Sound Cards: Do We Need Them

[teddy710]

Kinda obvious what this is about lol... But what are sound cards? What's their purpose? Do they do the job any other major component can do? And what're good brands or trusty brands? And finally why would I, or anyone, need one? Thanks!

[ALwin]

Well without them we wouldn't have any audio from our computers.  But I guess you mean non-integrated sound cards, such as internal PCIe or external USB cards.

[Rippey]

There's not really much of a purpose to them as most motherboards have pretty good onboard sound.

[DioOmicida]

I'd look into an external DAC.

[Necrodead]

I find in racing video games the noise of 30+ cars screeching around a corner can cause my on-board audio to lag quite badly. Thats why I originally bought a sound card, but after listening to my favorite music with my expensive headphones I will say there is a huge increase in sound quality, at least over my asus sabertooth onboard audio.

[Rmusic10891]

Pretty sure the best possible answer to this question is it depends. There are a lot of reasons you might want a sound card, or an external DAC and or Amplifier. Just depends on what problem or use case you're trying to solve. If it's to get better sound quality then the answer is probably no.

[Thomas CG]

If you want better than onboard audio, the way to go is an external DAC (Digital to Analog Converter). It will remove some of the interference present inside the case caused by other components. Often they also have much better components.

[Rodniz]

well, im using bluetooth for my audio, so i dont need one at all

[Darel321]

everyone that didnt buy a soundcard is gonna say on board is good enough.... well they are simply wrong... try to buy a real soundcard and then speak... the difference its like night and day....

[Rmusic10891]

2 minutes ago, Darel321 said:

everyone that didnt buy a soundcard is gonna say on board is good enough.... well they are simply wrong... try to buy a real soundcard and then speak... the difference its like night and day....

Anyone who blindly says a "real soundcard" is night and day difference probably doesn't know what they're talking about. There are too many variables in a good audio system to know if that's true or not.

[Djole123]

Well, if you are running a professional recording studio, you surely won't be using an integrared sound card.

 

Also, if your int. sound card dies, or you buy a server such as an HP Proliant, you would need a sound card in order to hear something from your speaker.

[nikolai0505]

6 minutes ago, Darel321 said:

everyone that didnt buy a soundcard is gonna say on board is good enough.... well they are simply wrong... try to buy a real soundcard and then speak... the difference its like night and day....

What soundcard would you suggest? 

[Moonzy]

13 minutes ago, teddy710 said:

But what are sound cards? What's their purpose? Do they do the job any other major component can do? And what're good brands or trusty brands? And finally why would I, or anyone, need one?

sound card is a card to process sound, like graphics card is for processing graphics `-`

their job is to convert digital signal to analogue signal and vice versa (ADC, DAC)

and they sometimes amplify the signal too (AMP)

your processor cant process sound on its own though, so a sound card is a must have in every pc in order to have sound output

though most motherboards comes built in with sound card, some onboard soundcard are bad, thats why people stick to pcie sound card or even external sound cards

 

you'll need one if

1) you're driving high impedance headphone and your onboard sound card cant drive it

2) your onboard sound card is crap

3) EMI (electromagnetic inteference)

[Dackzy]

My post answers all of your questions just read it.

6 minutes ago, Darel321 said:

everyone that didnt buy a soundcard is gonna say on board is good enough.... well they are simply wrong... try to buy a real soundcard and then speak... the difference its like night and day....

No there is not. Most motherboards today have transparent sound and guess what if the sound is transparent a dac and amp will not do anything unless they aren't transparent.

[SSL]

Sure, whatever. This is one of those dead horse, beaten, topics, so I'm not going to invest too much in stating the obvious here.

[teddy710]

3 hours ago, Moonzy said:

sound card is a card to process sound, like graphics card is for processing graphics `-`

their job is to convert digital signal to analogue signal and vice versa (ADC, DAC)

and they sometimes amplify the signal too (AMP)

your processor cant process sound on its own though, so a sound card is a must have in every pc in order to have sound output

though most motherboards comes built in with sound card, some onboard soundcard are bad, thats why people stick to pcie sound card or even external sound cards

 

you'll need one if

1) you're driving high impedance headphone and your onboard sound card cant drive it

2) your onboard sound card is crap

3) EMI (electromagnetic inteference)

If I don't get one initially and I realize that I have a bad onboard sound card, I would assume it wouldn't bee hard to get an actual one?

[Moonzy]

Just now, teddy710 said:

If I don't get one initially and I realize that I have a bad onboard sound card, I would assume it wouldn't bee hard to get an actual one?

you can add one anytime

assuming you have a spot for it

[spwath]

4 hours ago, Moonzy said:

sound card is a card to process sound, like graphics card is for processing graphics `-`

their job is to convert digital signal to analogue signal and vice versa (ADC, DAC)

and they sometimes amplify the signal too (AMP)

your processor cant process sound on its own though, so a sound card is a must have in every pc in order to have sound output

though most motherboards comes built in with sound card, some onboard soundcard are bad, thats why people stick to pcie sound card or even external sound cards

 

you'll need one if

1) you're driving high impedance headphone and your onboard sound card cant drive it

2) your onboard sound card is crap

3) EMI (electromagnetic inteference)

They all amplify. Otherwise you would hear no sound.

[Moonzy]

3 minutes ago, spwath said:

They all amplify. Otherwise you would hear no sound.

not if the DAC outputs sufficient voltage and current `-`

im not sure how they work exactly but yea

thats just a rough idea lol

[Dackzy]

2 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

not if the DAC outputs sufficient voltage and current `-`

im not sure how they work exactly but yea

thats just a rough idea lol

They dont...

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, Dackzy said:

They dont...

k then `-`

 

after they convert the signals, they amplify it *

[Dackzy]

This topic could just have been a short liitle question for me under my before you buy amp and dac instead of this.

[Dackzy]

Just now, Moonzy said:

k then `-`

 

after they convert the signals, they amplify it *

If we talk onboard then the onboard amp amplifies it.

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, Dackzy said:

If we talk onboard then the onboard amp amplifies it.

though its weird they have to amplify it

 

why not just allow the DAC to output at the voltages that they're supposed to be and not deal with amp's signal degredation and what not

since we're dealing with mV anyway

lower voltage = tougher to control due to lesser resolution = less clarity

 

or what i learnt in class is false `-`

[Dackzy]

3 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

though its weird they have to amplify it

 

why not just allow the DAC to output at the voltages that they're supposed to be and not deal with amp's signal degredation and what not

since we're dealing with mV anyway

lower voltage = tougher to control due to lesser resolution = less clarity

 

or what i learnt in class is false `-`

A dac does not have what it takes in it to out put the signal with the voltage it need to and there is things that is called combos like a external dac and amp in one single box and soundcards. Maybe take the dac as the gpu and think of a amp as the cable that runs to your screen and your headphones as your screen with out the cable you can do anything with your screen.