Built-In ALC850 better than Audigy 2 Value?!

Food

Hi guys i just found out something really strange,i was curious to try the audio built-in on the mobo which is a Realtek AC97 ALC850 so i downloaded the latest drivers off Realtek website, connected my 5.1 speakers fired some mp3's through WinAmp and all i can say is WOW!

also i tested FEAR Combat and a dozen of other games such as FSX, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and many more, also i watched a bit of Matrix and Star Wars dvdz.....
i heard details never heard before and the atmosphere in movies were incredible, the bass is not drowned and the quality of songs are ace, one thing i noticed in some games i could recognize when an object is ABOVE or BELOW, never felt that with the Audigy 2.

i uninstalled the Audigy 2, removed the card....bye bye creative LOL

i always thought AC97 were cheap and stupid, never expected such "progress" and i suppose Realtek HD is even better.

3dmark 2003 audio bench didn't show any framerate loss either and actually i gained 2 fps in the 24 sounds test. lol

i consider myself an audiophile because i have very good ears and can recognize differences that other people around me cannot, and i'm glad i tried the Realtek one, games run great, mp3 sound great, drivers are nice and doesn't install bloatware. i love it!

dunno about you but i'm happy now!

scoutingwraith · 10-19-2006, 04:44 | posts: 9,228 | Location: Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha

Hmm.. do you have the Azalia chip. I am curious.?

Food · 10-19-2006, 05:10 | posts: 2,239 | Location: Around The World

what is the Azalia chip and how or where can i find out about it?

curiously i'm listening at the mo to some mp3's at 128k which previously sounded just like 128k but on this Realtek chip they sound really clean and nice. the best way to explain this is mp3's doesn't sound Re-Processed or something, it's as if the Audigy 2 re-processed the audio and then outputs it, with the Realtek the audio is almost CD like.

i listened to Bryan Adams song and i heard some piano i never knew it was there, i have listened to this song on the AWE64, SbLive and Audigy 2, never heard that piano notes before it magically appeared out of nowhere. LOL

the only other excellent chip i loved was the nVidia Soundstorm, it was one of the best ever.

ROBSCIX · *Last edited by ROBSCIX; 10-20-2006 at 15:58.*

Perhaps your Audigy 2 wasn't set up properly. Sometimes good soundcards can make your music sound bad -why you ask? because if they are poorly encoded MP3 a decent soundcard will show you the problems with the audio. whereas a lesser card may make the music sound better becasue it isn't as accurate. Just something to think about...
Most cards can sound good or bad based on how they are setup.

CTman · 10-20-2006, 01:29 | posts: 1,999 | Location: Holland

What kind of speakers are you using? Klipsch, Logitech or Creative or even worser like "NO NAME".

I doubt that an onboard sound can have high quality sound. I have the realtek alc850 onboard sound on my current mainboard and it sounds muffled and the channels are not seperated very well; that is even more evident if playing a movie or playing a game with EAX support. And I have the Logitech z-5300 5.1 speakers.

Well, I am glad you are happy with what you got.

By the way Azalia is HD onboard sound, while the alc850 is just a normal ac97 onboard sound.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_H...finition_Audio

anthony · 10-24-2006, 05:14 | posts: 1,260 | Location: canada

yea i agree with the previous statement of something not being setup correctly... i a cheap audigy ls and my onboard sound will only sound better if i havent done any eq tuning. but even my cheap card sounds substantially cleaner than my ac97 onboard. id suggest cleaning up those drivers and do a re-install then tweak your eq