Why bother when you can have a USB device? The longer you keep the sound purely digital the better.
Why the move away from add in sound cards?
- Thread starter Pete Tong
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Why bother when you can have a USB device? The longer you keep the sound purely digital the better.
Soldato
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Yes I did, HDMI does not function properly, as it requires a fake secondary display to be active.
Motherboard does not have optical out.
Depends what inputs/ outputs your monitor has. I use HDMI into my TV which passes the sound through to my soundbar.
Soldato
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No audio outputs on monitor.
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I have had Creative soundcards since the Audigy days and am still using a Soundblaster Z that I have had since they came out and have never had a problem with Creative's drivers. I updated to the latest one a couple of weeks ago through Soundblaster Command and it was quick, easy and problem free. I have seen massive threads on many forums about their drivers but they have always just worked for me.
Onboard sound is garbage compared to a decent soundcard. I tried it on my last motherboard thinking that it must have improved by now and always felt like something was missing from the sound so went straight back to my Soundblaster Z. It was a Realtek ALC4080 which was one of their best audio chips at the time not one of the budget ones.
Soldato
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Most people aren't interested in sound, I noticed someone was watching one of the Marvel movies on his smartphone, with the speaker. I asked why didn't he watch on a big screen TV/projector and sound system.
he says the sound on the phone is fantastic
This is my experience also, I build my computers in the living room next to my main HiFi, and just out of curiosity I sometimes connect the newly built PC to my main HiFi system just to see what the on-board is like. The on-board is poor, I'm using Gigabyte Elite motherboards here, also the numbers and spec they put on motherboard audio means nothing.
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You can use an AVR?! Can you show me a picture of your setup?
I am thinking of upgrading my speakers, but I am not sure how to from the Z906.
Soldato
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I use digital audio out optical from a soundcard into a avr. Display port GPU into monitor. Speakers connected to avr.
Streamer and other things like dvd console connected to avr either coaxial or hdmi. Subwoofer connected to avr pre out
Did try hdmi out from pc into avr but had issues . If devices are hdmi 2.1 and monitor had e-arc would probably be ok.
Another method would be if avr had usb input so use that instead although unsure if that supports DD/dts
If you have z906 options would be active speakers or amp and passive speakers. Or usb dac amp . Like topping mx3
Streamer and other things like dvd console connected to avr either coaxial or hdmi. Subwoofer connected to avr pre out
Did try hdmi out from pc into avr but had issues . If devices are hdmi 2.1 and monitor had e-arc would probably be ok.
Another method would be if avr had usb input so use that instead although unsure if that supports DD/dts
If you have z906 options would be active speakers or amp and passive speakers. Or usb dac amp . Like topping mx3
A lot of people these days haven't experienced proper spatial sound like CMSS3D, SBX, etc. I know a guy who was just using standard stereo for gaming in Windows and never realized you could set Windows Sonic as spatial audio. He was amazed when he realized he could hear sounds behind him after enabling it. Gamers are missing out a lot because of how Microsoft and developers fail to advertise what spatial audio is.
As someone mentioned above, MS changed how gaming audio worked, meaning you could no longer utilise the hardware features of SoundBlasters for example in DirectAudio.
That and as PC's became soo much more powerful they didn't need the audio offloading to a dedicated card.
Motherboard makers actually put *some* effort into onboard sound these days, they're nowhere near as noisy and cruddy as they used to be. They are perfectly fine for most people.
With the rise of external DAC's and speakers with their own digital inputs, that was another nail in the coffin for soundcards.
Unless you're doing recording and producing, there isn't really a need at all. If you want awesome audio, just get a good external DAC.
That and as PC's became soo much more powerful they didn't need the audio offloading to a dedicated card.
Motherboard makers actually put *some* effort into onboard sound these days, they're nowhere near as noisy and cruddy as they used to be. They are perfectly fine for most people.
With the rise of external DAC's and speakers with their own digital inputs, that was another nail in the coffin for soundcards.
Unless you're doing recording and producing, there isn't really a need at all. If you want awesome audio, just get a good external DAC.
Soldato
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The problem with lack of digital out on motherboards, I'd need a monitor with HDMI audio pass through / E-ARC or somekind.
Can you not use an HDMI splitter? One to monitor, other to receiver ?
Soldato
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Not unless the AVR receiver side disables the HDMI CEC video check lock on thing, no. Reason why I hate HDMI with all the sync, you get drop outs when you switch on or off the device.
If I get a big GPU it means losing the NVME adapter, not the end of the world but means I lose one extra possible drive, unless I pickup a couple of 2.5" SSD (four SATA sockets)
Plus soundcard is old no official W11 support, compared to if I had motherboard onboard drivers are supported and new
I use to use an Asus Essence STX II for my PC, still probably one of the best consumer sounds cards, won't go back to sound cards however.
I now use a Yamaha / Steinberg external DAC connected using ASIO with DSD support, analogue output is XLR into studio monitors. Yamaha drivers are upgraded regularly also. The sound quality from the Yamaha / Steinberg DAC is awesome indeed.
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Most cheap splitters strip the HDCP protection bit if that's what you mean.