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

[Scarpozzi]

It's all about ease of the interface and portability...same as any other USB device. Sure....it's not practical most of the time, but if they're cheap enough, they may be handy to have around.

 

[smitbret]

it boggles my mind that people use onboard sound

It boggles my mind that anyone uses anything besides onboard sound

 

[Rakehellion]

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

Maybe you're on a laptop.
Maybe the USB sound card is better quality.
Maybe you need an extra input.
Maybe you don't have a free PCIe slot.
Maybe you don't want to reach around the back of your computer.

 

[Fritzo]

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).

...workstations with no built in sound and no slots....there's lots of reasons. I've used them myself because the mic input on my sound card sucked.

 

[slag]

The internal sound on my Intel Bad Axe 2 motherboard went out years ago. I gave the computer to my mom and bought a couple of these USB doo dads for like a buck apiece. No drivers to load, no case to take apart, and she has sound that she needs. One died after a couple years. I gave her another. Its cheap and requires no technical knowledge other than plug it in and use it.

 

[Cerb]

Who still uses a motherboard with pci slots?

*raises hand*
They're still quite common, on 9-series boards, you know.

 

[nageov3t]

laptops?

a person could also have a pretty nice 3.5mm but require some application that needs a USB sound card detected (eg: the softphone software I have to use for work behaves wonky if I try to get it to run off the onboard soundcard with a 3.5mm headset, but works flawlessly with a USB headset)

 

[TheVrolok]

Are dedicated sound cards a common thing outside of the recording industry (or similar)? I haven't had a dedicated sound card in years for any of my gaming systems.

 

[Pulsar]

I have a very nice computer and speaker system, but neither has a head phone or mic jack in the front, while they do have multiple USB's. Even my monitor has USB jacks.

So, yeah... because I don't want to move shit around all the time, I use one.

 

[middlehead]

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.

The hospital system I work for just buys Plantronics headsets that include a USB adapter. Nobody ever said to use them initially, but it was Nuance's first suggestion when people first reported problems with the system.

 

[GoodEnough]

It's all about ease of the interface and portability...same as any other USB device. Sure....it's not practical most of the time, but if they're cheap enough, they may be handy to have around.

But, every single computer ever made already has a line in and mic jack

 

[GoodEnough]

How exactly is a built-in soundcard line-in port considered "bad"? Exactly how is the sound quality bad? Mine recorded crystal clear for 5 years before starting in with the static after something clearly cracked or got loose. But, until then, it was crystal clear perfect recording.

 

[Ichinisan]

But, every single computer ever made already has a line in and mic jack

Not always in a good position.

Also, Mac computers can always be the exception.

 

[mnewsham]

How exactly is a built-in soundcard line-in port considered "bad"? Exactly how is the sound quality bad? Mine recorded crystal clear for 5 years before starting in with the static after something clearly cracked or got loose. But, until then, it was crystal clear perfect recording.

the inside of a computer is electrically noisy, some motherboards will attempt to isolate the sound signals on a separate PCB layer, but that really isn't as good as just going offboard. USB interface is perfect for allowing you to remove the sound processing from the electrically noisy computer innards.

To most people the onboard sound will be good enough or they don't have good enough speakers/headphones to notice a difference. But to those who are concerned about high quality sound then you really want to use an offboard amp and DAC to reduce possible interference and also gives you the option of investing in higher quality components. (more advanced DAC or high powered lower distortion amps)


Like everything else you will spend more for higher quality (though with audio it quickly becomes $500+ for something 2% better so do your research before blindly buying something expensive).

It is similar to onboard graphics, they are good enough for the majority of PC users, but those who game or do graphically intense work will need a dedicated GPU that costs a decent chunk of change. Though with graphics cards there is much less diminishing returns than audio.


tldr; like with most things, as long as it works people generally don't care to spend more, those who do care can and will spend a lot more

 

[GoodEnough]

Can someone post a A/B sound comparison of on board line in vs. USB?
I bet no one steps up. Placebo, most likely.

 

[Cerb]

Can someone post a A/B sound comparison of on board line in vs. USB?
I bet no one steps up. Placebo, most likely.

My one USB soundcard with a line-in has a terrible quality one, and mic, too--worse in every way to my onboard. I bought it years ago for a value DAC, not ADC. The rest have no inputs.

http://hothardware.com/cs/forums/t/66907.aspx
The above is typical, IME (IMO, instead of all the work done, the OP should have taken the hint from the external device in his OP, and ran with that). Disabling all power saving, desktop composition, and hardware acceleration in browsers and flash, can help, in the desktop. But, just moving the analog audio out of the case is a lot easier, and handles gaming, too.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/graphics-card-noise-through-speakers-fixed.168241/
That guy was clever, but many mobos, mine included, don't make that an option.

 

[inachu]

USB MIC is the best way to go Joe!

 

[natto fire]

*looks at OP's user name*
*blinks*

Some people are scared to open their case or don't have PCI ports?

 

[maddogchen]

The hospital system I work for just buys Plantronics headsets that include a USB adapter. Nobody ever said to use them initially, but it was Nuance's first suggestion when people first reported problems with the system.

yea thats what they told us to get....but our hospital is cheap and we got them a cheap usb sound card and a $25 headset.