i can DEFINITELY tell the difference between onboard realtek and my asus Xonar DX.
speakers used are M-Audio LX4 and headphones are SHURE SRH840. Improvements in range and bass and clarity can be heard on both listening devices...
Hey, I was just wondering how much better the sound quality is on a sound card than onboard sound. I am somewhat of an audiophile and can appreciate good sound quality when I hear it. I'm not one of these people who fall for the Bose nonsense, I know real sound quality when I hear it. After knowing this do you think I will appreciate having a good sound card? I've never really heard sound from one before.
Provided you actually have audiophile, studio, or reference grade headphones then the differences are quite big. But if your using low end powered pc-multimedia speakers (EG: Klipsch, logitech, altec, etc), then the differences will be minimal to non-existent.
No. If you were an audiophile you'd never be satisfied with sound coming from a computer. So let's cross that off of the list. If you were an average user, you'll probably be satisfied with the onboard HD audio that's on today's motherboards.
I can tell the difference when using something like a Creative X-Fi over my onboard audio which uses a solution from Realtek. I run my sound through a Logitech Z-5500. However, I just don't bother. It's one of those cases where I'm ok with the onboard sound. For instances where I really want to enjoy a movie or music, I go to my 50" HDTV and sound system.
Obviously this is a highly subjective issue and for other people, they'd say that there is no way in hell they'd be satisfied with onboard audio. So I'd say most people would be satisfied with onboard audio but it's a YMMV thing.
You have 2 Choices
Get an Xfi-Extreme Music, and MOD it with new opamps, short muting transistors, and replace 3 of the power caps, 2 for opamp, 1 for MAIN power. <- u can google this.
OR get a Digital capable speaker set, and just use ur onboard for digital out, and let the speakers do the processing.
ON BOARD SUCKS. even ONBOARD xfi sucks. XFI sucks period, so does Xonar, and everything that has muting transistors.
what makes you think the DAC section on the 'digital speakers' do a better job at that? Speakers can't play a digital waveform, there is going to be analog conversion happening somewhere. More often than not if it is less than a dedicated hardware (i.e. usb dac), the quality seems to get worse for the obvious reasons of cost cutting.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Well said.
All you are doing is moving the digital (0101001100111) signal conversion from the sound card on the motherboard to the "sound card" in the speakers control unit. Somewhere along the digital signal path it must go from numbers to an analog signal. And chances are in the speakers, they use a much cheaper, lower quality DIGITAL ANALOG CONVERTER (dac) than the one in your motherboard; this is especially true if you have a mid priced or better motheroboard (Asus, DFi, Gigabyte) where they often install something comparable to an X-Fi; this is especially true if the audio comes on a separate audio riser card.
Keep stroking your short e-peens. DACs are NOT the problem when it comes to cheapo sound "including the X-fi". Signal Path is the problem. It goes through too much garbage. Whatever sound not coming from a convoluted path is the correct choice.
So he could get a better PATH with the Sound card,,
OR a seperate speaker with digital in with INFERIOR DACs woooo.... will still sound cleaner.
Keep stroking your short e-peens. DACs are NOT the problem when it comes to cheapo sound "including the X-fi". Signal Path is the problem. It goes through too much garbage. Whatever sound not coming from a convoluted path is the correct choice.
So he could get a better PATH with the Sound card,,
OR a seperate speaker with digital in with INFERIOR DACs woooo.... will still sound cleaner.
I like both so I don't have to swap cables around to switch between headphones and speakers since the physical connections are buried under my desk somewhere. Generally have music going through speakers with onboard sound and play games with headphones through the sound card.
http://electronicsusa.com/mk5.html"In Use by the U.S. Air Force!"
I will give you a tad bit of credit, yes there is a lot of psudo junk science involved with anything audiophile related (eh-hem fancy cables). But when it comes to DACs there is a lot of difference between cheap and expensive.
It's almost obvious the equipment you have connected is of lower quality. If you had higher quality transducers and amplification you would immediately notice the difference between low cost dac and more expensive options, from Burr-Brown, Wolfson, ESS, Cirrus Logic etc.
With my AKG K-702 headphones the differences are strikingly clear between onboard, my crummy vintage 1997 sony discman, my low end mp3 discman (gift, 2001?), and my X-Fi Pro (Burr Brown or Cirrus Logic)
If all of these audio samples made by different recorders* sound the same to you, then your audio setup needs an upgrade. Think of it as a Nokia Monitor Test for your ears (eg, the shades of black and white).
*(Sony PCM-D1 is the gold standard benchmark)
ME doing the stroking.. I honestly wish I could.. But you seem to be the one that keeps telling everybody to throw money at the issue,, Oh yea,, "my AKG K-702 ($2-300)" is awesome clearrrr, awesome,, stroke stroke stroke... wooooo burrr brownn....
If you have cheap headphones costing less than $220 or powered speakers less than $500 in price, you wont likely notice the difference. Wear a pair of Mid to high end Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, Grado, or AKG headphones and you will quickly become very picky as to which soundcard you listen to.
If your looking for additional perfomrance, hardware based soundcards like X-Fi and XONAR still provide up to a 10% boost in 3d performance. However the only caveat is that support for hardware based audio is slowly fading away and those performance gains in the future will be less and less untill there is none.