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Best internal sound card?

AdmiralMeowmix
By AdmiralMeowmix
in Audio
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Honestly, unless your motherboard is a total piece of shit (or one of the super random ones with just shitty onboard gaming audio, only one I remember well is a specific z170 gaming board from Gigabyte), it honestly probably isn't an upgrade for you if your current audio solution gets your headphones loud enough.

 

The best solution though is an external DAC/AMP and no one here will recommend a sound card for a true audiophile (again outside of extremely specific times).

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Just now, Curufinwe_wins said:

Honestly, unless your motherboard is a total piece of shit (or one of the super random ones with just shitty onboard gaming audio, only one I remember well is a specific z170 gaming board from Gigabyte), it honestly probably isn't an upgrade for you if your current audio solution gets your headphones loud enough.

 

The best solution though is an external DAC/AMP and no one here will recommend a sound card for a true audiophile (again outside of extremely specific times).

I see, do you know how the onbaord audio of the Asus VIII Maximus Formula is?

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Just now, AdmiralMeowmix said:

I see, do you know how the onbaord audio of the Asus VIII Maximus Formula is?

About as good as motherboard audio gets.

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6 minutes ago, AdmiralMeowmix said:

Cool cool. Hm do ya know how it fares with a 250 Ohm headphones? A specific model would be the beyerdynamic 770 pro's.

250 ohm doesn't really mean much to me. I haven't used the 770 pros so I don't know how hard it is to drive, but if it gets loud enough for you, any distortion shouldn't be an issue (and if it isn't I'd recommend a USB DAC/AMP).

 

calling @SSL

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Just now, SSL said:

 

Something Schiit.

Aight. (Tbh that company might need a better name unless that was an intentional thing.)

 

I'm also thinking about buying the beyerdynamic 770 pro's and was curious between the difference between the 80 Ohms and 250 Ohms versions and which one I should buy.

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Just now, AdmiralMeowmix said:

Aight. (Tbh that company might need a better name unless that was an intentional thing.)

 

I'm also thinking about buying the beyerdynamic 770 pro's and was curious between the difference between the 80 Ohms and 250 Ohms versions and which one I should buy.

 

I would get better headphones if you're also considering a DAC and amp in that budget.

 

But probably whichever is cheaper. 80 ohm has slightly more bass if you care about that sort of thing.

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Just now, SSL said:

 

I would get better headphones if you're also considering a DAC and amp in that budget.

 

But probably whichever is cheaper. 80 ohm has slightly more bass if you care about that sort of thing.

ALrighty, Well what headphones would you suggest?

 

 

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Internal sound cards are kind of a thing of the past. External DACs (Digital to Analog Converters) are the thing most people go for now. The DAC you want really depends a lot on what you want to do with it. I personally use a Steinberg UR22 audio interface for headphone output and microphone input. It's not solely a DAC, as it features audio inputs for recording purposes, but it does the job well for me. If you happen to use an XLR mic it's a great choice.

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oh lol that onboard can wreck 100-150$ DAC and amp combos

Before you buy amp and dac.  My thoughts on the M50x  Ultimate Ears Reference monitor review I might have a thing for audio...

My main Headphones and IEMs:  K612 pro, HD 25 and Ultimate Ears Reference Monitor, HD 580 with HD 600 grills

DAC and AMP: RME ADI 2 DAC

Speakers: Genelec 8040, System Audio SA205

Receiver: Denon AVR-1612

Desktop: R7 1700, GTX 1080  RX 580 8GB and other stuff

Laptop: ThinkPad P50: i7 6820HQ, M2000M. ThinkPad T420s: i7 2640M, NVS 4200M

Feel free to pm me if you have a question for me or quote me. If you want to hear what I have to say about something just tag me.

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