What sound card? Help!

[tvno]

Ok so I just recently completed my approx £2k PC build (Originally budgeted 1.6k but holy hell costs just came out of nowhere)

Anyway, I just finished the build with Sennheiser G4ME ONE headset and an Astro Mixamp pro.

I had no intention of upgrading from my onboard sound but i don't seem to have a SPDIF port onboard to be able to plug in the mixamp. Bummer. So I wanted to ask what would be the best soundcard to get to go with this build. I have gone for the premium options for the whole build but now i am sick of spending so I'm looking for the "that'll do just fine theres no point spending more" but i do want the best quality for my money. (For example if one is £50 and another is £100 but the difference in quality is 5% then I want the £50 one. If one was £50 and one was £70 and the difference in quality is 30% i'll take the £70)

 

Sorry for rambling on, It is 03:30AM and I don't finish work until 07:30! -.-

[Sam Z Man]

Get a DAC or stick to onboard sound

[tvno]

Get a DAC or stick to onboard sound

I already own the astro mixamp so would you have any reccommendations to make it work my way? or not?

 

And then what DAC would you reccommend? I want the most immersive experience that sounds realistic with for example military simulator games and all other games in general. Not worried about music

[colinreay]

Dac's have the most realistic sounds for monitoring, but soundcards sometimes have an edge on just gaming (More bass enhancements and tweakable settings.) If you want higher quality audio, Dac it is, but a soundcard could be a viable audio, if all you want is a rich bass heavy (explosions, etc.) experience. People like X-fi/Sb-Z series as well as the higher end Asus Xonar. I don't know much about Dacs, but Mayflower electronics seems to be popular among youtubers/gamers.

[Fluffinator]

Dac's have the most realistic sounds for monitoring, but soundcards sometimes have an edge on just gaming (More bass enhancements and tweakable settings.) If you want higher quality audio, Dac it is, but a soundcard could be a viable audio, if all you want is a rich bass heavy (explosions, etc.) experience.

what are you talking about? a Dac is in a soundcard, dac's are often recommended because they are usually outside the case and higher quality. What is higher quality audio? audio is audio..

[iShad]

I already own the astro mixamp so would you have any reccommendations to make it work my way? or not?

 

And then what DAC would you reccommend? I want the most immersive experience that sounds realistic with for example military simulator games and all other games in general. Not worried about music

Just get an asus sonar dg, no need for dac if you're looking to save money.

[colinreay]

what are you talking about? a Dac is in a soundcard, dac's are often recommended because they are usually outside the case and higher quality. What is higher quality audio? audio is audio..

A dac has no DSP features, as well as an isolated design to get away from interference from inside the computer(Higher quality because of less digital interference, and less enhancements or tweaks.) I believe Linus has a video on this. As for a soundcard, a higher end one has more gaming oriented features, which might be useful in surround sound gaming, or bass enriched gaming. I usually see a Dac used for studio-oriented monitoring, and soundcards in gaming rigs. As for audio is audio, some people (Not me) find a huge difference in amplified sound (Soundcards) and the most accurate sound (Dac.)

[Fluffinator]

A dac has no DSP features, as well as an isolated design to get away from interference from inside the computer(Higher quality because of less digital interference, and less enhancements or tweaks.) I believe Linus has a video on this. As for a soundcard, a higher end one has more gaming oriented features, which might be useful in surround sound gaming, or bass enriched gaming. I usually see a Dac used for studio-oriented monitoring, and soundcards in gaming rigs. As for audio is audio, some people (Not me) find a huge difference in amplified sound (Soundcards) and the most accurate sound (Dac.)

too bad none of that is true, you know a dac stands for digital analog converter, it's in a soundcard, it's on a motherboard chip, a dac also won't magically improve the sound somehow.

[xtroria]

Your astro mix amp IS a dac and amp. SPDIF is a digital cable, not analog.

So all you need is a reliable sound card with SPDIF out, how expensive the sound card is doesnt matter at all since it'll only be used as interface and no processing will go through the sound card

Another option is to scrap all of them and buy schiit fulla

[Guest]

A dac has no DSP features, as well as an isolated design to get away from interference from inside the computer(Higher quality because of less digital interference, and less enhancements or tweaks.) I believe Linus has a video on this. As for a soundcard, a higher end one has more gaming oriented features, which might be useful in surround sound gaming, or bass enriched gaming. I usually see a Dac used for studio-oriented monitoring, and soundcards in gaming rigs. As for audio is audio, some people (Not me) find a huge difference in amplified sound (Soundcards) and the most accurate sound (Dac.)

 

A soundcard has a DAC on it. It's true that soundcards often have additional codecs for applying DSP effects that external units eschew; that is not part of the soundcard's DAC, however.

 

If you mean to make the distinction between an internal soundcard and an external DAC, the key word is "external". Simply saying DAC is ambiguous.

[colinreay]

A soundcard has a DAC on it. It's true that soundcards often have additional codecs for applying DSP effects that external units eschew; that is not part of the soundcard's DAC, however.

 

If you mean to make the distinction between an internal soundcard and an external DAC, the key word is "external". Simply saying DAC is ambiguous.

Ah ok. I was just trying to make the distinction between an external DAC, and a soundcard.

[colinreay]

too bad none of that is true, you know a dac stands for digital analog converter, it's in a soundcard, it's on a motherboard chip, a dac also won't magically improve the sound somehow.

Oh, I meant an external Dac. It is correct that pretty much anything on a computer that turns digital code/ data into audible sound waves will have a dac along the way, I was trying to make the distinction between an external DAC, and a soundcard, which does contain a DAC. With an external DAC, you bypass electromagnetic distortion since the path to the DAC is all digital. What I am trying to say is both soundcards and external Dacs will do the job fine, the soundcard might have better DSP and gaming features, while an external Dac will benefit from an external amp and dac. Either or, it is up to OP. If he wants more gaming features and surround sound, soundcard for sure.