Onboard Sound Vs. Add in Sound Card

^ Everyone can dry their eyes now.

http://www.asrock.com/news/?cat=News&id=1263

 

I love Purity Sound on my ASRock Fatal1ty H87 Performance. when I put Music mode enable with DTS with Logitech Z-5500 speakers sound very sweet & same goes with gaming too.

 

While the improvements are fantastic, and I'm glad to see them happen -- onboard still cannot compete with a good dedicated solution. Not even close.

 

Well Realtek ALC 1150 does compete with dedicated sound cards. with live DTS real time encoding on both music, movies & games, you can't beat that.

 

Dedicated solutions can offer all of those things (If they're even wanted) while giving vastly superior sound quality. So yes, you can beat it quite easily.

 

Cool, Looks to be that they're improving onboard sound with every new line of Mobo, awesome Asrock make some brilliant boards

regards,
RagDoll.

 

Here's my current setup.

• Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Plus
• Emotiva UMC-200 processor/preamp
• Emotiva XPA-2 power amp
• Canton Vento 890.2 DC gloss black speaker pair
• Emotiva Pro Airmotiv 5 powered studio monitors
• in-akustik Reference LS-1002 speaker cables
• Profigold PROA series RCA cables

 

Very nice setup. :thumbup:

 

I love my Xonar DG because I am not getting the annoying interference when I have my xbox360 wired usb version plugged in to my front USB while I was getting with the onboard Real tek sound. The only minor issue is that I started to dual boot windows 7 and Ubuntu Linux is that under Ubuntu the microphone jack does not work due to a bug in the driver or OS somewhere preventing the Microphone jack from functioning. But I have a workaround for that by getting a USB mic.

 

Thanks alot.

 

Its good that they improving onboard audio, I wont find my self using it because I use a Audio-GD NFB15.32 External Dac amp. At-least now people will at-least get better audio from there on board audio verse what on board audio was years ago. Even then people will still be using those cheap HP, Dell plastic speakers, or the generic dollar store speakers so they wont notice so much.

Also we wont scream when some one uses a headphone that req to be ampped from inboard now since haswell motherboards on board audio has decent headphone amp. Tho I will still scream in horror if some one tries to use a pair of AKG 70# with the on board headphone amp. I know that headphone well and I know how picky it is with headphone amps from my time from using the headphone.

One more thing when your using optical or coaxial it is using the components inside of your receiver or Digital speakers, all the sound card or on board audio is doing, is sending the data over digital as a transport. Also the need for dedicated sound cards for analog usage will always be here, no matter how much on board improve over the years.

 

Hehe. No problem mate, I hope my external setup is that good one day. My current kit is more Headphone focused.

- Aune T1 DAC/Amp (Genalex-Goldlion E88CC tube)
- Sennheiser HD650 and Beyerdynamic DT990 (Main cans)
- Nad C316BEE + Wharfedale Diamond 10.1 (For my speaker/stereo system, using the T1 as the DAC)
- Van Damne 6mm speaker cable + Pure OFC RCA cables

Not a patch on yours but passable for speaker use, I love the Diamond 10.1's but I think I'm just a bit of a headphone whore in all honesty.

 

How do you like those DT990's? Those are the open cans right?

 

They're open back, yeah. A mixed bag, polar opposite to the HD650's -- which is partly why I bought them. I wanted to get a feel for the other end of the spectrum. I like them, they sound good, and while I don't like them as much as the 650's they shine in areas the 650's do not. The bassiest open back cans I've heard.

 

...In process of reading the forums and such...several hours for now...my head is already hurts a lot ...and the answer remains obscure still.

I have onboard Realtek ALC889 and SONY MDR-MA100 headphones which i bought recently...and i'm using my PC mostly for gaming. And kinda sound output little low from what i'm hearing. "Loudness Equalization" is ON but still, the sound is not too much powerful in this headphones...

Quastion: If i buy a SB Audigy SE (don't wanna spend 100USD and more for hi-end) can i hear the difference in sound quality and in-game effects (bass, ambience, etc.) compare to alc889?..and much more important - overall sound power (output/ volume) increase? Or should i just buy some cheap (30-40USD) audio power amplifier for headphones instead?

Any help in finding the solution on this matter would be appreciated...my head hurts big time :bang:

PS. my headphones specs:

Spoiler

 

You should be able to find a Xonar DG in your country cheap which would be a better option then the aging old audigy 2. I would say yes you would notice the difference, as long your headphones is up to par.

 

...Xonar DG costs same as Audigy SE in my place - around 30USD. But i've heard some not too good reviews about DG - very crappy amp, bad drivers and software UI, etc. Creative have the same on the matter of drivers and such, but i have exp with it at least

I'm thinking...same cost for Fiio E5 amp - 30USD. Is it good i wonder... or i can purchase (in second-hand store/ without warranty) X-Fi Xtreme Audio for 20USD...what should i do, dang it!? xd

Anyways...you was saying, yes I will notice the difference compare to my alc889? How about sound volume? My headphones have 40 ohms impedance and this is too much for my onboard sound i think...with Audigy SE or X-Fi Xtreme the volume level would be much greater? How you think?

PS. Just found X-fi Xtreme Gamer for 15USD...omg
PPS. omg, omg, omg...X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Profess1onal Series for 25USD!!!..what should i do, GOD??! XD

 

Where are these reviews you're talking about? The Xonar DG AMP is decent for what it is, by contrast the Creative range you're talking about doesn't have an AMP at all. If your main goal is increasing volume and improving sound quality the DG is the best product in your price range. I'd argue that you'd see the biggest improvement from that.

 

Ok...I get it. Fairly said...and I want 2buy DG over Creative at first place, but as I was said before, the review of DG on the matter of headphones sound amp is very bad in russkiy community and such...they all tell me about how bad amp is working in DG with headphones...and, duck me sideways, but I just bought an X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro for 22USD and without any warranty...couple of hours ago...testing are in progress...wish me luck, dang it XD

PS. also, I drink vodka right now (not joking - party and stuff just start ) ... and I watch one of my favorite movie called "Cloud Atlas"...after 15-20 hours I will tell about how those tests are going and such. C'mon...22USd for X-Fi XG Fatal1ty Pro - price of the century from my perspective i can tell

 

Ok. The party has finished long ago and i just installed and checked my new sound card...X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro

Well...compare to alc889 and in general the sound quality is awesome. Bass, ambience sound and effects in games are just gorgeous. Plenty of settings to tweak in Creative Control Panel. And the most important thing is a volume level in headphones are much greater than in alc889. And all of this for 22 US dollars! - I'm happy like a pig on a sunny day

One thing though...two actually:
1. The actors voice volume level in movies are too low compare to main sound volume - I can't figure out what cause this issue.
2. I don't get it - why i need to use and install Console Launcher if Creative Control Panel has all the same settings and audio modes?