Sound Blaster Audigy died, worth replacing?

[B@Th*nG]

i've upgraded to Win 10 and apparently the drivers for this series "broke" 6 months ago with a windows update and they no longer work - they install but no sound. I used to use the digital out (via 3.5mm to single phono - PCM according to the display on the receiver) to my Yamaha Receiver and a decent set of stereo speakers.

I've had to use the onboard Realtek HD Audio for now, using analogue output, and i FEEL as though the sound isn't as good - is it my imagination? Do you need soundcards anymore? Am i going to get an improvement by plumping for another card? I just want excellent quality stereo sound. Is there a benefit to going digital over analogue? If it is worth it do you have any budget friendly recommendations? I'll probably pick something up second hand if it's expensive to buy new.

Thanks!!

B@

 

[PapaLazaru]

What do you plug into it like what headset etc?

 

[B@Th*nG]

What do you plug into it like what headset etc?

i don't plug anything into it, just my amp as described above. The computer is in my living room so we use it to play music. Maybe occasionally a regular set of headphones, no headset.

B@

 

[EsaT]

Use of digital output bypasses circuitry of sound card.
While motherboard is rather bad place for getting good analog signals out, assuming DAC of integrated sound card is even that good in the first place.
Again if integrated sound card has SPDIF output then analog circuitry is again moot point.

Though receivers are unlikely to use expensive high end components and better sound cards have very likely better DACs.

 

[B@Th*nG]

Use of digital output bypasses circuitry of sound card.
While motherboard is rather bad place for getting good analog signals out, assuming DAC of integrated sound card is even that good in the first place.
Again if integrated sound card has SPDIF output then analog circuitry is again moot point.

Though receivers are unlikely to use expensive high end components and better sound cards have very likely better DACs.

The board does have SPDIF so i'll explore that. The receiver is a Yamaha HTR-5640 so i THINK it's pretty decent, but i'm no audiophile.

B@

 

[JasonM]

I've had to use the onboard Realtek HD Audio for now, using analogue output, and i FEEL as though the sound isn't as good - is it my imagination? Do you need soundcards anymore?

It's not your imagination. If you think about it, the onboard Realtek has maybe $5 worth of audio hardware, it just can't compare to a good quality sound card.

 

[B@Th*nG]

I've got an optical cable now. Interestingly i'm unable to choose anything but "stereo" on my amplifier when using it, whereas I used to be able to choose Dolby and DTS when using digital coax. I've got DTS and Dolby selected as supported outputs on the PC in the Sound configuration. Should I care? When switching between DTS and Stereo on the receiver I always found it sounded better as DTS: Music, for example.

B@

 

[yashiro]

There's no difference between using Digital Coax over SPDIF. The options on your receiver or in Windows will not change if you change these cables.

If the output choice in Windows has changed since you last checked it's due to software changes in the OS.

And yes, unless your sound driver supports Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect you will only get stereo via SPDIF for all audio. Playback of movies, pirate or otherwise, ARE able to output Dolby/DTS but as a digital bitstream, i.e. the PC is in pass through here and the receiver does all the decoding. Games, and Windows, do not output bitstream audio in this way (this is what Dolby Digital Live does).

Switching between DTS and Stereo on your receiver is probably just triggering additional processing. i.e. DTS expanding the stereo signal to all 4 channels.

 

[B@Th*nG]

There's no difference between using Digital Coax over SPDIF. The options on your receiver or in Windows will not change if you change these cables.

If the output choice in Windows has changed since you last checked it's due to software changes in the OS.

And yes, unless your sound driver supports Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect you will only get stereo via SPDIF for all audio. Playback of movies, pirate or otherwise, ARE able to output Dolby/DTS but as a digital bitstream, i.e. the PC is in passthrough here and the receiver does all the decoding. Games, and Windows, does not output bitstream audio in this way (this is what Dolby Digital Live does).

Switching between DTS and Stereo on your receiver is probably just triggering additional processing. i.e. DTS expanding the stereo sginal to all 4 channels.

is there even any benefit to using DTS in a stereo configuration then? It's just stereo sound being received and output in stereo after all. I thought it sounded better in DTS previously but it could just be the DTS expanding the signal to 2 channels that don't exist (as you say) and, effectively, making it not sound like it's supposed to?

B@

 

[JasonM]

is there even any benefit to using DTS in a stereo configuration then? It's just stereo sound being received and output in stereo after all. I thought it sounded better in DTS previously but it could just be the DTS expanding the signal to 2 channels that don't exist (as you say) and, effectively, making it not sound like it's supposed to?

B@

I run just 2 channel output into both my 2.0 setups.

My Asus Essence has Dolby option, but this just creates a multi-speaker effect from the 2.0 system, it sounds better initially, but once I have listed for a while you realise it's making things worse. So if your DTS is doing anything similar I expect it's best turned off.

The general rule is you don't want any effects / alteration coming from your sound source. If you have to use anything like virtual surround it's making up for lack in your amp/speaker setup. Look at all the higher end HiFi setups, everyone runs everything neutral from the sound source, they won't even adjust basic things like bass or treble.

One thing I do use however is automatic sound leveling, as find it makes listening to music more easy, (also good for quite sections of audio in films) it also helps protect my ears if the levels go high.

 

[B@Th*nG]

alright thanks guys, it's been an education

B@