Are sound cards still relevant? Yes*

[UsandThem]

So a quick update after owning and using this card for about month and a half now. I still enjoy the sound it provides, and the dedicated headphone amp really drives my headphones with great results.

The only negative I have is related to the Creative drivers/app. Sometimes when I switch between headphones and my speakers, I lose sound all together, and I have to reboot my PC to get it working again. Thankfully it doesn't happen often, but it's still annoying when it happens. Another gripe I have about the driver/app is if I am listening to music, and a video with audio auto-plays (or a Windows sound) reduces the volume of the music, and it stays lower until I reboot.

The one thing I can say about the onboard Realtek audio is the drivers/apps they provide, never caused me any kind of these issues at all. Creatives driver team have gotten better from where they were many years ago, but there is definitely room for improvement. They seem to release new drivers on a more regular basis, but they need squash some of these annoying bugs.

 

[whm1974]

So a quick update after owning and using this card for about month and a half now. I still enjoy the sound it provides, and the dedicated headphone amp really drives my headphones with great results.

The only negative I have is related to the Creative drivers/app. Sometimes when I switch between headphones and my speakers, I lose sound all together, and I have to reboot my PC to get it working again. Thankfully it doesn't happen often, but it's still annoying when it happens. Another gripe I have about the driver/app is if I am listening to music, and a video with audio auto-plays (or a Windows sound) reduces the volume of the music, and it stays lower until I reboot.

The one thing I can say about the onboard Realtek audio is the drivers/apps they provide, never caused me any kind of these issues at all. Creatives driver team have gotten better from where they were many years ago, but there is definitely room for improvement. They seem to release new drivers on a more regular basis, but they need squash some of these annoying bugs.

Well I hope for your sake you don't come down with Audiophile Nervosa and buy your own utility pole and transformer to get the perfect sound.

 

[UsandThem]

Well I hope for your sake you don't come down with Audiophile Nervosa and buy your own utility pole and transformer to get the perfect sound.

No way. I like good audio, but I'm a much more focused $/performance kind of person. I would never buy $1k headphones or amps like many of the hardcore people over at Head Fi do. I read some of those guy's reviews on what they have for their audio set-ups, and my wife would kill me if I came home and said "Hey honey, I bought some $4k Audeze LCD-4 headphones so Pink Floyd could sound just a little bit better".

Heck, I didn't even buy this sound card until Newegg had a 20% off coupon for it.

 

[whm1974]

No way. I like good audio, but I'm a much more focused $/performance kind of person. I would never buy $1k headphones or amps like many of the hardcore people over at Head Fi do. I read some of those guy's reviews on what they have for their audio set-ups, and my wife would kill me if I came home and said "Hey honey, I bought some $4k Audeze LCD-4 headphones so Pink Floyd sounded just a little bit better".

Heck, I didn't even buy this sound card until Newegg had a 20% off coupon for it.

I'm happy with my on board sound and Flips Audio Headphone/Speakers combo. Loud enough and normally don't get any hissing. Decent sound for me since I have hearing loss.

 

[UsandThem]

I'm happy with my on board sound and Flips Audio Headphone/Speakers combo. Loud enough and normally don't get any hissing. Decent sound for me since I have hearing loss.

My Realtek onboard audio was good, I was more or less curious on what new sounds cards could bring.

My headphones are open-back Philips Fidelio X1 and closed Sony MDR-1RBT Bluetooth headphones (I use them wired except when I wear them outside while doing yardwork).

However, I also just pulled the trigger on some Bower and Wilkins P7 that were on sale for $199 for a few hours the other day. They just haven't arrived yet. Depending on how good they are, I might sell my Phillips.

 

[paperfist]

So a quick update after owning and using this card for about month and a half now. I still enjoy the sound it provides, and the dedicated headphone amp really drives my headphones with great results.

The only negative I have is related to the Creative drivers/app. Sometimes when I switch between headphones and my speakers, I lose sound all together, and I have to reboot my PC to get it working again. Thankfully it doesn't happen often, but it's still annoying when it happens. Another gripe I have about the driver/app is if I am listening to music, and a video with audio auto-plays (or a Windows sound) reduces the volume of the music, and it stays lower until I reboot.

The one thing I can say about the onboard Realtek audio is the drivers/apps they provide, never caused me any kind of these issues at all. Creatives driver team have gotten better from where they were many years ago, but there is definitely room for improvement. They seem to release new drivers on a more regular basis, but they need squash some of these annoying bugs.

I run into the same problem and then there's the problem of a million devices that want to take over as the sound card like the GPU, monitors, etc.

 

[Lordhumungus]

Not sure, but that might be the loudness equalization option doing something. Just be careful if you turn it off you don’t blow yourself away.

 

[UsandThem]

Not sure, but that might be the loudness equalization option doing something. Just be careful if you turn it off you don’t blow yourself away.

I double checked, but it's not that. It's really an odd thing. When I use the Realtek audio on all of my other PCs (only my main PC has a sound card), if I am listening to music and say Windows makes a "ding" sound, or a site like USAToday has auto-play videos when you click on a story, it temporarily lowers the volume of music until the sound/video is done, and then it returns the music to the same volume I had it at. With the Creative card, it actually lowers the volume until a reboot. So if I was listening to a song a volume level 20, after the noise/video is done, volume level 20 is no longer the same, and I have to turn the volume up to say level 30 - 40. It's really odd, and the first time I have run into anything like this (even with previous Creative cards in the past).

 

[aigomorla]

Id honestly say, if you need a dedicated sound card depends on how good your motherboard is with onboard audio, and also if you need a DAC for your headphones.

For example, there are boards with built in Sound Blasters, and the gigabyte Auros series also has a very aggressive audio driver.

But if you need a dedicated DAC to power something like a Beyerdyanamic DT990 Premium 600ohm, then possibly.

However again, my Auros had a dedicated DAC port for USB, so id rather use a DAC directly on that then use a sound card.

 

[Rifter]

Personally, I went from having a Xonar Essence STX internal sound card for a number of years, to recently trying out the Realtek ALC1220 as my daily driver (mainly due to logistics since I went to an NCase M1 ITX setup and can't have an internal sound card).

I've tried it paired with a few headphones I have (Sennheiser HD650, Philips SHP9500, V-Moda Crossfade M-100, and Koss KSC75) and much to my surprise I found that the STX completely blew the Realtek away. So much so that I actively do not like listening to music or watching videos with the internal sound card.

I never really considered myself an "audiophile" (particularly since I've had some amount of hearing loss/damage due to constant inner ear issues as a kid), just someone who appreciates nice things at a good value, but sweet Christmas, the difference is night and day. The Realtek fails on volume, clarity, separation and pretty much any other category I can think of.

In fact the difference was so noticeable that it has swung me super hard in the other direction and I am now piecing together a "proper" setup with external DAC (Geshelli ENOG PRO), tube amp (Little Dot MK III, and solid state amp (Massdrop x THX AAA 789). This way I can play around with everything and easily upgrade/sidegrade/downgrade to my liking.

The STX is a nice card, i have one too and rest assured i will keep using it as long as PCIe slots and drivers exist for it.

 

[Lordhumungus]

The STX is a nice card, i have one too and rest assured i will keep using it as long as PCIe slots and drivers exist for it.

Couldn't agree more. Other than the change in form factor forcing my hand, I don't think I would have ever felt the need to upgrade or move to anything else.

Since originally posting, I finally got my DAC and Little Dot MK III setup and I can't tell if I love it, or if I'm just relieved to be rid of the sadness that was the Realtek. Either way, I'm in a much better place sonically than I was when I originally posted.

I still have a hard time believing that folks are objectively ok with the sound it produces (I mean no offense to anyone that's fine with it). It was just, SO BAD.

On an unrelated note, what is it with "audiophile" gear and their weird ergonomic decisions? My DAC has cords coming from both ends, so there isn't a great way to set it down other than vertical on its side which points the approximately, as bright as the sun, blue and red LEDs directly into my retinas. Having the power switch on the back of the Little Dot is incredibly inconvenient as well. I'm sure the answer boils down to isolation or something along those lines, but man, it really can't be worth the inconvenience in my opinion. Really happy with how everything is coming together otherwise.

 

[UsandThem]

I'm still very pleased with my sound card. I even run my GTX 1080ti in 8x mode because I use the sound card in a full-length PCIe slot. This is due to the two available 1x slots are located in very bad areas (directly on top of my GPU, and one directly below it). Unfortunately the both trap heat and block airflow, so I had to install it in another slot, dropping my GPU 8X mode (only drops performance by 1-2% though).

I find myself listening to my music a lot more since I bought it. With good headphones is where the card (and its dedicated headphone amp plug) really shines and shows its stuff. I will be keeping this one until it dies.