Upgrade from Maximus Formula 6 onboard audio

kabir92

kabir92

kabir92

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Hi, does anyone have any experience of the Maximus Formula onboard audio, is it really as good as a dedicated sound card? (like they advertise), Im using onboard audio right now and it doesnt seem to be anything special :confused:, I just had to create custom eq profiles to get it to sound right.

The thing is I have nothing to compare it to atm, but from what I remember my previous desktop sounded the same (using the same speakers/headphones) and that was lenovos onboard audio (realtek I think)

So was just wondering if a dedicated card would do a better job, and if its worth upgrading to one?
 
If you're just playing games and listening to mp3's then the onboard is probably fine. If you have quality headphones or an interest in DAW (cubase etc) then a sound card will be much better.
 
From what I understand in regards to the onboard audio, the circuitry is beefed up but the actual chip is still of normal quality. Or am I wrong?, just a thought lol
 
I have just upgraded to higher quality HiFi speakers and amplifier, was thinking of getting a pair of high quality headphones down the line, Im also listening to flac files/ 320kbps mp3's, would it be that much of a difference? or am I better of getting a DAC?
 
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kabir92 said:
I have just upgraded to higher quality HiFi speakers and amplifier, was thinking of getting a pair of high quality headphones down the line, Im also listening to flac files/ 320kbps mp3's, would it be that much of a difference? or am I better of getting a DAC?
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What type of connection you use for connecting your speakers/amp to the PC/motherboard?

If you are connecting via 3.5mm cable instead of spdif, then yes you should get a delicate soundcard such as the Asus Essence STX/STXII or exteral DAC...they will be miles better than your motherboard's audio, especially if you listen to flac and 320kbs mp3s.
 
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Im using a 3.5mm cable for my speakers and headphones. Thanks Marine-RX179, ill have a look at those sound cards and also do some research on external DAC's.

Anyone got any recommendations for DAC's that would be better than my specific mobo sound?
 
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kabir92 said:
Im using a 3.5mm cable for my speakers and headphones. Thanks Marine-RX179, ill have a look at those sound cards and also do some research on external DAC's.

Anyone got any recommendations for DAC's that would be better than my specific mobo sound?
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External DAC could potentially be better and less likely to suffer from interference, however they do cost quite a bit more. For your use, I would say your best bet is probably to try to get your hand on a 2nd hand Asus Essense STX for around £50-£70.
 
Got the same board here and the onboard audio is awful. Did use an Asus xonar DX which was much better. But as I'm now using sli I can't fit it unfortunately.
 
setter said:
Got the same board here and the onboard audio is awful. Did use an Asus xonar DX which was much better. But as I'm now using sli I can't fit it unfortunately.
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But surely you can use the bottom PCI-E x16 slot of your MAXIMUS VI FORMULA for the DX?

PCI-E x1 hardware works in PCI-E x16 slot as well.


If even the DX was much better than the onboard of the MAXIMUS VI FORMULA, then a STX would be a huge upgrade for OP. I recently upgraded from my dx to the STX II, and the improvement was very apparent.

STX isn't really much worse than the STX II according to others.
 
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On this board if you place anything in the bottom red x4 slot it disables sli. The only slots left are the one between the gpu's which would block an already hot top card and the one above the top card which is blocked by my cpu cooler.
 
Right, Ill start looking around, been out of the loop for a while when it comes to audio, I found a DAC for £150, its the "Cambridge Audio DACMAGIC 100", it would be that vs the "Asus Xonar Essence STX Sound Card"
 
its for both, I know a sound-card would be better for gaming, and a DAC better for music etc, I guess I need to make a choice. I read somewhere that a DAC with optical can also do "positional audio" apparently
 
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You could use a cheap Asus Xonar DGX and an optical Schiit Modi DAC. That would cost you £105 plus delivery for the two which would feed your hi-fi amp and speakers very nicely.

You mentioned that you may get a good pair of headphones further down the line - does your hifi amplifier have a good headphone amp built in? If not then your best bet for least money would be to get an STX as it has an excellent DAC and a decent headphone amplifier and will feed your speaker amp perfectly too.

If you want an external DAC & headphone amp that can be used as a preamp for your hifi amp and speakers, the Asus Xonar Essence STU might fit the bill. Its an external high quality USB/CO-ax/Optical DAC & headphone amp with separate volume controls for headphones and pre-amp output - it sounds very good too. For gaming you could either feed it optically from a Xonar DGX card or just use RAZER's software solution that does much the same thing.

A cheaper option might be the Asus Xonar U7 external USB sound card for £65. It contains a very good DAC chip, a pretty respectable headphone amp, though it is a fair bit weaker than the STX or STU, line out connections for feeding your amp and a rotary volume control for the headphones.

Some ideas to chew on anyway :D
 
rids57 said:
You could use a cheap Asus Xonar DGX and an optical Schiit Modi DAC. That would cost you £105 plus delivery for the two which would feed your hi-fi amp and speakers very nicely.

You mentioned that you may get a good pair of headphones further down the line - does your hifi amplifier have a good headphone amp built in? If not then your best bet for least money would be to get an STX as it has an excellent DAC and a decent headphone amplifier and will feed your speaker amp perfectly too.

If you want an external DAC & headphone amp that can be used as a preamp for your hifi amp and speakers, the Asus Xonar Essence STU might fit the bill. Its an external high quality USB/CO-ax/Optical DAC & headphone amp with separate volume controls for headphones and pre-amp output - it sounds very good too. For gaming you could either feed it optically from a Xonar DGX card or just use RAZER's software solution that does much the same thing.

A cheaper option might be the Asus Xonar U7 external USB sound card for £65. It contains a very good DAC chip, a pretty respectable headphone amp, though it is a fair bit weaker than the STX or STU, line out connections for feeding your amp and a rotary volume control for the headphones.

Some ideas to chew on anyway :D
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Thanks for the ideas rids57, my hifi amp does have its own headphone amp built in (its an integrated amplifier), I tested it against the headphone amp on my mobo (600 ohm amp, same spec as in the Xonar Essence STU) and it definitely goes a lot louder, max volume with mobo board amp is bearable, couldnt even get to max volume on my hifi amp, it just got too loud. Its probably not the right test for this but ill ask where I bought it from and make sure its fine for high end headphones.

I just did a test with razers software and it sounds like they've bumped up the eq too, should be good enough for gaming anyway, will it work fine with a ext DAC? because tbh I'm leaning slightly towards the ext DAC option, one with an optical input. plus I would like the option to SLI in the future and not have to remove a sound card for it
 
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It will but a sound card may block airflow of the top card. Worse with non ref cards. On the formula the best slot to use for a soundcard with sli is the one above the top gpu slot. Provided of course it isn't blocked by a large cpu cooler.
 
if SLI is in your future then an external DAC is the way to go and if you're happy with the RAZER software then all you need is the optical Schiit Modi which is just as good as the DAC Magic and half the price.
 
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