Sound card

[gooooofpie]

Is a sound card worth investing in? I currently own a Maximus VII Ranger motherboard.

 

If so, which one would you recommend? 

 

Don't need more than 4 outputs (wouldn't mind more) and budget's no more than $50. Also, I have a black and red themed build, so a sound card with the same theme would also be appreciated.

[Worth]

You would be better off getting an external dac and amp than a soundcard. What headphones/speakers are you using?

[Majestic]

No, not really. 

[gooooofpie]

You would be better off getting an external dac and amp than a soundcard. What headphones/speakers are you using?

Edifier Aurora MP300 speakers and currently waiting for Hyperx Cloud 2. I'm also still looking for a good 2.0 speaker as I don't have much desk room.

[theodoro]

I could almost say that a 50$ sound card would be a downgrade. 
You could get a headphone amplifier if you wanted a volume knob or more volume in general. Other than that, the sound quality of your motherboard is much better than what you think.

[Greenytica]

+1 for getting an external DAC.

 

Have an ASUS Xonar STX in my PC, sounds great, but colossal pain in the ass to live with software wise.

[RevoltTrain]

Save up for a little bit to get this:

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=120&cp_id=12008&cs_id=1200801&p_id=11567&seq=1&format=2

[gooooofpie]

You would be better off getting an external dac and amp than a soundcard. What headphones/speakers are you using?

 

+1 for getting an external DAC.

 

Have an ASUS Xonar STX in my PC, sounds great, but colossal pain in the ass to live with software wise.

Any specific DAC you would recommend? 

[Greenytica]

That really, really depends on budget and what you want it to do. Do you want it to output RCA's to a receiver, output to a headphone jack with a built in amp?

personally I'm a big fan of Arcam gear, like the little rPAC - http://www.arcam.co.uk/products,rSeries,USB-DACs,rpac.htm and irDAC - http://www.arcam.co.uk/products,rSeries,USB-DACs,irdac.htm

But there are piles of them around, and I'm sure there are some good audiophiles around here who know better than I do. Just check as many reviews as you can be bothered with.

[theodoro]

Any specific DAC you would recommend? 

I don't recommend a DAC. You already have a great DAC with your on-board. The only reason to buy a DAC is if your on-board sound card makes a lot of noise. 

Also if you buy a DAC you will need an amp too. (for the headphones ,passive speakers or weak active speakers)  If you just plug the headphone to the DAC, the volume will be very low.

If you are willing to pay more than 200$ for a dac and an amp, you might notice an improvement. If your budget is 50$ and you want to change the DAC, then you are going to downgrade your audio setup. 

And btw, just like Greenytica said, the irDAC is probably a great DAC. However, it's just doesn't make sence for your audio gear. You want to buy the HyperX coulds 2, which already have a crappy USB sound card but you still want to buy a 3rd DAC? In my opinion, you should forget your idea of "improving sound quality" because your are going to spend money for something you don't need and you will probably downgrade your sound quality. 

IF you had 400$+ headphones you can buy a 100$+ DAC and a 150$+ amp. If you had 350$+ speakers you could buy a 100$+ DAC. IF you had 500$+ audio equipment you could buy the irDAC....... but you have nothing similar. Your not even close to justify the small audio improvement that a DAC or amp will give you. 

[Greenytica]

My bad, didn't notice the $50 budget. theodoro is spot on, for that price you wont improve anything really.

[TheMcSame]

You don't need a sound card unless you need the extra connectors.

 

If you still decide to go through with it though... Anything Xonar.

[theodoro]

You don't need a sound card unless you need the extra connectors.

 

If you still decide to go through with it though... Anything Xonar.

My experience with a xonar sound card:

I bought the DGX (which is the cheapest) but the reviews were pretty good and some people say "Just get a xonar sound card. Even the cheapest will improve your audio quality". Of course, i didn't know about audio at that time and i thought there was a big improvement because i was hearing something different and it was louder. After spending some time with my new speakers and the Xonar i was starting to pick up some problems with my audio. For some reason i've never  did an A/B test between the xonar and the on-board sound card because i thought it was better (placebo effect). I mean, how can a dedicaded sound card sound worse than the "crappy" on-board? After doing some research i discovered that PCI sound cards are not that good, so i decided an A/B test (after 4/6 months of use). 

I was surpized when i realised that the on-board sound card was more neutral/natural sounding. Also the on-board was less hissy(if that's a word), and it doesn't cause distortion at high volumes, unlike the Xonar. 

That was my experience with a 4.1/5 stars product. I bet many people also think that it sounds better, because it sounds differently. So that "get a xonar" is not always a good option. 

(of course now i use the on-board sound card)

[Guest]

You don't need a sound card unless you need the extra connectors.

 

If you still decide to go through with it though... Anything Xonar.

 

That should be "anything but Xonar" since most people are running headphones with less than 250 ohms impedance. Due to the fact that Asus is a joke company, nearly all of their audio products have ridiculously high output impedance because they couldn't be bothered to design something that doesn't need a 30 ohm output resistor to function properly. Probably because they are using exotic "audiophile" op-amps with stupidly high slew-rates, and so on.

[TheMcSame]

My experience with a xonar sound card:

I bought the DGX (which is the cheapest) but the reviews were pretty good and some people say "Just get a xonar sound card. Even the cheapest will improve your audio quality". Of course, i didn't know about audio at that time and i thought there was a big improvement because i was hearing something different and it was louder. After spending some time with my new speakers and the Xonar i was starting to pick up some problems with my audio. For some reason i've never  did an A/B test between the xonar and the on-board sound card because i thought it was better (placebo effect). I mean, how can a dedicaded sound card sound worse than the "crappy" on-board? After doing some research i discovered that PCI sound cards are not that good, so i decided an A/B test (after 4/6 months of use). 

I was surpized when i realised that the on-board sound card was more neutral/natural sounding. Also the on-board was less hissy(if that's a word), and it doesn't cause distortion at high volumes, unlike the Xonar. 

That was my experience with a 4.1/5 stars product. I bet many people also think that it sounds better, because it sounds differently. So that "get a xonar" is not always a good option. 

(of course now i use the on-board sound card)

 

 

That should be "anything but Xonar" since most people are running headphones with less than 250 ohms impedance. Due to the fact that Asus is a joke company, nearly all of their audio products have ridiculously high output impedance because they couldn't be bothered to design something that doesn't need a 30 ohm output resistor to function properly. Probably because they are using exotic "audiophile" op-amps with stupidly high slew-rates, and so on.

 

 

I'm going by what I've heard from a reliable source (Linus). @SSL You're basically shooting the messenger here.

[Guest]

I'm going by what I've heard from a reliable source (Linus). @SSL You're basically shooting the messenger here.

 

Explaining something does not equate with "shooting the messenger".

[theodoro]

I'm going by what I've heard from a reliable source (Linus). @SSL You're basically shooting the messenger here.

Dude... Linus is a tech guy not an audio guy and he also recommends the on-board or USB sound cards more than the PCI ones. He also mentioned he used to say "get a xonar" but he believes that now the motherboards have good DACs (and he's right)

@SSL is also right. Most asus sound cards have high output impedance and in most cases this is a bad thing. 

[EmoRarity]

Explaining something does not equate with "shooting the messenger".

You're shooting the echo chamber, get it right, god. 

[Guest]

You're shooting the echo chamber, get it right, god. 

 

Don't hurt meh...or do?

 

I guess using the word "stupidly" was too much for the echo chamber feels.

[EmoRarity]

Don't hurt meh...or do?

This is what I need in my life.

I guess using the word "stupidly" was too much for the echo chamber feels.

And insulting someone is against the internet rules and that will get you points. 

[Guest]

And insulting someone is against the internet rules and that will get you points. 

 

And since companies are people I guess calling Asus a joke merits all the points.

 

Don't hurt meh...or do?

This is what I need in my life.

 

So being forced to shave your chest and legs isn't kinky enough for you?

[EmoRarity]

And since companies are people I guess calling Asus a joke merits all the points.

 

 

So being forced to shave your chest and legs isn't kinky enough for you?

Pretty much. And you are showing me that I might be into BDSM, which scares me, but I like it. 

[Guest]

Pretty much. And you are showing me that I might be into BDSM, which scares me, but I like it. 

 

I approve of this turn of events.

[EmoRarity]

I approve of this turn of events.

Do you think 100 foot of tow rope would work? 

[Guest]

Do you think 100 foot of tow rope would work? 

 

Normally, but you might want to try 1000 miles so I can pull on the end.