at:

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Asus Xonar - Sound card
Elgato Wave

Audient EVO 4
GoXlr
SM57

 

For the camera I do have a Elgato 4k60 Pro capture card as well, so maybe something with a cats tail will solve my noisy audio.

Any other suggestions are welcome as well.

Thanks very much

[jaslion]

Sound cards are pointless. Your boards onboard audio is fine just get a dac. The shitt dac stuff (yes thats a brand) is low price and great performance.

[191x7]

SybaSonic USB DAC should do what you need. It's cheap.

Above that, check Mayflower O2, FiiO E10k, ...

[person123456789]

5 hours ago, Annihilator_OFGT said:

Hey All

 

I am in the process of building my dream pc and I want to have the best I can have within my budget.

 

I am thinking a dedicated sound card or a external DAC as my mobo has a  (Gigabyte B650 Aero G) Realtek 1220 on board.

 

I am using the following currently:

 

DT 990 Pro headphones 250 Ohm
Presonus 3.5 speakers
LG C2
Balliba Lapel Mic - might replace
HyperX Usb Microphone
Panasonic Lumix G6

Elgato 4k60 pro

 

So I am looking for something that can drive the headphones and the speakers and screen and record at high quality.

 

I am also going to be:

Streaming
Recording games for YouTube
Recording PC building footage and technical content

 

I also have a Panasonic Lumix G6 that I record off of as well.

 

I have had a lot of audio noise through the G6, so I want to solve that as well.

 

I am looking at:

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Asus Xonar - Sound card
Elgato Wave

Audient EVO 4
GoXlr
SM57

 

For the camera I do have a Elgato 4k60 Pro capture card as well, so maybe something with a cats tail will solve my noisy audio.

Any other suggestions are welcome as well.

Thanks very much

motu m2

[cmndr]

Sound cards have mostly been pointless for around 10-20 years now depending on who you ask. I only use my Fiio e10 to power headphones at work since I can leave it plugged into my dock 24/7 and my work laptop has an atrocious amp built in. 

I'm not sure how you get noise through your camera. How is it set up? Bad cables can cause noise if it's analog. 
Are you defining noise as background noise that's picked up by the microphone? If it's not static then it's a different issue. 
Picking up background sounds is usually best handled by putting the microphone VERY close to your mouth and angled directly at it, restricting the pickup pattern (usually cardiod) and then slapping on some filters (high pass to filter out bass below the human vocal range, maybe something like RNNoise or RTXVoice). Most of that can be done for free in OBS OR requires a stand alone mic.

As far as getting more out of your speakers... yeah, not going to happen. Those get their power from an internal amplifier and as long as the signal to them is "not bad" the speakers themselves are the limit. The only things you can do are stuff the port, apply a mild eq and get stands so that the tweeter is pointed directly at your ear. 
https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/presonus_eris_e3_5/

 

 

Action items at no cost:
Stuff Eris Speakers' port with a clean sock. Elevate them to ear level (or at least angle at the ear) and within windows settings change the frequency response to mute the highs a little.
Properly position mic and apply filters

Things to consider buying:
inexpensive cord IF (only if) you have a defective cable that's giving you a buzz
Dedicated microphone if you don't have one. Also an inexpensive arm. Think Audio-technica AT2020 OR Blue Yeti
MAYBE an upgrade on the speakers (JBL 305 that's been refurbed a pair is around $220ish - make sure you get TWO they're often sold in singles)
 

 

----

 

For what it's worth I have a decent sound card that I don't bother plugging in. These days most sound is passed from my computer via HDMI to an AVR.

 

Edit: looks like you have a proper mic, I missed that. oops. 

[invaderSnarf]

10 hours ago, Annihilator_OFGT said:

Hey All

 

I am in the process of building my dream pc and I want to have the best I can have within my budget.

 

I am thinking a dedicated sound card or a external DAC as my mobo has a  (Gigabyte B650 Aero G) Realtek 1220 on board.

 

I am using the following currently:

 

DT 990 Pro headphones 250 Ohm
Presonus 3.5 speakers
LG C2
Balliba Lapel Mic - might replace
HyperX Usb Microphone
Panasonic Lumix G6

Elgato 4k60 pro

 

So I am looking for something that can drive the headphones and the speakers and screen and record at high quality.

 

I am also going to be:

Streaming
Recording games for YouTube
Recording PC building footage and technical content

 

I also have a Panasonic Lumix G6 that I record off of as well.

 

I have had a lot of audio noise through the G6, so I want to solve that as well.

 

I am looking at:

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2
Asus Xonar - Sound card
Elgato Wave

Audient EVO 4
GoXlr
SM57

 

For the camera I do have a Elgato 4k60 Pro capture card as well, so maybe something with a cats tail will solve my noisy audio.

Any other suggestions are welcome as well.

Thanks very much

Don't rely on your G6 for audio, the mics on cameras are terrible and you can get better quality from a $15 usb mic from amazon. You should mute the camera and just use either your lapel mic or the HyperX you have. 

 

Other people have said it, the first thing that would make your sound better is a DAC. The headphone jacks on a PC simply don't provide enough power to properly drive headphones like the DT 990's. I've got a pair myself and yes, they do have sound come out when plugged into the PC, plugging them into a DAC will improve the audio tenfold. 

 

Your HyperX is a good mic and if you layer on a couple of filters you are not missing anything, but if you are set on going for a professional mic I would suggest staying away from the GoXLR. I was interested in it and got one, returned it two days later as the noise floor was trash when I tested it with my mics (tested it with a Rode Procaster, Shure SM7B, AT2035, AT2020, AT875R, and a Rode Interviewer). I've not tested the Elgato Wave personally so I can't say anything, to it. The focusrites that I've used myself had driver issues but the quality was fine when they did work.

 

If you are still hearing noises, you might want to look into getting a couple of ground loop isolators. When you go from analoge to digital back to analoge it can give a bit of feedback, a ground loop isolator will filter that out and they can be purcahsed for pretty cheap ($5-15). You might also want to try moving the cables. If you run cables over eachother or near each other you can induce some feedback that can be fixed by just adjusting how they lay. 

 

Also, a CAT tail usuaully refers to audio cables that are just bundled together and into a "single" more managed cable. Typically done with XLR cables, I've seen them done with HDMI but that is definitly more in a professional setting not so much in a home office setting. 

[KTown]

Second Jaslion's recommendation of Schitt Audio. They have DAC/Amp combos that are reasonably priced and have good sound quality/build quality (5 year warranties).

[Annihilator_OFGT]

17 hours ago, cmndr said:

Sound cards have mostly been pointless for around 10-20 years now depending on who you ask. I only use my Fiio e10 to power headphones at work since I can leave it plugged into my dock 24/7 and my work laptop has an atrocious amp built in. 

I'm not sure how you get noise through your camera. How is it set up? Bad cables can cause noise if it's analog. 
Are you defining noise as background noise that's picked up by the microphone? If it's not static then it's a different issue. 
Picking up background sounds is usually best handled by putting the microphone VERY close to your mouth and angled directly at it, restricting the pickup pattern (usually cardiod) and then slapping on some filters (high pass to filter out bass below the human vocal range, maybe something like RNNoise or RTXVoice). Most of that can be done for free in OBS OR requires a stand alone mic.

As far as getting more out of your speakers... yeah, not going to happen. Those get their power from an internal amplifier and as long as the signal to them is "not bad" the speakers themselves are the limit. The only things you can do are stuff the port, apply a mild eq and get stands so that the tweeter is pointed directly at your ear. 
https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/presonus_eris_e3_5/

 

 

Action items at no cost:
Stuff Eris Speakers' port with a clean sock. Elevate them to ear level (or at least angle at the ear) and within windows settings change the frequency response to mute the highs a little.
Properly position mic and apply filters

Things to consider buying:
inexpensive cord IF (only if) you have a defective cable that's giving you a buzz
Dedicated microphone if you don't have one. Also an inexpensive arm. Think Audio-technica AT2020 OR Blue Yeti
MAYBE an upgrade on the speakers (JBL 305 that's been refurbed a pair is around $220ish - make sure you get TWO they're often sold in singles)
 

 

----

 

For what it's worth I have a decent sound card that I don't bother plugging in. These days most sound is passed from my computer via HDMI to an AVR.

 

Edit: looks like you have a proper mic, I missed that. oops. 

Wow what a reply its super informative.

 

I am super happy with the speakers; I just want to control them through a single interface with easy switch over between headphones and Speakers

 

I am looking at the following:

 

SybaSonic USB DAC

Mayflower O2 - bit expensive for me

Fosi Audio Q4

FiiO E10k

Elgato Wave XLR 

Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen 

Schitt Audio - Hard to get in the UK

 

Any other suggestions are great as well.

 

So my idea is this 

 

Pc - interface - speakers, headphones, (microphone - if Possible).

 

I am also looking at a Elgato stream deck as well, I do have a Elgato 4k60 Pro capture card.

 

My motherboard is a Gigabyte B650 Aero G which has a Realtek 1220-VB which says it can do the following.

	Realtek ALC 1200                     Realtek ALC1220
Communication	No	I2S + I2C
Front audio SNR	110 dB	120 dB
Stereo Line-In SNR	102 dB	110 dB
Stereo ADC	2	3
Direct Stream Digital (DSD)	No	Encoder, Decoder
Front Audio Port (Port D)	Standard output ≤ 1.1 Vrms (32 Ω)	Capacitor-free ≤ 2.1 Veff (600 Ω)
Impedance Detection	No	Yes

 

Realtek ALC1200 demystified - what really distinguishes the entry-level sound chip from the larger ALC1220 | igor'sLAB (igorslab.de)

 

The camera issue I think was too much gain on the audio but my lapel microphone is a budget Balliba Lapel Mic not great but okay but sensitive to inference.

 

I did drop the gain to default value, but I still have a static hiss though but not as bad, so I am wondering if I have bad internal mic.

 

I have considered getting a full standalone audio recording solution like a Zoom FP1 or something like that.

 

I am completely open to suggestions to fix the audio.

 

I have looked at Panasonic XLR1 as well as a preamp but they are expensive.

 

If I could record direct to my pc at Full HD using the camera and the 4k60 and another mic using the capture card when I am working on a PC that would be killer, currently I record to the SD card and copy that across.

 

Thanks so much for all your efforts.

[person123456789]

2 hours ago, Annihilator_OFGT said:

Wow what a reply its super informative.

 

I am super happy with the speakers; I just want to control them through a single interface with easy switch over between headphones and Speakers

 

I am looking at the following:

 

SybaSonic USB DAC

Mayflower O2 - bit expensive for me

Fosi Audio Q4

FiiO E10k

Elgato Wave XLR 

Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen 

Schitt Audio - Hard to get in the UK

 

Any other suggestions are great as well.

 

So my idea is this 

 

Pc - interface - speakers, headphones, (microphone - if Possible).

 

I am also looking at a Elgato stream deck as well, I do have a Elgato 4k60 Pro capture card.

 

My motherboard is a Gigabyte B650 Aero G which has a Realtek 1220-VB which says it can do the following.

	Realtek ALC 1200                     Realtek ALC1220
Communication	No	I2S + I2C
Front audio SNR	110 dB	120 dB
Stereo Line-In SNR	102 dB	110 dB
Stereo ADC	2	3
Direct Stream Digital (DSD)	No	Encoder, Decoder
Front Audio Port (Port D)	Standard output ≤ 1.1 Vrms (32 Ω)	Capacitor-free ≤ 2.1 Veff (600 Ω)
Impedance Detection	No	Yes

 

Realtek ALC1200 demystified - what really distinguishes the entry-level sound chip from the larger ALC1220 | igor'sLAB (igorslab.de)

 

The camera issue I think was too much gain on the audio but my lapel microphone is a budget Balliba Lapel Mic not great but okay but sensitive to inference.

 

I did drop the gain to default value, but I still have a static hiss though but not as bad, so I am wondering if I have bad internal mic.

 

I have considered getting a full standalone audio recording solution like a Zoom FP1 or something like that.

 

I am completely open to suggestions to fix the audio.

 

I have looked at Panasonic XLR1 as well as a preamp but they are expensive.

 

If I could record direct to my pc at Full HD using the camera and the 4k60 and another mic using the capture card when I am working on a PC that would be killer, currently I record to the SD card and copy that across.

 

Thanks so much for all your efforts.

is the motu m2 not a viable option?

[Annihilator_OFGT]

1 hour ago, person123456789 said:

is the motu m2 not a viable option?

Not seen it at all, let me do some research.

[cmndr]

11 hours ago, Annihilator_OFGT said:

Wow what a reply its super informative.

 

I am super happy with the speakers; I just want to control them through a single interface with easy switch over between headphones and Speakers

 

So I'm going to assume your goal is to easily hit a button and to switch between two different aux outputs... 

Something like this (haven't researched that item in particular) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WMS6ZD4/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Note that this is JUST a dumb switch. The logic inside is simple. The volume knob should be thought of as turning the volume DOWN from whatever it's receiving, not up. 

[Annihilator_OFGT]

21 hours ago, Annihilator_OFGT said:

Not seen it at all, let me do some research.

What is audio quality like between the GoXLR mini and Scarlett 2i2.