How good (or bad) is onboard audio nowadays?

[Pandamonium]

I'm no audiophile, but I'm looking at buying a pair of "pretty good" speakers soon. (Hopefully Swan D1080MKII, but probably Behringer MS40, M-Audio AV40, or M-Audio AV30s)

Is there a way to tell whether these speaker choices are "too much speaker" for my laptop? I'm using the onboard audio on a Dell Latitude XT2 tablet/laptop. It's an IDT HD Audio codec, possibly a IDT 92HD71B. (Dell is being very vague about what's inside this laptop. I can't even tell if it's 2.0 or 2.1.)

If they are "too much speaker" for me, is there a cheap-ish way for me to hear what I'm supposed to hear out of them? I know there's an X-Fi Expresscard, but it's like $70. I'm not really keen on spending that much money for sound. I was pretty content with my Logitech X-530's sound quality. I just didn't like having a separate subwoofer.

 

[alcoholbob]

I've found anything smaller than a 5.25" midwoofer tends to sound extremely thin, although this depends on the excursion capabilities of the driver (not going to be very impressive in your price range, so larger = better).

If you are stuck with those choices I would get the Swans. I can't imagine listening to small speakers for long amounts of time without being fatigued due to the unbalanced sound. I have a pair of Athena S.5s which would be about the same size as the AV40s. The S.5s won all kind of awards but a 4" driver is a 4" driver. Without a subwoofer it sounds pretty beloved patriot and I found this to be true for most smaller speakers.

 

[s44]

Built-in codecs are good these days -- the problem is getting an interference-free output. The Behringers have their own DACs, however, so you could run digital to the monitors. They're big though. Alternately, even cheap USB DACs sound pretty good these days...

 

[Insomniator]

I have an X-FI sitting in my closet because any sound advantage (which i didn't hear anyway) is nullified by having to use creative's drivers.

 

[Anarchist420]

Onboard is excellent as long as you hook up to a receiver with a good DAC and have the Creative Labs MB X-fi SW.

@OP: I have MS20s, but they really suck; they do have good Bass, but the DACs in them suck, plus the components are in the speakers (the DAC, power supply, and circuitry)

 

[bobdole369]

Onboard will be fine for you. If you don't perceive "hiss" or "static" with the audio all the way up and nothing playing in a very quiet room you should basically be OK.

Way too much info, but here is just about all of it concerning "something worthy of the speakers" Some have amps, most don't. Feed your fave amp or receiver with the output.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/all-dacs-money-can-buy-197674/

 

[s44]

Onboard will be fine for you. If you don't perceive "hiss" or "static" with the audio all the way up and nothing playing in a very quiet room you should basically be OK.

Way too much info, but here is just about all of it concerning "something worthy of the speakers" Some have amps, most don't. Feed your fave amp or receiver with the output.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/all-dacs-money-can-buy-197674/

Head-fi is like a throwback to the bad old days of audiophilia. Amusing, though.

 

[kornphlake]

The headphone output on my laptop has a lot of noise, I can hear EMI from the harddrive, a lot of notebooks are the same way. Audiophiles who use a laptop as a source mostly swear by inexpensive USB sound card solutions to eliminate the noise.

 

[slackerinabox]

The headphone output on my laptop has a lot of noise, I can hear EMI from the harddrive, a lot of notebooks are the same way. Audiophiles who use a laptop as a source mostly swear by inexpensive USB sound card solutions to eliminate the noise.

I had a smilar problem with a wonky Gateway laptop years ago - there was static all the time.

$15 USB sound card solved the problem
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-002-_-Product

 

[Tiamat]

only problem with some onboard sound is if it makes too much noise. Plug headphones into the laptop sound out and don't play any music or sound. If you hear hiss or some weird noise (especially when you use the scroll wheel on your mouse on web pages), then you probably want to buy an external or new sound card.

 

[fatpat268]

only problem with some onboard sound is if it makes too much noise. Plug headphones into the laptop sound out and don't play any music or sound. If you hear hiss or some weird noise (especially when you use the scroll wheel on your mouse on web pages), then you probably want to buy an external or new sound card.

Or use a ground loop isolator. Its what I used on my old dell 1525, and greatly reduced the amount of static.

That said, GLIs aren't that popular, so the cheapest you can get them is usually $10-20, so a cheapo USB sound card would work better for most.

 

[0roo0roo]

speakers are the limiting factor first generally

 

[Modelworks]

The headphone output on my laptop has a lot of noise, I can hear EMI from the harddrive, a lot of notebooks are the same way. Audiophiles who use a laptop as a source mostly swear by inexpensive USB sound card solutions to eliminate the noise.

Invest in an external DAC, best money you will ever spend on pc sound. Get one with an optical connection and all the ground loops, RF noise goes away.

A good 2 channel DAC can be had for about $30-40.

 

[s44]

Invest in an external DAC, best money you will ever spend on pc sound. Get one with an optical connection and all the ground loops, RF noise goes away.

A good 2 channel DAC can be had for about $30-40.

Where? There are a lot of USB DACs (= sound cards) for that price, but not too many standalones with optical.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

I hate to jump on his thread, but how about the onboard audio on a desktop?

I have a Dell optiplex, Audioengine A5 + S8..

 

[Tiamat]

Or use a ground loop isolator. Its what I used on my old dell 1525, and greatly reduced the amount of static.

That said, GLIs aren't that popular, so the cheapest you can get them is usually $10-20, so a cheapo USB sound card would work better for most.

ground loop wasn't the problem with my laptop. Everytime the processor spiked in usage, there would be a weird noise output, even from the laptops own speakers.

I ended up just getting a USB sound card. Problem solved.

 

[Modelworks]

Where? There are a lot of USB DACs (= sound cards) for that price, but not too many standalones with optical.

I hadn't actually tried to price one, but I built mine for $10 so I assumed they had to sell for not much more. It is just two chips and an optical jack, not like it is a dts decoder or anything.

Chip for decoding:
http://www.cirrus.com/en/products/pro/detail/P1045.html

Any opamp can be used. Jacks are about $1 , chip is about $5