At what point will we no longer need sound cards?

[Auric]

UDI seems DOA and DisplayPort more likely but interface aside, at some point we need real-time LPCM output to become commonplace for its relative simplicity and high quality.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

USB Headset FTW lol

 

[bluemax]

At what point will we no longer need sound cards?

... when the entire generation is deaf from blasting themselves with earbuds.

😉

 

[bassoprofundo]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune

Originally posted by: willtriv
wow. I can't even stand onboard for music. I download all flac and mp3 320. I can't handle the slightest of artifacts. Running music on onboard is like using a record player and then using your bose 802's on a 900 watt yahama amp from a cd when you use audigy.

Seems like a perfect match to me....








😛

I don't even understand what he's trying to say.

Record Player - mostly limited to "audiophile" use now
Bose - yeah...
900 watt Yahama (Yamaha?) amp - Does Yamaha even make a 900 watt amp?
CD - standard

EDIT: They do http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/productdetail.html?CNTID=200109&CTID=5002400

I second that. I mean, WTH? The very fact that he equated a "record player" with crap sound and Bose with good sound disqualifies that opinion from anything resembling sense. Any audiophile will tell you that a high-end turntable/amplification setup can go toe-to-toe with the best digital sound available today. Anyone that even has a passing interest in quality audio setups knows that Bose hardware, while not as horrible as some would lead you to believe, is overpriced and overhyped. If that wasn't bad enough, he equates wattage with sound quality. I rest my case...

On another note... Count me in with the p_ssed at Creative camp. I've used their cards since the days of the 8-bit ISA Sound Blasters through today's X-Fi's with only a brief jaunt to the Aureal (RIP) camp (Half Life rocked on the Vortex 2, I must say). My current setup has the "snap, crackle, pop" PCI latency issue that no one's managed to figure out (see Creative's forums for an angry mob.) It ticks me off that we have no other real choices in sound when it comes to gaming. Onboard sound, while adequate for most day-to-day tasks, doesn't hold up in sound quality comparisons, and it can tax the heck out of a CPU. Even worse is that some of the other 3rd-party add-in sound cards tax the CPU worse than onboard codecs when it comes to DirectSound acceleration. I know of no other solution on the market right now that offers Hardware DirectSound acceleration. I guess I need to just hang it up and listen to my crap LP collection. 🙂