Do I need a sound card?

[Atlantean]

I have a hercules game theater xp but I have been having problems with headphones and mic in the breakout box (using headsets for video games, only getting audio in one ear). Should I just run onboard audio? I have an abit nf7-s mobo, is the onboard audio any good?

EDIT: Also I am sick of the breakout box... it was cool at first but after a couple years its kinda annoying, recommend another sound card. I think I am gonna give the onboard audio a try, I think that some connection with the headphones plug-in is shot and thats why I am only getting audio in one ear.

 

[AIWGuru]

www.google.com
search
"nf7-s review"

 

[AIWGuru]

"But when testing the Abit NF7-S board I had to revert to the external sound card. The thing is, after plugging in speakers/earphones to the integrated audio output there was a lot noise that blurred good music perception. All the witchcraft with drivers and BIOSes didn't help eliminate the noise . "

 

[jdogg707]

I used the Soundstorm audio on the NF7-S for a while and never experienced any issues with it, it didn't sound as good as my Audigy 2 so I just continued to use that. As long as you have the latest drivers you shouldn't have any problems with it.

 

[Redviffer]

I thought Nforce boards were supposed to have really good onboard sound?

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: Redviffer
I thought Nforce boards were supposed to have really good onboard sound?

No, they have a decent 16 bit DSP as far as 16bit DSPs go. But their analogue quality is completely dependant on whatever lame duck codec they're coupled with. In this case, very lame duck.

 

[MDE]

My NF7-S has surprisingly good sound. I'd give it a try.

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: Redviffer
I thought Nforce boards were supposed to have really good onboard sound?

No, they have a decent 16 bit DSP as far as 16bit DSPs go. But their analogue quality is completely dependant on whatever lame duck codec they're coupled with. In this case, very lame duck.

Have you ever owned/heard the audio from the NF7-S? If so, please validate your claim, with personal experience, if not, you have nothing else to say.

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: jdogg707

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: Redviffer
I thought Nforce boards were supposed to have really good onboard sound?

No, they have a decent 16 bit DSP as far as 16bit DSPs go. But their analogue quality is completely dependant on whatever lame duck codec they're coupled with. In this case, very lame duck.

Have you ever owned/heard the audio from the NF7-S? If so, please validate your claim, with personal experience, if not, you have nothing else to say.

I answered my own question, since I found your response from another post:

"HAHAHAHA! I'm such a dick tonight. You did say that I just missed it.
Sorry.
Uh, anyway, have you checked out the control panel? Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the Nforce audio so I can't really help you there. But, there should be somewhere you can set two speakers, four speakers, etc. Have you done this yet?"

The above disqualifies you from any further relevant comment in this thread.

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: jdogg707

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: Redviffer
I thought Nforce boards were supposed to have really good onboard sound?

No, they have a decent 16 bit DSP as far as 16bit DSPs go. But their analogue quality is completely dependant on whatever lame duck codec they're coupled with. In this case, very lame duck.

Have you ever owned/heard the audio from the NF7-S? If so, please validate your claim, with personal experience, if not, you have nothing else to say.

Now you're the one being a dick.
Scroll up. I quoted a review citing the lame codec.
It uses a crappy realtek codec which is around 80dba snr and a horrible dynamic range. Regardless of how much of a fan of nforce you are, you can't deny that this codec (if you don't know what a codec is in this context, look it up) is a POS and produces bad sound. The reviewer heard it and you can read it in the specs.

 

[MDE]

We're both saying that we haven't experienced this issue.

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: MDE
We're both saying that we haven't experienced this issue.

Lots of people can't tell the difference 'tween an 8368 c-media and an audigy 2. What's your point?
edit: but this board does support soundstorm so if you use that, bypassing the codec, you'll get very good sound.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: MDE
We're both saying that we haven't experienced this issue.

Lots of people can't tell the difference 'tween an 8368 c-media and an audigy 2. What's your point?

That you shouldn't hinge your entire argument on one person's comments. I noticed the difference between the onboard sound on my old K6-2 400, Asus A7N8X Deluxe, and NF7-S (worst to best). What's your point?

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: MDE

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: MDE
We're both saying that we haven't experienced this issue.

Lots of people can't tell the difference 'tween an 8368 c-media and an audigy 2. What's your point?

That you shouldn't hinge your entire argument on one person's comments. I noticed the difference between the onboard sound on my old K6-2 400, Asus A7N8X Deluxe, and NF7-S (worst to best). What's your point?

All I"m saying is that I don't have to have heard board XYZ that's using a crappy codec to know that all boards made with that codec provide crappy analogue sound more than a need to play a system using a voodoo3 to know it will produce crappy fps performance.
It's a chip. It's the same on all boards.
Realtek ALC650
It's not good.
It is what it is and being tethered to nforce won't make it any better.
HOWEVER, if he uses soundstorm, he'll be FINE!

 

[teckmaster]

just jump on eBay and get yourself a set of Plantronics DSP-500 headphones with mic. they are digital and plug into a usb port. Therefore, no need for a sound card.

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: jdogg707

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: Redviffer
I thought Nforce boards were supposed to have really good onboard sound?

No, they have a decent 16 bit DSP as far as 16bit DSPs go. But their analogue quality is completely dependant on whatever lame duck codec they're coupled with. In this case, very lame duck.

Have you ever owned/heard the audio from the NF7-S? If so, please validate your claim, with personal experience, if not, you have nothing else to say.

Now you're the one being a dick.
Scroll up. I quoted a review citing the lame codec.
It uses a crappy realtek codec which is around 80dba snr and a horrible dynamic range. Regardless of how much of a fan of nforce you are, you can't deny that this codec (if you don't know what a codec is in this context, look it up) is a POS and produces bad sound. The reviewer heard it and you can read it in the specs.

So you are saying that this reviewer's one experience with this board is more relevant than the personal experiences of users. You have never heard it, you have no experience with it, the people who have have not had this issue, end of arguement. You have no basis for your arguement except for the single claim from this reviewer. And then you come back and say that the board uses Soundstorm, which means it will produce pretty good audio, which negates everything else you have said.

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: jdogg707

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: jdogg707

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: Redviffer
I thought Nforce boards were supposed to have really good onboard sound?

No, they have a decent 16 bit DSP as far as 16bit DSPs go. But their analogue quality is completely dependant on whatever lame duck codec they're coupled with. In this case, very lame duck.

Have you ever owned/heard the audio from the NF7-S? If so, please validate your claim, with personal experience, if not, you have nothing else to say.

Now you're the one being a dick.
Scroll up. I quoted a review citing the lame codec.
It uses a crappy realtek codec which is around 80dba snr and a horrible dynamic range. Regardless of how much of a fan of nforce you are, you can't deny that this codec (if you don't know what a codec is in this context, look it up) is a POS and produces bad sound. The reviewer heard it and you can read it in the specs.

So you are saying that this reviewer's one experience with this board is more relevant than the personal experiences of users. Hahahahaha, you are an idiot. You have never heard it, you have no experience with it, the people who have have not had this issue, end of arguement. You have no basis for your arguement except for the single claim from this reviewer. And then you come back and say that the board uses Soundstorm, which means it will produce pretty good audio, which negates everything else you have said.

Well, since you started throwing around the personal insults/attacks here you go:
you're a fscking ignorant twat.
It's a fscking Realtek ALC650. That's a crappy codec which has a fscking crappy dynamic range and a crappy snr. There's no debating it. It's not like a bug that some people experience and others don't.
It's a chip and it has certain capabilities. Nothing will ever change that.
If you want to put fingers in your ears and go "LALALALALALALA!" and think it's as good as an audigy2, audigy 1, or envy knock yourself out. It doesn't change the fact that you're an ignorant SOB.
and no soundstorm does not negate everything I've said you goddamn retard. I've been saying all along it has good digital output which bypasses the codec. That's what I've always said. I've been attacking the codec, not nforce soundstorm. I said right off the bat that nforce is a decent dsp. Damn you're stupid.

 

[MDE]

Digital out from the SoundStorm (what is actually true SoundStorm) is superior to the analog output. Some people are just really touchy about "cheap" sound solutions being inherently subourdinate to Creative's almighty products. For most uses the NF7-S's onboard sound is fine, only the OP can decide if it's good enough for him.

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: jdogg707

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: jdogg707

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: Redviffer
I thought Nforce boards were supposed to have really good onboard sound?

No, they have a decent 16 bit DSP as far as 16bit DSPs go. But their analogue quality is completely dependant on whatever lame duck codec they're coupled with. In this case, very lame duck.

Have you ever owned/heard the audio from the NF7-S? If so, please validate your claim, with personal experience, if not, you have nothing else to say.

Now you're the one being a dick.
Scroll up. I quoted a review citing the lame codec.
It uses a crappy realtek codec which is around 80dba snr and a horrible dynamic range. Regardless of how much of a fan of nforce you are, you can't deny that this codec (if you don't know what a codec is in this context, look it up) is a POS and produces bad sound. The reviewer heard it and you can read it in the specs.

So you are saying that this reviewer's one experience with this board is more relevant than the personal experiences of users. Hahahahaha, you are an idiot. You have never heard it, you have no experience with it, the people who have have not had this issue, end of arguement. You have no basis for your arguement except for the single claim from this reviewer. And then you come back and say that the board uses Soundstorm, which means it will produce pretty good audio, which negates everything else you have said.

Well, since you started throwing around the personal insults/attacks here you go:
you're a fscking ignorant twat.
It's a fscking Realtek ALC650. That's a crappy codec which has a fscking crappy dynamic range and a crappy snr. There's no debating it. It's not like a bug that some people experience and others don't.
It's a chip and it has certain capabilities. Nothing will ever change that.
If you want to put fingers in your ears and go "LALALALALALALA!" and think it's as good as an audigy2, audigy 1, or envy knock yourself out. It doesn't change the fact that you're an ignorant SOB.
and no soundstorm does not negate everything I've said you goddamn retard. I've been saying all along it has good digital output which bypasses the codec. That's what I've always said. I've been attacking the codec, not nforce soundstorm. I said right off the bat that nforce is a decent dsp. Damn you're stupid.

You are a very angry person aren't you? I do not believe it was anywhere near appropriate to start cursing the way you did and throwing the verbal barbs like that, it was uncalled for and shows your maturity level. Anyway, if it has been Soundstorm certified, it cannot be that bad, I have heard it, it sounded perfectly fine on my Logitech Z-5300's, not as good as my Audigy 2, but perfectly fine for normal use. You on the other hand have not heard it, and are relying on one article to base your entire arguement. The problem with this is that other people have heard it and you are trying to tell us we do not know what we are talking about it because of this article. On a side note, I will apologize for my calling you an "idiot", it is obvious that through your posts you have shown yourself otherwise...

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: jdogg707

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: jdogg707

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: jdogg707

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: Redviffer
I thought Nforce boards were supposed to have really good onboard sound?

No, they have a decent 16 bit DSP as far as 16bit DSPs go. But their analogue quality is completely dependant on whatever lame duck codec they're coupled with. In this case, very lame duck.

Have you ever owned/heard the audio from the NF7-S? If so, please validate your claim, with personal experience, if not, you have nothing else to say.

Now you're the one being a dick.
Scroll up. I quoted a review citing the lame codec.
It uses a crappy realtek codec which is around 80dba snr and a horrible dynamic range. Regardless of how much of a fan of nforce you are, you can't deny that this codec (if you don't know what a codec is in this context, look it up) is a POS and produces bad sound. The reviewer heard it and you can read it in the specs.

So you are saying that this reviewer's one experience with this board is more relevant than the personal experiences of users. Hahahahaha, you are an idiot. You have never heard it, you have no experience with it, the people who have have not had this issue, end of arguement. You have no basis for your arguement except for the single claim from this reviewer. And then you come back and say that the board uses Soundstorm, which means it will produce pretty good audio, which negates everything else you have said.

Well, since you started throwing around the personal insults/attacks here you go:
you're a fscking ignorant twat.
It's a fscking Realtek ALC650. That's a crappy codec which has a fscking crappy dynamic range and a crappy snr. There's no debating it. It's not like a bug that some people experience and others don't.
It's a chip and it has certain capabilities. Nothing will ever change that.
If you want to put fingers in your ears and go "LALALALALALALA!" and think it's as good as an audigy2, audigy 1, or envy knock yourself out. It doesn't change the fact that you're an ignorant SOB.
and no soundstorm does not negate everything I've said you goddamn retard. I've been saying all along it has good digital output which bypasses the codec. That's what I've always said. I've been attacking the codec, not nforce soundstorm. I said right off the bat that nforce is a decent dsp. Damn you're stupid.

You are a very angry person aren't you? I do not believe it was anywhere near appropriate to start cursing the way you did and throwing the verbal barbs like that, it was uncalled for and shows your maturity level. Anyway, if it has been Soundstorm certified, it cannot be that bad, I have heard it, it sounded perfectly fine on my Logitech Z-5300's, not as good as my Audigy 2, but perfectly fine for normal use. You on the other hand have not heard it, and are relying on one article to base your entire arguement. The problem with this is that other people have heard it and you are trying to tell us we do not know what we are talking about it because of this article. On a side note, I will apologize for my calling you an "idiot", it is obvious that through your posts you have shown yourself otherwise...

Yes, I have heard it. There is an identical codec chip, the Realtek ALC650 sitting in my motherboard right now.
And if you can appologize, so can I.
I'm just so pissed at the people in this forum defending a chip which has very limited specs, which nothing will change, with statements starting with "I've never had that..."
I guess it's 'cause it's such a populated forum.
Anyway, sorry for blowing uip. I'vbe been drinking heavily tonight so I've very surly

 

[MDE]

Could we stop quoting 85 posts at once? It sucks trying to navigate this flamefest...

 

[jdogg707]

This may be a good article to read, it shows the capabilities of the Realtek ALC650 codec, which has a 90db SNR, which is a good bit better than the 80db described above, it also has an 18-Bit ADC and a 20-Bit DAC, not terrible for onboard. Anyway, it might clear up some of the confusion around here...

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: jdogg707
This may be a good article to read, it shows the capabilities of the Realtek ALC650 codec, which has a 90db SNR, which is a good bit better than the 80db described above, it also has an 18-Bit ADC and a 20-Bit DAC, not terrible for onboard. Anyway, it might clear up some of the confusion around here...

I was actually looking at that a few minutes ago. Those specs are from the manufacturer and in reality, it's in the mid-eighties. Take alook at the "performance" section where it barely holds up to VIA's poor solution. The actual SnR is dependant on the board layout.

 

[jdogg707]

But it did hit the 90db SNR ration, as the VIA solution did not hit the stated SNR.

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: jdogg707
But it did hit the 90db SNR ration, as the VIA solution did not hit the stated SNR.

Not that it achieves this in anything but the reference board but you do realize that 90dB is NOT a good SnR, right? Sound doubles for every (and this is open to debate) 2-3dB. Since discrete solutions start at around 100dB (16-32 times less loud noise floor) this is hardly comparable to a soundcard.