Discrete sound card vs Integrated

[Key West]

I have Turtle Beach Riviera Maya PCI, it connects to my humble Boston Acoustics 4.1 sound system.

Now, my new motherboard comes with VIA VT1708S audio chipset... I can't find any reviews on this and how it compares to discrete cards.

Is the sound fine just using the onboard? What are your thoughts?

 

[Soundmanred]

Unless the card is high end, or does decoding or effects that the onboard doesn't do, there won't be much difference these days.

 

[Fallen Kell]

The Turtle Beach isn't going to do any better than the integrated. It may only make a difference if you happen to have a poorly placed chip on the motherboard and bad EMI shielding. Best thing I can say to do is try it without the sound card and see how it does.

Now if you had an Asus Xonar HDAV1.3 or an Auzentech X-FI Home Theater, or other card which does DTS/DD-Live! encoding (i.e. encodes all the audio into a DTS or DD format to be streamed via S/PDIF to a receiver) then I would say stick with the discrete sound card. But a generic sound card like a Turtle Beach and you might as well just use the integrated.

 

[Deleted member 4644]

Unless the card is high end, or does decoding or effects that the onboard doesn't do, there won't be much difference these days.

Not sure I agree.

I have a Asus Xonar and I can definitely tell the difference. But if you are not using $>150 headphones or $>200 speakers, then yes, on board sound is actually probably fine.

 

[Ghouler]

VIA chipsets are not renown for quality. I would rather use that TB card are get a new one from Sound Blaster or Asus, both companies have some decent cards for less than 80 bucks.

 

[Modelworks]

If you are using the digital out then the sound will be the same between on board and sound cards unless you are doing some processing with effects on the card. If you are using line outs then it can differ.

 

[kalrith]

If you are using the digital out then the sound will be the same between on board and sound cards unless you are doing some processing with effects on the card. If you are using line outs then it can differ.

That's the big difference for me. I'll be nixing my discrete sound card in favor of onboard audio once I switch to using the digital out exclusively. I already do this with my HTPC and will soon be switching to HDMI audio on that when I get a new receiver.

OP, it sounds like you're using the lines out to your speakers, so there might be an advantage to using the discrete sound card. However, it wouldn't hurt to try out the onboard audio and stick with it if you don't notice a difference.

 

[BassBomb]

I always had an odd noise coming through my motherboard, so I just use my Audigy2