Is a Sound Card REALLY helpful?

[Stochastic]

Since you mentioned owning lots of headsets, you might want to consider getting a desktop headphone DAC/amplifier such as this: http://www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10-USB-H.../dp/B005VO7LG6

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I have an Asus Xonar Essence STX and a set of Sennheirers HD650s. I would never pair such headphones with on board sound. And I would never pair such a sound card with cheap ear buds. Together though? Worth it.

 

[mnewsham]

I have an Asus Xonar Essence STX and a set of Sennheirers HD650s. I would never pair such headphones with on board sound. And I would never pair such a sound card with cheap ear buds. Together though? Worth it.

I would never pair HD650's with an ASUS card, or really any non professional PC card. At that point you are looking at External AMP/DAC territory.

 

[gevorg]

I would never pair HD650's with an ASUS card, or really any non professional PC card. At that point you are looking at External AMP/DAC territory.

Well, an Asus or some pro-audio sound card can still provide quality D-to-A performance, but of course you'll need some decent amping to bring HD650 to respectable levels. Hence why a nice external amp can easily solve the issue.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I would never pair HD650's with an ASUS card, or really any non professional PC card. At that point you are looking at External AMP/DAC territory.

Ummm, have you looked up the essence STX? It is quality card with a great dac and a good headphone amp.

 

[mnewsham]

Ummm, have you looked up the essence STX? It is quality card with a great dac and a good headphone amp.

I can do one better, I owned it in my last desktop.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I can do one better, I owned it in my last desktop.

*removes foot from mouth*

You found it to be inadequate as a headphone amp?

 

[mnewsham]

*removes foot from mouth*

You found it to be inadequate as a headphone amp?

For better headphones yeah, usually anything above $300-400 will improve with a nicer AMP/DAC then the ASUS card. For $50-200 cans it is a great card tho as a better AMP/DAC wont really bring much more out of that level of headphones, or it will bring some, but not enough to warrant the cost (as a good AMP/DAC can run you $800+)

 

[OVerLoRDI]

For better headphones yeah, usually anything above $300-400 will improve with a nicer AMP/DAC then the ASUS card. For $50-200 cans it is a great card tho as a better AMP/DAC wont really bring much more out of that level of headphones, or it will bring some, but not enough to warrant the cost (as a good AMP/DAC can run you $800+)

I originally snagged the STX when I had HD555s and it was night and day vs my X-Fi. However STX with 555s vs STX with 650s? Difference was not so substantial. I think an expensive, better DAC would be a poor investment for me since I am beyond the point of diminishing returns for sound quality.

 

[WT]

Just set up new new rig last night and decided to retire the X-Fi XtremeGamer and use the onboard Realtek 889 after reading how far onboard has come.

I'm using a Logitech Z640 5.1 setup and the sound is horribly flat. I mean, dreadfully so. It got to the point that I assumed the MP3s were all 128bit it was that bad.

I then tried headphones, still sounded like it lacked clarity and any high range at all. I'm currently D/L'ing the newest Realtek driver, but I'm sure it won't help that much.

Looks like I will be tossing the X-Fi back into this Win7 64bit box and hoping the hacked drivers can work their magic. I really don't have an exceptional ear, but I can seriously note deficiencies in the tonal spectrum that onboard audio just doesn't reproduce.

Edit: Holy crap, looks like I missed the most basic of things to overlook. I use Winamp with the 'Rock' equalizer settings, and for some reason it was turned off. With that turned back on and the newest driver, the 'brightness' is now at an acceptable level. Sometimes you miss the easy stuff when tinkering.

 

[wirednuts]

really? if youre using winamp's "rock" eq setting then youre terribly distorting the original sound... and on my setup it would make things WAY too driven and sound really bad at anything but the lowest volumes.

but i suppose since youre using a logitech speaker package maybe thats why? my home theater consists of 4-way custom retrofit speakers which have a very good range... and my only eq mod i use is a slight dip at 600hz or so, as my speakers have a shitload of mid range drive so that just cuts it down a bit. otherwise, flat eq. and it sounds incredible!

 

[WT]

These Logitech are ALL base and no mids, its a well known problem with pretty much all of Logitech's speaker lineups. I actually knock the bass down about 20% and its better, but that particular EQ setting brings the lost mid range back on this setup.

You guys are using upper end gear and enjoying it, but the majority of users have never heard a quality setup and their tin ears become accustomed to whatever sound quality their setup delivers. I work with a guy who has $2k tweeters installed in his kitchen ceiling, and Bang Olufsen and Carver gear throughout the house. I'd probably be stunned at the audio fidelity that system is capable of outputting.

 

[gothuevos]

These Logitech are ALL base and no mids, its a well known problem with pretty much all of Logitech's speaker lineups. I actually knock the bass down about 20% and its better, but that particular EQ setting brings the lost mid range back on this setup.

You guys are using upper end gear and enjoying it, but the majority of users have never heard a quality setup and their tin ears become accustomed to whatever sound quality their setup delivers. I work with a guy who has $2k tweeters installed in his kitchen ceiling, and Bang Olufsen and Carver gear throughout the house. I'd probably be stunned at the audio fidelity that system is capable of outputting.

Yeah seriously.

 

[zerogear]

I use Essence STX w/ Desktop amp (using line out) to drive my Audio Technica cans.

 

[walloyyy]

I would invest in a $30 sound card like the Asus Xonar DS. It's way better than onboard anyway you look at it.

 

[Upgrade_Itch]

I think the Realtek 898 codec is actually better then an asus Xonar DS, its included on a few Z77 boards. Signal to noise ratio is better, THX, etc.



http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/datasheets/ALC898_DataSheet_0.60.pdf