Sound card vs HDaudio

Captain · 17 Feb 2018 at 20:49

I’m using the built in RealtekHD sound on my Aorus gaming with some Edifier R1600TIII speakers, am I likely to notice much difference by using a sound card?

EsaT · 18 Feb 2018 at 09:21

Likely no.
Better Realteks have reached level where they're good enough for accuracy of human hearing and speakers don't need binaural simulation.

Captain · 20 Feb 2018 at 17:07

Thanks

didn’t think there would be much point in buying a sound card.

TALON1973 · 20 Feb 2018 at 19:24

Depends much your willing to throw at it as well.

Captain · 21 Feb 2018 at 00:31

TALON1973 said:
Depends much your willing to throw at it as well.

Depends on what it would cost to actually notice a difference, I mainly play competitive FPS games so would benefit from finely tuned sound to increase footsteps etc and be better able to judge if an opponent is further away that expected.

JasonM · 21 Feb 2018 at 17:13

Law of diminishing returns, when I first purchased an Asus Essence ST I could notice a difference on desktop speakers, the cards such as Essence ST are better as there more honest in sound reproduction, then again if your happy with the sound from your Realtec I would stick with it.

As I side note, I don't think any sound cards are worth it (including on-board) and we are all better with quality external DAC's run from motherboard digital output, this is only for 2.0 sound of course. You get less interference and far more future proof driver wise.

I actually own 2 Essence ST's I intended to run one in a HTPC connected to quite a high end home HiFi, (Pioneer digital Amp, £800 retail of yamaha speakers) in the end I removed the Essence ST and used the built in DAC inside the Pioneer amp, the sound output was near identical however the Pioneer AMP/DAC had less interference in it. I write this to back up what I was saying about interference from sound card, and external DAC's are better.

C-Roy · 1 Mar 2018 at 05:55

JasonM said:
I actually own 2 Essence ST's I intended to run one in a HTPC connected to quite a high end home HiFi, (Pioneer digital Amp, £800 retail of yamaha speakers) in the end I removed the Essence ST and used the built in DAC inside the Pioneer amp, the sound output was near identical however the Pioneer AMP/DAC had less interference in it. I write this to back up what I was saying about interference from sound card, and external DAC's are better.

That's interesting to know, thanks.

mistersprinkles · 7 Mar 2018 at 20:49

JasonM said:
Law of diminishing returns, when I first purchased an Asus Essence ST I could notice a difference on desktop speakers, the cards such as Essence ST are better as there more honest in sound reproduction, then again if your happy with the sound from your Realtec I would stick with it.

As I side note, I don't think any sound cards are worth it (including on-board) and we are all better with quality external DAC's run from motherboard digital output, this is only for 2.0 sound of course. You get less interference and far more future proof driver wise.

I actually own 2 Essence ST's I intended to run one in a HTPC connected to quite a high end home HiFi, (Pioneer digital Amp, £800 retail of yamaha speakers) in the end I removed the Essence ST and used the built in DAC inside the Pioneer amp, the sound output was near identical however the Pioneer AMP/DAC had less interference in it. I write this to back up what I was saying about interference from sound card, and external DAC's are better.

Agree 100%, although there are USB and SPDIF 5.1/7.1 AV receivers and DAC solutions, not just stereo.

If you are serious about sound get an external DAC. Even a $99 USD Schiit Modi 2 will outperform almost any $250-class soundcard for audio quality.