External gaming sound card.

clone · 16 Jul 2018 at 10:50

Are these any better than the normal internel cards,I've got AKG 701 headphones that I use all the time on the pc.

Glanza · 16 Jul 2018 at 11:46

Buy yourself a decent dac / amp setup and stay away from anything with 'gaming' branding.

Schiit stack would be a good starting point.

EsaT · 16 Jul 2018 at 19:21

External don't have access to any special parts.
D/A converters are common components.
Same for audio opamps.

And for headphone power levels any discrete components are just huge challenge to match each particular component, so that whole circuit works together.
While IC can have special components designed for that single circuit.

Rroff · 16 Jul 2018 at 19:30

If you are gaming I can highly recommend the Creative AE-5 - it has a reasonably decent amp onboard that can drive most consumer headphones no hassle combined with a good quality DAC and a good selection of software sound processing options like virtual surround if that is to your taste.

Marsman · 16 Jul 2018 at 19:39

External is only really better if you have issues with too much EMI inside the case affecting an internal sound card.

PapaLazaru · 18 Jul 2018 at 12:27

Rroff said:
If you are gaming I can highly recommend the Creative AE-5 - it has a reasonably decent amp onboard that can drive most consumer headphones no hassle combined with a good quality DAC and a good selection of software sound processing options like virtual surround if that is to your taste.

Only £99 at the moment as well!

sniperone · 31 Jul 2018 at 22:52

Where can you find it for £99 ?

Legend · 13 Aug 2018 at 12:02

Having recently moved to ITX I have had a similar conundrum, as I cannot fit a soundcard in my system. I wanted something that could take my mic as well, and have tried both the Creative Sound BlasterX G5 and the Asus Xonar U7 MKII. I can't say I noticed a massive difference between the two, but the G5 was louder and had a few nicer software features. Nearly twice the price though.

I don't know if all the virtual surround gaming stuff is just marketing BS or not. It may very well be but I am no audiophile. I would be interested to know what the Schiit might sound like compared to these, especially across a range of music and games. Has anyone used the Schiit Fulla 2? Fulla Schiit, gotta love that ha!

I have a pair of Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro 250 ohm headphones with a mod mic attached.

Marsman · 13 Aug 2018 at 13:00

Schiit Fulla 2 is just a DAC/amp, so has no input for microphone; output only.

While it is very good I wouldn't expect any improvement over the G5.