Sound Upgrades?

T0M0

T0M0

T0M0

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Joined
11 Feb 2010
Posts
109
Hi all,

I am currently using the on board sound on my Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H Intel H55 (Socket 1156) DDR3 microATX Motherboard

I have a pair of Dr. Dre Beats Studio headphones and like listening to high quality music.

When the headphones are plugged in with no music playing there is a strange distorting noise, this continues throughout the time the headphones are plugged in.

Strangely this noise does not happen when I play my music through my speakers, only happens when my headphones are plugged in.

Would you recommend getting a sound card to enjoy better quality sounding music? Would it make much of a difference?

Thanks,
Tom
 
For £20 you really can't go wrong with the Xonar DG, for me the step up was incredible and the amp while not amazing quality did bring out some detail in my cans. YMMV but at £20 it's worth a punt, right?
 
Sure, for £20 it's definitely worth a go. Is that card sold on here? Are there any others I should look into?
 
Yes it is (last time I checked anyway). The Asus cards are fine and so are the majority of the Creative X-Fi range, far better than onboard sound anyway and will eliminate the noise you are getting.

The noise you are experiencing is due to a poor sound to noise ratio and lack of electro magnetic interference shielding on onboard sound solutions. Headphones are usually a lot more sensitive than loudspeakers, hence why only the headphones are picking it up.

Lastly cards like the Xonar DG and Essence STX have onboard headphone amps which can benefit headphones greatly (though it depends largely on the headphone itself and how well it responds to amping).
 
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