Would a new Sound Card be Worth it?

BlackMaster · 4 Jan 2016 at 20:27

I'm thinking of buying my first decent gaming headset. In the past I have always gone for £20 make do's, which means I can never wear them more than about 30 minutes before my ears start to bleed from the discomfort.

So I'm looking at buying something like: Sennheiser PC 363 D Gaming Headset

I noticed that these come with USB sound card, so to my mind there should little point in getting a new sound card with it? I'm currently using my on-board Realtek ALC892 chip; (okay you stop laughing now!).

Logistically having a nice speaker setup in my room isn't practical. Currently only using £15 stereo logitech speakers. This is also reason why I thought to go down the gaming headset route.

Needles to say I've never really invested in sound when comes to PC gaming.

I obviously do not want to buy the above mentioned headset; if you only got the 7.1 surround sound with an additionally capable sound card.

Phal · 4 Jan 2016 at 20:41

Anything that comes with a USB soundcard negates the need for a separate one so you wouldn't need a soundcard

Soundcards are worth getting if you have a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system or if you have some premium headphones (or if you have money burning a hole in your pocket hehe). The rest of the time your onboard sound will probably be more than good enough (if you don't buy something with a USB soundcard).

YB2ndBEST · 4 Jan 2016 at 20:51

A good soundcard (basically a better DAC) is worth it. The one you're referring to I have no idea about, but when I went from Asus Rampage onboard sound (which is supposed to be pretty good lulz) to an external dac and amp I was completely shocked at how much better it got.

I think you're in for a treat

BlackMaster · 4 Jan 2016 at 23:16

Thanks for both of your responses, makes me feel a little bit more at ease

Last sound card I had came with a ISA interface

eek

Will look at ordering the headset towards the end of the month :cool:

TheDesX77 · 5 Jan 2016 at 17:14

As others have said, this headset will bypass your onboard sound entirely by using its own DAC and amp in its external soundcard. Adding an internal soundcard won't make any differnence.

To take advantage of a better soundcard, you would need a headset with analog connectors and then enable Dolby Headphone or similar to get surround effects.