Do I need a sound card?

[jdogg707]

But the majority of speakers do not have a very high SNR, 90 is good for onboard, as the people using onboard audio would not be using a massive speaker system or higher quality enthusiast speaker set. You have to look at the audience that it is being made for. Those using better systems would probably use the Soundstorm DSP or an external PCI card.

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: jdogg707
But the majority of speakers do not have a very high SNR, 90 is good for onboard, as the people using onboard audio would not be using a massive speaker system or higher quality enthusiast speaker set. You have to look at the audience that it is being made for. Those using better systems would probably use the Soundstorm DSP or an external PCI card.

Which is why the review that I quoted only experienced this limitation when he strapped on the headphones
but: even with my budget altec lansings (of yore) the sound going in still makes a difference. Just because they themselves having a low SnR (or high actually) doesn't mean that they're okay with anohter high source. The less degredation of the dynamic range of the original signal, the better the output.

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: jdogg707
But the majority of speakers do not have a very high SNR, 90 is good for onboard, as the people using onboard audio would not be using a massive speaker system or higher quality enthusiast speaker set. You have to look at the audience that it is being made for. Those using better systems would probably use the Soundstorm DSP or an external PCI card.

Which is why the review that I quoted only experienced this limitation when he strapped on the headphones
but: even with my budget altec lansings (of yore) the sound going in still makes a difference. Just because they themselves having a low SnR (or high actually) doesn't mean that they're okay with anohter high source. The less degredation of the dynamic range of the original signal, the better the output.

The person who originally posted has a set of Labtec speakers, there is no way he will be able to tell the difference between the onboard audio and the Game Theater. After seeing his speakers I have no doubt that it will not matter, technically the ALC650 may be lacking compared to other external/onboard solutions, using a lower quality set of speakers it won't matter. I mean when I switched to an Onkyo 6.1 receiver I noticed no difference with my lower quality Polk speakers, but when I upgraded my speakers it was like night and day. It's the the same with computer speakers, if you have an awesome set of speakers and a poor audio solution, you will have poor quality audio, or in this case a fair audio solution and a poor set of speakers.

 

[suklee]

Should I just run onboard audio? I have an abit nf7-s mobo, is the onboard audio any good?

I've used nothing but onboard NF2 audio the past two years... first with Epox 8RDA+, then NF7-S... I'm not picky about audio, and I've found that its been very good.

Should you? Yeah, why not? It's already there... give it a go and see if you like it!

 

[Cawchy87]

My onboard sound sucked, so i picked up a cheap card (SB Live! Value). And i game a lot and sound is great on it. Won't set you back much, if all your doing is playing with headphones on, i would recomend it.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Cawchy87
My onboard sound sucked, so i picked up a cheap card (SB Live! Value). And i game a lot and sound is great on it. Won't set you back much, if all your doing is playing with headphones on, i would recomend it.

What motherboard, that makes a big difference.

 

[Atlantean]

Originally posted by: jdogg707

Originally posted by: AIWGuru

Originally posted by: jdogg707
But the majority of speakers do not have a very high SNR, 90 is good for onboard, as the people using onboard audio would not be using a massive speaker system or higher quality enthusiast speaker set. You have to look at the audience that it is being made for. Those using better systems would probably use the Soundstorm DSP or an external PCI card.

Which is why the review that I quoted only experienced this limitation when he strapped on the headphones
but: even with my budget altec lansings (of yore) the sound going in still makes a difference. Just because they themselves having a low SnR (or high actually) doesn't mean that they're okay with anohter high source. The less degredation of the dynamic range of the original signal, the better the output.

The person who originally posted has a set of Labtec speakers, there is no way he will be able to tell the difference between the onboard audio and the Game Theater. After seeing his speakers I have no doubt that it will not matter, technically the ALC650 may be lacking compared to other external/onboard solutions, using a lower quality set of speakers it won't matter. I mean when I switched to an Onkyo 6.1 receiver I noticed no difference with my lower quality Polk speakers, but when I upgraded my speakers it was like night and day. It's the the same with computer speakers, if you have an awesome set of speakers and a poor audio solution, you will have poor quality audio, or in this case a fair audio solution and a poor set of speakers.

hehe oops forgot to update my system stats I am running logitech z680s now. I am just annoyed that I cant use my headset properly with ut2004

 

[MDE]

Hook them up to the optical out on the motherboard.

 

[Atlantean]

Originally posted by: MDE
Hook them up to the optical out on the motherboard.

I tried that but it doesn't seem to be working any idea why it wouldn't?

 

[MDE]

Do you have the Nvidia sound drivers installed? Go into the SoundStorm control panel and make sure digital out is enabled.

 

[AIWGuru]

Hook them up to the optical out on the motherboard.

Yes. That would kind of make the whole discussion moot.

 

[Atlantean]

Originally posted by: MDE
Do you have the Nvidia sound drivers installed? Go into the SoundStorm control panel and make sure digital out is enabled.

I will try it again... should it matter what output the headphone part is in? I have the sound drivers installed it just doesn't want to work with the headset.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Atlantean

Originally posted by: MDE
Do you have the Nvidia sound drivers installed? Go into the SoundStorm control panel and make sure digital out is enabled.

I will try it again... should it matter what output the headphone part is in? I have the sound drivers installed it just doesn't want to work with the headset.

There should be a headphone jack on the Z-680 control pod, plug them in there if possible, if not on the back of the motherboard is fine.

 

[Atlantean]

Originally posted by: MDE

Originally posted by: Atlantean

Originally posted by: MDE
Do you have the Nvidia sound drivers installed? Go into the SoundStorm control panel and make sure digital out is enabled.

I will try it again... should it matter what output the headphone part is in? I have the sound drivers installed it just doesn't want to work with the headset.

There should be a headphone jack on the Z-680 control pod, plug them in there if possible, if not on the back of the motherboard is fine.

The problem is that I need a mic jack, thats why I wanted to plug it into the back of the pc... but that doesnt seem to work.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Atlantean

Originally posted by: MDE

Originally posted by: Atlantean

Originally posted by: MDE
Do you have the Nvidia sound drivers installed? Go into the SoundStorm control panel and make sure digital out is enabled.

I will try it again... should it matter what output the headphone part is in? I have the sound drivers installed it just doesn't want to work with the headset.

There should be a headphone jack on the Z-680 control pod, plug them in there if possible, if not on the back of the motherboard is fine.

The problem is that I need a mic jack, thats why I wanted to plug it into the back of the pc... but that doesnt seem to work.

In that case, do you have the analog out enabled?

 

[Atlantean]

Originally posted by: MDE

Originally posted by: Atlantean

Originally posted by: MDE

Originally posted by: Atlantean

Originally posted by: MDE
Do you have the Nvidia sound drivers installed? Go into the SoundStorm control panel and make sure digital out is enabled.

I will try it again... should it matter what output the headphone part is in? I have the sound drivers installed it just doesn't want to work with the headset.

There should be a headphone jack on the Z-680 control pod, plug them in there if possible, if not on the back of the motherboard is fine.

The problem is that I need a mic jack, thats why I wanted to plug it into the back of the pc... but that doesnt seem to work.

In that case, do you have the analog out enabled?

I have tried with one, I have tried with the other, I have tried with both... it just doesnt seem to work.