Why do people use USB Sound card (mic input) ??

[GoodEnough]

Why do people buy these?
Why not just use the PCI sound card input?
These have sold thousands on Ebay. Why?

 

[AznAnarchy99]

So what's your profit margin and who is your vendor?

 

[effowe]

Onboard sound could be down? Really though, why do you care?

 

[maddogchen]

Hey I buy those!! Our hospitals HP PCs have a generic Realtek onboard sound card that is not goodenough and does not work well for our Dragon Medical dictation so they recommended us to buy those usb sound cards and they work much better.

I also recommended one to my friend when her default headphone jack broke

 

[GoodEnough]

LOL, I'm not selling anything. If I was, I'd include a link. Spamming 101.

I am going to buy one b/c my mic input is static and crappy,
so I found this alternative to a PCI sound card, but then saw like 4000+ sold,
and I wanted to know why this is such a huge item.

Tons of other broken sound cards, I guess?
Message in a bottle!

maddog, how does your RealTek sound card not work goodenough?
Crappy connection with static and interference?

 

[massmedia]

a lot of people use USB DACs because they have better sound than the shabby one on the motherboard.

on the other hand that one looks like a piece of crap itself.
yet again since the one on the motherboard is ALWAYS a total piece of garbage then I'd go for piece of crap.

In conclusion.
crap > garbage

 

[maddogchen]

With the Realtek onboard sound when you test it through windows the detected sound only fills up half the bar while the usb sound cards go all the way up. You get a much better score when you test it with the Dragon software

 

[MongGrel]

a lot of people use USB DACs because they have better sound than the shabby one on the motherboard.

on the other hand that one looks like a piece of crap itself.
yet again since the one on the motherboard is ALWAYS a total piece of garbage then I'd go for piece of crap.

In conclusion.
crap > garbage

Just thought I'd add to that, though my home system I have a big setup, a lot of people just seem to use USB DAC's with good headphones these days.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_3?rh=n%3A3224445011%2Ck%3AUSB+DACs&keywords=USB+DACs&ie=UTF8&qid=1413265182&rnid=2941120011&ajr=0

*edited that, had something didn't mean to before was stuck there*

 

[Cerb]

Why do people buy these?

For a working jack and interface, I would imagine.

Why not just use the PCI sound card input?

Where do you plug that in? Plus, cost.

These have sold thousands on Ebay. Why?

Because you get one or two to try, and it costs too much to send them back, after you find they make all kinds of nasty noise. Even for RPis and such, you're better off to spend a wee bit more.

 

[pete6032]

Could that be used with a Raspberry Pi perhaps?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

it boggles my mind that people use onboard sound

 

[Leros]

The analog gets converted to digital outside the computer. It's electrically very noisy inside the computer, so you get noise and interference if you send an analog signal inside the case.

 

[gorcorps]

lol @ OP's username

 

[Bubbleawsome]

I use onboard sound because I've just got $20 speakers. I love music but I've managed to break most of my speakers over the past 8 years. (or they died)

I've got a nice surround set away from my house and can't get to it.

 

[Newbian]

Who still uses a motherboard with pci slots?

 

[Imp]

I got a bigger USB based Sound Blaster because I wanted to give my video card more space to breathe. There was a few millimeters, at most, between the GPU and back of the soundcard for the longest time. Now it has at least 5 inches.

The extra USB cable isn't that big a deal.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I used to use that on my hackintoshes

 

[DesiPower]

busted sound cards and/or ports on cheap laptops

 

[Zodiark1593]

Have fun shoving a PCI card in a laptop.

 

[Ichinisan]

Why do people buy these?
Why not just use the PCI sound card input?
These have sold thousands on Ebay. Why?

Laptops with broken connectors or a broken 3.5mm connector stuck in the jack.

Laptops with the headphone / mic connections in a less advantageous position for a chat headset.

Laptops with fried internal sound chipset (I've encountered these).

 

[Ichinisan]

The analog gets converted to digital outside the computer. It's electrically very noisy inside the computer, so you get noise and interference if you send an analog signal inside the case.

Nope. That's not the reason people do it. If they cared about sound quality, they wouldn't use that.

 

[Ichinisan]

it boggles my mind that people use onboard sound

Comments like this boggle my mind.

Most people only care about getting some stereo speakers or headphones connected.

They don't care about recording various bit rates and such.

 

[Ichinisan]

LOL, I'm not selling anything. If I was, I'd include a link. Spamming 101.

I am going to buy one b/c my mic input is static and crappy,
so I found this alternative to a PCI sound card, but then saw like 4000+ sold,
and I wanted to know why this is such a huge item.

Tons of other broken sound cards, I guess?
Message in a bottle!

maddog, how does your RealTek sound card not work goodenough?
Crappy connection with static and interference?

So you have a good reason, but assumed the other buyers didn't also have a similar reason?

 

[PliotronX]

Nope. That's not the reason people do it. If they cared about sound quality, they wouldn't use that.

True, those micro USB audio devices are usually pretty noisy compared to internal AIB. The nice breakout boxes via USB OTOH...

I'm willing to bet it involves laptops with messed up, or a lack of minijacks.

 

[Anubis]

it boggles my mind that people use onboard sound

digital is digital
I use the optical out off the mobo into an AVR

it makes absolutely no difference for many people