Is there a point to external sounds cards any more?

[mv2devnull]

If you however over own either good quality speakers or headphones, then you very quickly realize that onboard audio sounds like garbage.http://www.amb.org/audio/gamma1.5/

IF ... your audio source is decent and your ears can tell a difference and ...

Audio is a chain with many components and in a chain there is always a weakest link. When that weakest link is the audio "card", then a discrete card can improve over the integrated.

There are, however, three possibilities:
1. Some other link becomes the weakest, the limiting one, and full benefit of the card is not heard.
2. The card is still the weakest link, so more money would have given even more awesomeness?
3. There is a change, but it is not significant.

The one and only observable audio improvement for me has been the addition of 8-bit card and speakers; there was no audio whatsoever before that. That does not answer the OP "any more?" question.

That personal experience is also subjective. That is why Puffnstuff's advice -- "test different combinations yourself" -- is sound.

 

[RampantAndroid]

IF ... your audio source is decent and your ears can tell a difference and ...

Audio is a chain with many components and in a chain there is always a weakest link. When that weakest link is the audio "card", then a discrete card can improve over the integrated.

There are, however, three possibilities:
1. Some other link becomes the weakest, the limiting one, and full benefit of the card is not heard.
2. The card is still the weakest link, so more money would have given even more awesomeness?
3. There is a change, but it is not significant.

I absolutely agree here - hence why I qualified things in the post you replied to - if you have crappy headphones, you might not realize how bad onboard sounds. For me, with high sensitivity IEMs, I can tell very quickly when the analog section is crap. My weakest spot will remain the source content itself for a while...but that doesn't make my external DAC or my sound card pointless - it just means I look forward to higher quality source content. Then again, I don't spend tons of money on audio equipment - I build a bunch of it myself.

 

[Ramses]

I have a really hard time finding good source material for music myself that isn't $$,
even from CD to CD the quality varies dramatically, which is really depressing
and not doing anything to make me want to buy more CDs(hello record industry?).

When I do have a good source though, and I put on good headphones and try, I can
hear a difference between "good" onboard audio and my Schitt Modi and Magni in some areas, not everything all the time, but it's there.
They aren't high end, or expensive, but they are solid parts that I can hook up to my
laptop or whatever I want to at the moment, and take them with me easily from PC to PC< OS, to OS, etc, etc. I think they were a good buy VS onboard audio.
I'm not a fan of integration in general.

I think of onboard audio(and a number of other things) sorta like tires on a new car, they are usually OK these days, and over time they have become better and better since there has been progress in the industry, but there is still better to be had, often for not a lot more money even. Economics of manufacture just aren't likely to provide the best of something like that, just something that is good enough for the target audience. It isn't a perfect analogy, but I think it's valid, and it applies to a lot of things in life.

 

[mv2devnull]

Hmm, the Motherboards Forum has a parallel thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2424286
The premise there was that integrated audio "sucks".
The premise here was that discrete audio (cards) are no (significantly) better than the integrated audio.

At least the "observations" aren't mutually exclusive ...

 

[Puffnstuff]

The other variable is the source material. If you have ripped music at 128kbps you will never hear it right no matter what equipment you play it on. If you're converting cd audio at 320kbps or using flac then you will be able to distinguish sound quality by your equipment. This is why I don't buy digital downloads and opt for the physical cd unless I cannot obtain it any other way.

 

[Sabrewings]

When you made the switch from ALC888 to the add-in card did you hear a difference?

Nope, but I didn't expect to. As mentioned below, I don't drive speakers directly out of my PC's sound card.

It may have the same chip, but that doesn't mean quality is the same. If you want to get an idea, go to some place like AMB.org - Ti Kan makes a bunch of DIY audio designs for amps, preamps and DACs. What you'll notice in most of them is that the power supplies are as big as the amps themselves. Bigger than the preamps they're powering. Serving up good, clean power is paramount when you're looking for clean audio. You can have the *best* DAC in the worlds, but if you're feeding it a terrible power source, the audio will sound like you've got a cheap DAC.

Not really an issue for me. I don't use analog output. SPDIF optical to my AV receiver where I have access to over 1000w of quality audio. I have a whole theater room to fill out, after all. It is nice to have the SB features like Crystal Voice and the beam forming microphone.

 

[cholley]

advanced recording functions or if you are using a lot of specific inputs, but like others, been a long time since i needed a stand alone sound card, it was back when my creative labs had the on board SCSI controller i needed

 

[Oyeve]

So, in a PC system connected to my HDTV via HDMI from my AMD video card, optical out from TV to my 7.1 home system, what device is doing the encoding/decoding? I have a SB card in there from 8 years ago but I have not used it in years.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

So, in a PC system connected to my HDTV via HDMI from my AMD video card, optical out from TV to my 7.1 home system, what device is doing the encoding/decoding? I have a SB card in there from 8 years ago but I have not used it in years.

You should check the playback device in your Audio properties.

Also, if you're outputting the sound from your TV to the receiver, chances are it's solely stereo sound (AFAIK, TVs don't usually have the bandwidth to send multichannel sound over optical connections)...

 

[Data-Medics]

There are some cases where you need a really high quality sound card, such as if you do a lot of voice transcription using software like Dragon.

I actually use an external USB sound card that I just plug my headset into for this purpose. It really saves the fingers during long blogging days.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Nope, but I didn't expect to. As mentioned below, I don't drive speakers directly out of my PC's sound card.



Not really an issue for me. I don't use analog output. SPDIF optical to my AV receiver where I have access to over 1000w of quality audio. I have a whole theater room to fill out, after all. It is nice to have the SB features like Crystal Voice and the beam forming microphone.

If you're running digital out of the card, it doesn't make sense IMO - you should be doing your audio work in the dedicated equipment then. No different than running the audio out of the HDMI on your videocard.

 

[Sabrewings]

If you're running digital out of the card, it doesn't make sense IMO - you should be doing your audio work in the dedicated equipment then. No different than running the audio out of the HDMI on your videocard.

The GPU in that system was too old to have its own audio device (GTX 275). You had to run a 2-pin SPDIF cable to it from an internal SPDIF header. I had stopped doing that a few years ago because it wasn't compatible with 3D vision for some reason. This was no longer an option for me as the onboard ALC888 had failed and I had nothing to give the GPU any input to pass on to the AV receiver.

There was no working audio device in the system. I bought a sound card, and it worked. Back to my original post, this is probably one of the more common reasons for an external soundcard. If the onboard codec hadn't failed, I wouldn't have bought it.

 

[DarkRipper]

Serious audiophiles listen to music through their PCs vs a standalone sound system?

Ok...

I use my PC for gaming and the internet, and I listen to my MP3s and vinyl and CDs (et al) on a discrete sound system with proper equipment...

Onboard works JUST FINE for the average PC gamer/user. People being snobbish about listening to music through their PC... haha. OK.


Your mileage may vary.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Serious audiophiles listen to music through their PCs vs a standalone sound system?

Ok...

I use my PC for gaming and the internet, and I listen to my MP3s and vinyl and CDs (et al) on a discrete sound system with proper equipment...

Onboard works JUST FINE for the average PC gamer/user. People being snobbish about listening to music through their PC... haha. OK.


Your mileage may vary.

A dedicated system can still run through a PC - as long as you're taking the digital out either via optical from the board, or from USB.

 

[FeuerFrei]

I have a Gigabyte Amp-UP motherboard, with onboard sound circuitry physically isolated from the rest of the board. Blurs the line between internal and external. In fact the line of demarcation on the circuit board actually glows green (so you know it's working... lol).

Not available anymore, but you can read about it here.

Closest I've come to using onboard sound in my personal pc. Sorry I can't compare.