Sound Card or Onboard ?

Dan C

Dan C

Honorary Master
Joined
Nov 21, 2005
Messages
42,023
Reaction score
18,435
Location
Beacon Bay (EL)
Well I bought an Asus Xonar D1 mainly to try on my HTPC, because it comes with a low profile bracket which should fit in my Lian case. So I firstly
tried it on my gaming PC, just to see what settings etc. there are....

I got a bit lazy and never transferred it to the intended HTPC ...
but today, windows 7 decided to give me uphill and not recognising the card at certain times.. so I took the trucker out and I'm back to onboard audio :whistle:

Soooo what I'm really on about here , onboard audio sucks !!! when I first switched to a dedicated sound card, I couldn't really tell the difference, but going back...

:D
 
Perhaps I have a tin ear, but I had to give up my Xonar for onboard audio when I upgraded [my motherboard does not have PCI slots], and I have not noticed any glaring reduction in sound quality.

Going back to basics has also meant that I no longer have to battle with drivers, and can use my Logitech Z4 speakers again.
 
Dan C said:
Well I bought an Asus Xonar D1 mainly to try on my HTPC, because it comes with a low profile bracket which should fit in my Lian case. So I firstly
tried it on my gaming PC, just to see what settings etc. there are....

I got a bit lazy and never transferred it to the intended HTPC ...
but today, windows 7 decided to give me uphill and not recognising the card at certain times.. so I took the trucker out and I'm back to onboard audio :whistle:

Soooo what I'm really on about here , onboard audio sucks !!! when I first switched to a dedicated sound card, I couldn't really tell the difference, but going back...

:D
Click to expand...

Always nice when someone else sees the light :D Which speakers/headphones are you using?

Andaeriel said:
Perhaps I have a tin ear, but I had to give up my Xonar for onboard audio when I upgraded [my motherboard does not have PCI slots], and I have not noticed any glaring reduction in sound quality.

Going back to basics has also meant that I no longer have to battle with drivers, and can use my Logitech Z4 speakers again.
Click to expand...

Anything you can use with built in audio, you can use with the Xonar, I'm not sure what you're getting at.

Also, with cheap speakers you won't notice much of a difference anyway really...
 
Factors that might influence on whether onboard or not is more a question on what to require in excess of cd quality (16bit/44khz) sound.

1. Do you listen to higher bitrate/hz music.
2. The surround sound options and the Dolby certification. (for instance Dolby for Blu Ray)
3. How many inputs you require. (spdif, rca, 1/4 or 1/8 mic) ect.
4. Do you require these to be low latency recording capable (ASIO capable)
5. How much do you like to tweak your sound. (some add on audio cards come with a lot of software like equalisers, room settings ect.)
 
Definitive test #1
Generate 100Hz tone

Results
Onboard - 100Hz tone and high frequency background noise
Sound card - 100Hz tone, nothing else.
 
TJ99 said:
Always nice when someone else sees the light :D Which speakers/headphones are you using?
Click to expand...

I use logitech 2.1 only ATM, but the intention was to use it on my HTPC which will be connected via SPDIF into a surround AMP. But as far as the sound quality go, like I said before, one can't really tell when you upgrade from onboard,but when you switch back to onboard you realise how much better a dedicated card really it is.
 
I found the Creative ZX series to provide a much better sound than the on-board one. Not so much with CDs and MP3, but with MIDI the difference is astounding
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X