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DFI Audio Chip, or old AUDIGY

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DJSfurry

Senior member
Hi. im going to be using a DFI Lanparty NF4 U-D soon and am wondering whether the Karajan audio chip that comes with it would be a better performer over my standard Audigy "Digital Extreme" Pci card that i currently use. on the box it claims its a High-Def audio chip and it has been seperated from the motherboard to reduce 'component noise' and less utilization of the CPU.

I'm just wondering whether i should install drivers for it and make use of it or stick to my aged audigy for audio. i have a fairly good set of speakers and am interested in good sound
 
even if the audigy card is 3/4 years older? i know that it would generally be better, but then im sure a new audio chip on a specially designed, isolated platform SHOULD perform better than a old sound card by now at least? i mean they mustve improved on the technology.. i guess ill run tests when i have it set up and see.. but if anyone has opinions whether one is definately better than the other, please post!
 
take onboard video as an example. A 2-3 year-ago top-line graphics card will still beat almost any onboard video. The new RS480 and Nvidia 6100 still get beat in some benchmarks by a Geforce 5700.
 
Originally posted by: DJSfurry
Hi. im going to be using a DFI Lanparty NF4 U-D soon and am wondering whether the Karajan audio chip that comes with it would be a better performer over my standard Audigy "Digital Extreme" Pci card that i currently use.
Click to expand...

Lemme open up a can of "instant audio, just add sound..." Let's see what we get... "use PCI sound card..." There's your answer in a can.

Here's the deal. Some onboard audio uses more CPU than PCI. Some onboard audio sounds "crappy" compared to PCI. Some onboard audio picks up system crackling/hissing noises. Some... does not equal all.

The "Soundstorm" audio on some Nforce2 chipsets were well regarded. Companies such as DFI have worked on making onboard sound work better than "typical onboard sound."

In your case, since you already have both, why not try them both? Choose the one that sounds better with your speakers and to your own ears.
 
Depends. Audigy with cheaper headphones sounds about the same as onboard with moderate quality headphones. Good onboard sound with great cans and a good amp sounds much better than an Audigy 2 with cheap headpones. So it really does depend also on what you have as far as speakers, or (and) headphones and an amp. For instance on my budget rig ALC-655 driven with an AMP and Icemat cans easily sounds as good as an Audigy 2 with Grado 60's (with no amp) on my high end system.
 
The on-board is fine for me. Sound is one of the more personal aspects of a "personal computer" so I'd say the on-board is worth trying out, if you don't like it then slap the card in.
 
Originally posted by: will889
Depends. Audigy with cheaper headphones sounds about the same as onboard with moderate quality headphones. Good onboard sound with great cans and a good amp sounds much better than an Audigy 2 with cheap headpones. So it really does depend also on what you have as far as speakers, or (and) headphones and an amp. For instance on my budget rig ALC-655 driven with an AMP and Icemat cans easily sounds as good as an Audigy 2 with Grado 60's (with no amp) on my high end system.
Click to expand...

Well the Audigy is better assuming equivalent speakers/headphones . . . 😛
 
like vanvock, i use the karojen. its fine if you're not an audiophile. i had a chaintech av710 at one time but sold it because the karojen does a fine job.

if you're concerned about performance, the karojen on the dfi boards only has ~7% cpu utilization in 3d, which is far better than most onboard solutions.

like zap said, if you already have it, matters well just try them both.
 
haha yeah these MX 5021s are great. you guys who like bass should have a listen to these things, especially when set up right. the bose triports i use for gaming are great too, despite the crap on these forums about Bose. (note that i said GAMING not sound reproduction!) anyway thanks for the input. 7%cpu utilization sounds way too high. Ill probably start off with the Audigy then give the other ones a go later on when the computer is sorted.
 
I don't think the onboard Karajan is 7% IIRC it was more like 3% - very low for onboard, but i would still use the audigy. I have heard the MX5021's and your right they are nice speakers. From what i uderstand the fatal1ty boards CPU utilization is even a tad lower with onboard, but DFI certainly did a good job nontheless. Only thing you would be missing out on with a Creative card would be EAX 3 possibly (and EAX4 with audigy2).
 
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