USB soundcards

[bigudukaz]

Hello there,

I have MSI GT780DXR with on-board dynaudio sound. I was wondering whether should I get USB soundcard (like Xonar u3 or creative Recon3d - I know, the price difference is significant) for better quality. I know it only give me advantage of 5.1 emulation (like Dolby headphone), but what about overall quality?

It could be that i will not get quality improvement because of the headphones/speakers bottleneck... But if it would, how big of a difference i should expect?

I couldn't find any extensive comparison of such products (maybe the only one being hi-fi forums).

Headphones i use are Sennheiser HD 429, Sennheiser CX685 (rarely using them on laptop - mainly for mp3 player) and have I Logitech speakers Z5500.

:)

[Gecko]

I have a usb sound card as the motherboard I am using only has 1 pcie 3.0 slot and that is already used and works really well, I have the Creative Recon3D

[GoodBytes]

I have the Xonar U3. Pretty good sound, miles better than what my laptop has, but not as good as dedicated sound card on the computer. Sound like like a low end Xonar. This is probably due to the compact size of the unit which block having room for the requires component to output better sound, and also due that it's limited by the power of the USB port, which isn't much.

My only complaint I have, is that (I don't know if that is the case with older Windows), but with Windows 8, when I plug my Xonar, it doesn't auto switch the sound to it. So I have to manually open the Windows Sound panel, and tell Windows to output sound to it. And, if I have a video playing in a web browser, I have to refresh the page, so that Flash switches to the Xonar. Kinda sucks. But it's only 30$, and it's also very power efficient, and the drivers are small and lean, unlike Creative massive drivers, and of poor quality.

[bigudukaz]

Well i know if u have poor quality onboard soundcard then its expected that you get something better using soundcard. But how about the dynaudio one...? how it compares to the cheaper USB soundcards?

[GoodBytes]

A dedicated sound card is always better than onboard. The more you pay, the better the sound (usually). If you don't, then generally speaking, your headphones or speakers aren't good enough for the sound card. To my knowledge, all laptops or motherboard sound chip that claim to be "JVC", "Ben & Olufsen", or wtv, its just the manufacture that went see the company and said "We want to use your name, here is a briefcase of money". Now, generally the sound chip is better the normal crap, just to say it's better, but usually not as good as a dedicated sound card.

Why? Because these companies, makes several thousand of dollars equipment (except JVC consumer products), some cost more than a fancy car. They are not going to go "Hey! Let's spend millions and millions of dollars and do a 5$ sound chip, and try and see if an OEM wants to use it! And hopefully he will sale a few hundred of thousands, at best, from 1 single OEM, and not sale it anywhere else, not even a as a dedicated unit for other systems, as we don't sale crap. Brilliant!!! Now, where is that Bankruptcy form, might as well start filling it in."

If the manufacture implements a real dedicated sound chip/card inside their product, they'll say it: "ASUS Xonar inside" for example. With some exceptions, like SOME Creative X-Fi motherboards that I saw, where the chip is from RTealTek, and it's runs Creative X-Fi's software emulation to alter the sound to make it sound "better". In other words, you paid extra for a mildly better sound chip and a pre-set equalizer settings.

[bigudukaz]

Then probably its better to get a DAC for approximately the same price?

[GoodBytes]

Depends. Do you want portability? If you dont' care and plan to leave it home, then yes. If you plan to take your laptop away often, then no, obviously get the USB sound card like the Xonar U3.

[iarejesus]

HRT music streamer II, if you have the money.

[bigudukaz]

HRT music streamer II' date=' if you have the money.[/quote']

Maybe the head streamer would e a better idea? :)

I would like if it had USB in and 3.5mm out + maybe optical or SPIDf for my speakers... but as many as i have seen - most are bigger DACs that ar capable to do so..

[t0wer]

I would go with the nuforce udac over the head streamer just for the volume control, unless you plan to get a standalone amp.

[bigudukaz]

And final question would be: How does theese DACs (Head streamer/nuforce) compare to some more portable like FiiO E07K/HeadRoom total bithead? As i use 5th gen iPod classic and i know that it has better DAC then the average mp3 player.

You people helped me a lot. I am a beginner in HiFi music and i dont want to get upset if i chose something depending on just the numbers :)