External amp, sound card, better quality? questions!

Frijz

Frijz

Frijz

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I know something similar has probably been asked but help me out. Currently I am running onboard audio but going into my sony TA-FE330R amplifier, which is where my Jamo studio speakers are plugged in, and also what I plug headphones into. Would I see any audio quality improvements with a sound card in my pc? As far as my ears go the quality seems fine even at high volumes
 
Onboad audio can be reasonable quality these days; so it depends upon what you've got. If you really want the best bang-for-buck then take digital out via usb (or optical) and go into an external DAC. This removes the D to analogue stage from within the noisy computer box environment.
 
The onboard audio is from a Gigabyte Z77-DS3H so definitely not highest quality. A DAC would be lovely but can't justify spending a high amount of money on one
 
The ALC887 codec on your motherboard is quite poor or average at best. You would definitely notice an improvement getting a sound card unless you use digital. I would recommend the soundblaster Z or xonar d2x. The OEM Soundblaster Z is excellent value and while the d2x has been cheaper it is still an excellent sound card.
 
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Slow down there peeps...

There will be NO quality upgrade if you upgrade the soundcard on your system if you are currently connecting to the amp via digital interconnects (and intend to in the future).

Reason for this is because the Digital -> Analogue conversion is happening at the amp stage.

If, however you were connect to your amplifier over analogue then yes there would be an incentive to upgrade to a decent soundcard as the conversion from Digital -> Analogue is happening here and NOT on the amplifier.

I hope this makes sense.
 
Frijz said:
A DAC would be lovely but can't justify spending a high amount of money on one
Click to expand...

Thing is, you'd probably get better sound quality for less money with an external DAC. If you notice that an internal Asus D2X is going to be around £90 then you could have the excellent FiiO E17 for around £99 or for much less, the still very reasonable FiiO D3 for around £30.
 
hughythomas said:
Slow down there peeps...

There will be NO quality upgrade if you upgrade the soundcard on your system if you are currently connecting to the amp via digital interconnects (and intend to in the future).

Reason for this is because the Digital -> Analogue conversion is happening at the amp stage.

If, however you were connect to your amplifier over analogue then yes there would be an incentive to upgrade to a decent soundcard as the conversion from Digital -> Analogue is happening here and NOT on the amplifier.

I hope this makes sense.
Click to expand...

Very true. The amp is a analogue stereo amp and not a AV receiver, so the highlighted text is bang on the money. :D

I had to check the model no., as I'm so used to seeing Sony AV receivers, I've hardly seen any standalone stereo amplifiers. Most of their stereo stuff tends to be consumer off the store shelf so called hi-fi units.
 
Okay thanks guys! As I said to my ears the quality is much better than anyone elses cheap speakers so i'll just keep it how it is!
Yeah I've had this amp for years now and it has no sign of dying yet!
 
You could find a huge improvement by not using a sound card at all. Use a DAC. I use a Music Fidelity M1 prior to this a VDac, haven't used a sound card in 5 years. Great for music gaming everything.

Fed to Cyrus 1 amp and Epos ES11 speakers or my Headamp and Sennhieser HD650

Frijz said:
The onboard audio is from a Gigabyte Z77-DS3H so definitely not highest quality. A DAC would be lovely but can't justify spending a high amount of money on one
Click to expand...
Sorry missed this, but I think you would not regret this purchase a Vdac can be found for around £100 new. There are lots of secondhand DAC's around. Just get a USB one.

+1 to hughythomas post.
 
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