Best Audio card for Linux?
- Thread starter FatRakoon
- Start date
Can't say I have either. I think small external USB DACs have taken over from internal sound cards these days as they are cheap, decent quality and you can easily move them between devices.
What’s your use case? Most people will use either the onboard sound or a USB DAC
I've been looking into this myself due to moving to Cachyos from Win10 (my PC is a 4930K so really old for Win 11) and my Asus Xonar Phoebus is detected but won't work in Linux. I've tried a few things but it won't work.
So, I'm looking into this myself and apparently the Creative AE-5 and the AE-7 work in Linux via reverse engineered drivers. Also the external X3 and X4 USB DACs will too. Although any USB DAC seems to be fine.
I've read the Asus Xonar AE works in Linux as well but I've been focused on the Creative AE ones as they seem better quality.
I'm just eying Ebay for a cheap 2nd hand X3/4 or an AE-7 model.
So, I'm looking into this myself and apparently the Creative AE-5 and the AE-7 work in Linux via reverse engineered drivers. Also the external X3 and X4 USB DACs will too. Although any USB DAC seems to be fine.
I've read the Asus Xonar AE works in Linux as well but I've been focused on the Creative AE ones as they seem better quality.
I'm just eying Ebay for a cheap 2nd hand X3/4 or an AE-7 model.
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Well, the thing is, that I have tried the OnBoard and frankly, its awful.
The sound Quality is very poor compared to my cards, and not only that, but under heavy gaming, it jitters crackles and pharts badly, and it is simply not even remotely useable.
As for a DAC then sure, I have a couple, and also I have the Creative OMNI External USB and that does a great job, however, I want to have an internal card not a USB one. I also have a couple of other USB Audio devices and also a couple of FireWire ones, but again, they are external.
I have also bought HDMI Sound adapters that rob the Audio from the HDMI Output, and for most things, its actually ok, but I am not happy with that solution either!
I keep having to reset the audio from time to time with the creative cards and its getting on my nerves now.
Its gone again and I have been using a Logitech USB device for the headphones for the moment and thats doing a great job.
I may give up and use the OMNI again, but I dont want to.
I am now 100% on Linux and for this to be the ONE thing that sets me back, then I am going to kick myself.
The sound Quality is very poor compared to my cards, and not only that, but under heavy gaming, it jitters crackles and pharts badly, and it is simply not even remotely useable.
As for a DAC then sure, I have a couple, and also I have the Creative OMNI External USB and that does a great job, however, I want to have an internal card not a USB one. I also have a couple of other USB Audio devices and also a couple of FireWire ones, but again, they are external.
I have also bought HDMI Sound adapters that rob the Audio from the HDMI Output, and for most things, its actually ok, but I am not happy with that solution either!
I keep having to reset the audio from time to time with the creative cards and its getting on my nerves now.
Its gone again and I have been using a Logitech USB device for the headphones for the moment and thats doing a great job.
I may give up and use the OMNI again, but I dont want to.
I am now 100% on Linux and for this to be the ONE thing that sets me back, then I am going to kick myself.
I’m not an expert on this, but I’d take a look at ALSA support for any cards you may be interested in. Then you can see if it should work at all. After that, you may want more on top for different functionality depending on what you’re doing. I have found Linux sound issues in the past but in recent years it’s pretty good.
External DACs seem to now be the more popular option and are likely to work fine. I was a sound card user before but since going ITX I’ll likely follow suit on that as often the DAC and amplification for headphones are superior anyway, not least due to being somewhat more isolated from the noise/EMFs from inside a PC.
External DACs seem to now be the more popular option and are likely to work fine. I was a sound card user before but since going ITX I’ll likely follow suit on that as often the DAC and amplification for headphones are superior anyway, not least due to being somewhat more isolated from the noise/EMFs from inside a PC.