Do I need a sound card for headphones?

[Xerin7]

I'm getting an ASRock Z68 Pro3 motherboard, with the Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec. I plan to use headphones for gaming.

Do I need to buy a sound card like the Xonar Essence STX in order to use my headphones? Or can I just use the onboard sound with headphones, and still get realistic positional audio, etc.?

 

[aclim]

Your headphones will work with the onboard sound. Now whether an external card is better or not I do not know for sure. I seem to think so though and I did notice a definite increase in quality with my X-FI.

 

[jhansman]

If your case has a front panel connector that fits the header on your mobo, you shouldn't need anything else. Worst case is you'd have to use the rear panel headphone jack (green), in which case an extension cord might be handy.

NOTE: If you do end up needing an extension for your 'phones, get it from Monoprice. Radio Shack will gouge you.

 

[ElFenix]

other than the headphones making any noise generated by the computer more noticeable, it should work. the electrical noise my hard drives made came across over my built in audio so i switched to an external USB sound box. didn't bother me with speakers.

 

[Xerin7]

In case anyone is interested, I did a little research and found some good info:

"The ALC892's lack of surround-sound speaker virtualization is a definite weakness. Dolby Headphone isn't a perfect substitute for a proper 5.1-channel speaker setup, but for gaming, I much prefer it to vanilla stereo output. The two-channel speaker setup faked by the Realtek codec is an improvement over standard headphone output, too. However, it's definitely lacking next to the Dolby implementation, which feels more immersive."

"The question is not whether you need those upgrades, but if they're worth the additional expense. In the case of the $30 Xonar DG, the answer is a definitive yes. If you have halfway decent headphones or speakers, the DG offers a very real step up in sound quality for what amounts to a pittance. That's Editor's Choice material—easy."

http://techreport.com/articles.x/19997/5

Also check out this article:

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2011/05/who-needs-a-sound-card-anyway.html

I decided to get the ASUS Sound Card Xonar DG, which is perfect for headphone gaming, even better than the more expensive Xonar cards.

 

[jhansman]

Hmm, interesting product. Seems like the quality of headphones would affect this card's ability to reproduce a 5.1 audio environment. Do you have a set picked out?

 

[Xerin7]

Yes, Newegg currently has these headphones on sale for $75. I bought them today:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...a-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=3332167&SID=u00000687