Sound Cards

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Staple

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I'm currently using onboard Realtek® ALC887 sound, and I'm wondering if spending some money on a dedicated sound card would be worth it. How much of a change will there be in sound?

I'll primarily be using Sennheiser HD555 headphones to listen to music/game audio, and sometimes I'll use 2.1 speakers to watch movies/listen to music from afar.

WHAT DO

Also note that I might upgrade to decent 5.1 speakers later in the year.
 
You'd notice a huge difference when pairing the HD555's with a decent soundcard (Asus Xonar DX/D1 upwards). The Asus Xonar D1/DX are great bang for buck at about R600 - R700.
 
When I first purchased my Sennheiser 555's about two months ago I was pretty disappointed. The difference in sound quality between them and some cheaper headphones (R600) I had lying around weren't all that great so I thought I wasted my money.

Then I got a new screen with a digital to analogue sound converter and started listening to music through the HDMI output of my PC and plugged the headphones into the audio out of the screen. Massive difference...

Before, I also had a motherboard with the ACL887 or 888 chipset and I used the front audio jack.

I'm sure that I'd be able to get even better quality sound if I purchased a proper DAC and not rely on the screen.
Someone else also told me: 1st purchase decent headphones, because it doesn't help if you have good audio equipment but nothing to listen with. 2nd purchase a decent DAC because it doesn't help you have good headphones but your audio hardware sucks.

Summary: You will likely notice a great improvement in audio quality, (assuming your audio source isn't some low bitrate 128kbps mp3). Once you have decent equipment, you'll not want to keep anything 192kbps and under ;)
 
320kbps is as low as I'd go. A decent soundcard makes a world of a difference...that and powering the headphones via a stereo amp :P
 
I'd recommend getting any of the Asus Xonar sound cards. Those things are awesome. My previous motherboard had a realtek onboard card, and just switching over to Asus motherboard with a different soundcard made a huge difference. The Xonar cards are even better than that. I'd say its a pretty good investment.
 
Necrite said:
320kbps is as low as I'd go. A decent soundcard makes a world of a difference...that and powering the headphones via a stereo amp :P
Click to expand...

FLAC all the way :D Though I do agree, a decent sound card can make for a much more enjoyable listening experience.

The ASUS Xonar cards are indeed impressive, helped a friend of mine set his up and the sound quality is rather good. A bit softer output than the X-Fi cards but that's a sacrifice I'd be willing to make.
 
Dedicated sound card CAN make a improvement, but many(myself included) can't hear the difference most of the time.
 
VERY please with Creative Lab's X-Fi range.

Nice upgrade from on-board sound.
 
I've been using Creative labs sound cards since they first came out with the soundblaster in the late 80's (ouch - I'm gerrin old). While there are excellent other products that do a fantastic job, EAX (the de facto standard for enviromental sound in Windows games) is a standard created by Creative Labs. For me, it's a no-brainer to get the X-Fi as; who better to get a sound card for EAX than from the creators of the Standard themselves?

But, you also can't go wrong with Asus Xonar cards - they are breathtaking.

Personally I prefer the X-Fi PCI-e Titanium series.
 
psichron said:
Summary: You will likely notice a great improvement in audio quality, (assuming your audio source isn't some low bitrate 128kbps mp3). Once you have decent equipment, you'll not want to keep anything 192kbps and under ;)
Click to expand...

Most 320kbps mp3's don't even do it for me any more. :(

Need FLAC. FLAC or GTFO. :D

Sennheiser HD595 + Xonar Essence STX. ♥
 
PostmanPot said:
Most 320kbps mp3's don't even do it for me any more. :(

Need FLAC. FLAC or GTFO. :D

Sennheiser HD595 + Xonar Essence STX. ♥
Click to expand...

I heartily agree. I'm ripping all my stuff in FLAC now. Mp3 just hurts my ears.. Think I need to invest in a sound card now... :erm:

Unfortunately I still need to store the mp3 320 version for some mp3 players though.
 
xera said:
I heartily agree. I'm ripping all my stuff in FLAC now. Mp3 just hurts my ears.. Think I need to invest in a sound card now... :erm:

Unfortunately I still need to store the mp3 320 version for some mp3 players though.
Click to expand...

Yeah...

Although most mp3's are alright on cheap/onboard sound cards. The better dedicated ones really expose the flaws, further exposed by a good set of cans... :(

Of course it also has to do with the ripper/ripping. Some 192kbps mp3's sound better than some 320kbps mp3's. Wish it was more standardised, and that 320kbps was always ripped well.
 
Most onboard sound cards are cr@p, as they use cheap chipsets and are prone to EM noise from the PC. PCI cards are also susceptible to this, but it is less noticeable in better cards as they use higher quality components and include EM shielding.
A decent quality external FW or USB 2.0 sound card and a set of Ultrasone headphones is the way to go if you want to notice a real difference, but price is obviously a major factor here.
 
Yeah, so I realised I don't have enough money for a worthwhile sound card, so nevermind for the moment. It's something I'll definitely want to save up for in the future though.
 
But don't go for a R99 el-cheapo soundcard. That could be worse than an onboard card.
 
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