Front panel audio sounding better

[Random_person77]

So... ever since i've built my computer back in march last year,

i've been testing both the front panel audio jack and the rear audio jack with different flac or mp3 files.

 

Is it normal for the front panel audio to sound a little bit better than the back?

 

i did my testing with sennheiser ie800,Razer adaro DJs and more recently some sennheiser hd600 hooked up to a iFI Micro ICAN SE amplifier.

For literally all the music i've tested(acoustic to electronic) i found the bass and low frequencies more clear and highs and trebles more sharp than the back ports.

The motherboard i have is a asus maximus vii formula(yes i am using the onboard audio and will probably upgrade soon)

and the case is a fractal design define R5 if the audio cable for the front panel matters.

while i was building my computer i also did isolate the audio cable from the different power cables(8 pin,24 pin,etc).

 

i'm not really looking for help,but i'm just curious why is this so.

 

 

[Majestic]

So you connected the amplifier to the front panel and rear ports and compared them that way?

 

My guess is that the backports have some sort of audio enhancer running, or some EQ, and the fronts don't.

 

Or the other way around.

[Random_person77]

So you connected the amplifier to the front panel and rear ports and compared them that way?

i tried it with an amp for my hd600 for both the front and back ports.

without while using my ie800s

[iBeast_M0de]

Thats not normal the front panel cables are not shielded properly which introduces noise from all the computer components. so there might be something wrong with something between the soundchip and the rear panel connectors, because the front panel comes from the soundchip aswell. Im just guessing at this point

[Random_person77]

Thats not normal the front panel cables are not shielded properly which introduces noise from all the computer components. so there might be something wrong with something between the soundchip and the rear panel connectors, because the front panel comes from the soundchip aswell. Im just guessing at this point

while i was building the computer i did route the cable separately from the other cables (USB,4pin,24pin,8pin all that)

There wasn't any noticeable hissing or buzzing when i plugged in my sensitive ie800 to my front panel,so i don't think theres any interference.

[iBeast_M0de]

while i was building the computer i did route the cable separately from the other cables (USB,4pin,24pin,8pin all that)

There wasn't any noticeable hissing or buzzing when i plugged in my sensitive ie800 to my front panel,so i don't think theres any interference.

Not only those components create noise ur videocard al the chips on ur mobo and ur CPU create noise aswell. but aslong as it sounds good u should be fine. the wierd part is that the sound is not as good at the back. what mobo do u have?

[Random_person77]

So you connected the amplifier to the front panel and rear ports and compared them that way?

 

My guess is that the backports have some sort of audio enhancer running, or some EQ, and the fronts don't.

 

Or the other way around.

According to asus supreme fx software thing, using the front panel audio allows you to use "sonic soundstage" but i turned it off anyway cause i didn't like how it altered the sound.

 

As for EQ settings i have both the front panel and the back one using the same equalizer curve and same settings but the front panel will always sound better no matter what i set the settings to be.

[Random_person77]

Not only those components create noise ur videocard al the chips on ur mobo and ur CPU create noise aswell. but aslong as it sounds good u should be fine. the wierd part is that the sound is not as good at the back. what mobo do u have?

Asus maximus VII Formula

[iBeast_M0de]

Asus maximus VII Formula

That one has one off the best onboard audio out there so u should be fine. So i have no idea how ur running into these problems

[Random_person77]

That one has one off the best onboard audio out there so u should be fine. So i have no idea how ur running into these problems

The problem isn't buzzing or hissing which other on board audio solutions on motherboards may have, i'm just confused why my setup has a better front panel audio than the back.

 

From my research almost everyone stats that headphones or audio devices should be directly plugged into the back so you don't have to go through some more resistance or interference from cables or other components,they also stated that back panel audio will have better audio quality.

But in my case it's opposite,so i started this thread to see if you guys have any idea why.

[iBeast_M0de]

The problem isn't buzzing or hissing which other on board audio solutions on motherboards may have, i'm just confused why my setup has a better front panel audio than the back.

 

From my research almost everyone stats that headphones or audio devices should be directly plugged into the back so you don't have to go through some more resistance or interference from cables or other components,they also stated that back panel audio will have better audio quality.

But in my case it's opposite,so i started this thread to see if you guys have any idea why.

All those people are correct and I also don't really know what is going on in ur case. I could understand why those cable sticking out on the front of the case are annoying so u could buy something like a pci-e bracket with the same audio connector but just routed to the back I can't seem to find them at the moment but I know they're out there

[roctrebira]

The problem isn't buzzing or hissing which other on board audio solutions on motherboards may have, i'm just confused why my setup has a better front panel audio than the back.

From my research almost everyone stats that headphones or audio devices should be directly plugged into the back so you don't have to go through some more resistance or interference from cables or other components,they also stated that back panel audio will have better audio quality.

But in my case it's opposite,so i started this thread to see if you guys have any idea why.

I had the same thing happen with my rog motherboard aswell so your not alone in this. It didnt bother me much and now I just use a stand alone amp and dac.

[Donk Quixote]

What's probably happening is the cables are changing the frequency response in some way.  I remember reading about people thought CAT5 cable was better than regular cable, then someone figured out it was just the frequency response change.  He added a resistor to regular speaker cable that does the same thing and people couldn't tell the difference.  Someone on Reddit was telling me how my reciever probably sounds so good to me even though there is most likely an impedance mismatch (my reciever should be too powerful for my easy to drive headphones) was because of the change if frequency response.

 

The other possibility is there is a setting somewhere that changing how the sound is being processed.  For example the back port could be set to '2.1 speakers' or even 'small speakers' and the front port to 'headphones'.  In the Windows Playback Devices settings see if the "Disable all enhancement" box is checked and if it does anything.

[Random_person77]

What's probably happening is the cables are changing the frequency response in some way.  I remember reading about people thought CAT5 cable was better than regular cable, then someone figured out it was just the frequency response change.  He added a resistor to regular speaker cable that does the same thing and people couldn't tell the difference.  Someone on Reddit was telling me how my reciever probably sounds so good to me even though there is most likely an impedance mismatch (my reciever should be too powerful for my easy to drive headphones) was because of the change if frequency response.

 

The other possibility is there is a setting somewhere that changing how the sound is being processed.  For example the back port could be set to '2.1 speakers' or even 'small speakers' and the front port to 'headphones'.  In the Windows Playback Devices settings see if the "Disable all enhancement" box is checked and if it does anything.

For both sides, i set all enhancements to be disabled and the audio device as stereo headphones.

 

Basically both front and back audio jacks are set to the excalt same settings,in windows playback devices and in the realtek audio manager.

 

As for the cable,it is possible,but i highly doubt it.

The probability that the cable will alter the treble to be more sharp and the bass to sound more clear is very slim...

And after all,adding more cables does add resistance.

[Donk Quixote]

My final guess is this then:

 

"Sonic SenseAmp is a ROG invention that detects headphone impedance"

"* Sonic SenseAmp and Sonic SoundStage supports only analog-audio front-panel (AAFP) connections"

 

Since SenseAmp only works for the front panel it must be adjusting the output impedance and therefore altering the frequency response.

[Random_person77]

My final guess is this then:

 

"Sonic SenseAmp is a ROG invention that detects headphone impedance"

"* Sonic SenseAmp and Sonic SoundStage supports only analog-audio front-panel (AAFP) connections"

 

Since SenseAmp only works for the front panel it must be adjusting the output impedance and therefore altering the frequency response.

 

The front panel does allow you to select a gain preset,(performance,powerful and extreme).but if it's the SenseAmp thats altering the output power through altering the built in amp presets.

 

Quote: "Sonic SenseAmp is a ROG invention that detects headphone impedance (below 65/65 ~ 150/150 or higher ohms) and adjusts the built-in amp automatically, for pitch-perfect listening right away!"

"and adjusts the built-in amp automatically"

 

wouldn't the back also be altered by the amp? both front and back audio jacks are connected to the built in amp.

and from my testing i believe the rear jack operates at the highest gain preset with no option to switch it.

(it reaches about the same volume with the front panel set to extreme)

So i still don't know why the front panel would have a different sound signiture....

[Donk Quixote]

Well it does say specifically that it only supports "analog-audio front-panel (AAFP) connections", but if the impedance was different that would mean different volume levels.  But whatever the Sonic SoundStage does it does at a hardware level as well.  So that's 2 things (or one thing does two things) that's between the built in amplifier and the front jack that's not between the amplifier and rear jack.  Even if SenseAmp and SoundStage were set to do nothing I'm guessing it's altering the signal in some subtle way before it gets to the wire that's connected to the front jack.