Official ASUS Poll - Do you use front panel audio?

Your experience with front panel audio on sound cards

  • I use it

    Votes: 22 25.3%

  • I don't use it

    Votes: 35 40.2%

  • I want to but my experience with them has not been good

    Votes: 17 19.5%

  • I would use an external breakout solution if you provided one

    Votes: 13 14.9%
  • Total voters
    87
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OC_Seer

ASUS Power User Support
Joined
Oct 8, 2009
Messages
106
Hello HOCP! This thread/poll is intended to get your feedback regarding your use of front panel audio on sound cards and/or motherboards. The feedback we get here will help influence our upcoming designs, specifically related to our new audio cards. So that's why I'm posting and I look forward to collecting all of your input!

For the poll question, it will pertain solely to front panel audio from the FAP connector on a sound card. Along with your poll selection, please also provide feedback on the following items if it pertains to you.

If you don't use front panel audio on either motherboard or sound card, what is the reason? Is it because of negative experience or it's just not useful to you?

There are different chassis and different chassis quality related to the front panel so what if we give a higher quality external breakout solution? Would you use this or the normal back connections?..or would you like to have both a higher quality external breakout solution and the normal back connections?

What do you feel is the difference between front panel audio and back connection audio?

Thanks for helping out with the poll and giving your invaluable feedback!:cool:
 
OC_Seer said:
If you don't use front panel audio on either motherboard or sound card, what is the reason? Is it because of negative experience or it's just not useful to you?
Click to expand...

I always plug it in and make it available but I make sure to wrap a ferrite core around it and even then it still bothers me listening with higher-end headphones. It seems like it is nowhere near worth the effort to truly silence the interference that the cable picks up on it's way to the front of the case.

OC_Seer said:
There are different chassis and different chassis quality related to the front panel so what if we give a higher quality external breakout solution? Would you use this or the normal back connections?..or would you like to have both a higher quality external breakout solution and the normal back connections?
Click to expand...

I would prefer more options rather than simply a different one. If the breakout solution was truly better there's no question that's what I would use at home, but my system isn't always at home and using the rear panel, or front panel, is often more convenient at LANs.

OC_Seer said:
What do you feel is the difference between front panel audio and back connection audio?
Click to expand...

Simply put less opportunity for interference and you're not sending the signal down a woefully pathetic cable to the front panel.
 
I use it depending on if the case was well designed with long enough front panel cables to actually connect to it. Currently the only reason I can use them is because the connector is going to my ASUS ROG Thunderbolt and not my motherboard's onboard audio header.
 
Both of you hit on some very important points. One of the reasons for this thread was to kind of confirm some usage patterns and scenarios that could help decide on possible sound card options. Awesome so far! Thanks for the feedback!
 
I would love to be able to use the front panel audio to hook up headphones in a hurry unfortunately I have yet to have a PC case where the FP audio was hiss or noise free. I have a pair of higher end headphones that go between my music production external soundcard and my Ipod but when it comes to my gaming system I am more or less stuck using desktop speakers. I could hook up to the jack in the rear but getting behind my system and the system of wires back there on a daily basis is not a fun adventure.

If a breakout box was provided or available as ancessory that could be purchased I would definately use it but the sound quality would have to be there, no noise or hiss.

If it were me, I would keep the soundcard outputs in the rear of the system like normal, and keep the breakout box as simple as possible...headphone out and mic in.
 
I'm one of those super nerds who has an external dac and amplifier. Just keep giving me a TOSLINK optical port on my motherboards and I'm cool. USB is also fine, but I'm too much of a hipster to use regular old USB for my audio!
 
I currently use the front audio connector, however a breakout box would be nice if it had useful connectors, mainly a 1/4 inch stereo jack. I don't like having to use a 1/4 to 1/8 adapter with my headphones as it doesn't always make a good connection, and sometimes prevents me from plugging in my headphones due to the adapters bulk.

Thanks for asking the community.
 
having 1/4 stereo connector is a good call (making note of that)
 
Typically I do, but ever since my speaker set puts the stereo jack closer to me via a control pod I never use the one on the case anymore.

Honestly I'm with dan, I've encountered too many cases where the front jacks wouldn't reach the connectors with the motherboards and I had to rick them out of the way.

On another note I would hate to see the front jack go away.
 
I do NOT use the FPA jack, first because I send my sound card's line out to a headphone amp, and second because the sound quality is generally inferior to the rear panel. EMI and hard drive noise is usually more apparent with the FPA jack, and certain parameters like crosstalk and dynamic range suffer a little bit. Then again TBH I will probably never know the difference in a blind test so it isn't that big of a deal.

timestretch said:
I'm one of those super nerds who has an external dac and amplifier. Just keep giving me a TOSLINK optical port on my motherboards and I'm cool. USB is also fine, but I'm too much of a hipster to use regular old USB for my audio!
Click to expand...

never mind.
 
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i am not an audiophile by any means but i often noticed noise or interference when using a front panel audio connector i also tend to avoid fpa because it looks messy having cables dangling around the front of my case

i used to use external creative sound boxes back when audigy and audigy 2 were released and liked them for a while but i heavily favor the rear audio connectors since getting a xonar essence stx

i did like the external box solutions because they allowed me to fine tune some things without a lot of clunky software suites most audio cards come with - external boxes with rear ports would be nice for cable managing but i doubt too many people care that much about hiding wires and presenting minimal desk clutter
 
OC_Seer said:
Hello HOCP! This thread/poll is intended to get your feedback regarding your use of front panel audio on sound cards and/or motherboards. The feedback we get here will help influence our upcoming designs, specifically related to our new audio cards. So that's why I'm posting and I look forward to collecting all of your input!

For the poll question, it will pertain solely to front panel audio from the FAP connector on a sound card. Along with your poll selection, please also provide feedback on the following items if it pertains to you.

If you don't use front panel audio on either motherboard or sound card, what is the reason? Is it because of negative experience or it's just not useful to you?

There are different chassis and different chassis quality related to the front panel so what if we give a higher quality external breakout solution? Would you use this or the normal back connections?..or would you like to have both a higher quality external breakout solution and the normal back connections?

What do you feel is the difference between front panel audio and back connection audio?

Thanks for helping out with the poll and giving your invaluable feedback!:cool:
Click to expand...

I am in the external camp, just give me an optical out and I am good. To many cases come with "cheap" cable to the front connector and induce noise to make it an attractive solution.
 
For my FT02 I actually made a custom cable for FP audio by removing both pin blocks on each end of the stock cable.

The cable I made has been very effective at keeping noise out of the signal. I used your standard cable braid and then wrapped it in mylar foil with copper braid over the mylar then finished it off with your typical black sleeve.

The copper braid was drained to ground via the STX's 4-pin power header.

It seems complicated, but the cable cost me around $10 to make, all in.

My next step would be to replace the FP audio PCB with something which better shields the USB headers from the audio and possibly change the layout to accommodate 1/4" jacks.
 
I don't have it hooked up.

I also run an external DAC, and use the coax.

If I may make a suggestion, it would be to keep including both coaxial and optical digital outputs. It's really convenient to have both. For instance, my DAC (as do many other DACs and budget AVRs) has both inputs, but one of each. If I want to, for instance, switch between two computers, I can use the coax on one and the optical on the other. A decent number of motherboards, especially older ones, only have optical, so having both is nice since you can use whatever you're not using for your gear that only has one type of output.
 
You may consider making a sound card that mounts in the front bay or could also be a desktop amp/dac. Something really flexible and easy to install like a usb version that can be installed in a variety of ways.
 
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Been using FP audio forever without major issues. And I've never felt the need to use the back connection ports instead. The one time I had interference or noise issues with a FP audio out, I replaced the entire front port assembly. Boom, problem solved.

One of the two rigs I use has a Asus Xonar DG, which comes with a headphone amp that works through the FP. I like that it brings a "little extra" to the Corsair headset I use, very happy with it.
 
Absolutely I use front panel audio. If I'm at a LAN meet, I have my headphones plugged in to it; if I'm playing a game that uses voice comms, I'll have my speakers plugged in to the rear audio ports and a headset plugged into the front.
 
Don't use FP audio. I go from the optical output at the back of my card to the receiver and I control everything using my remote to the receiver.
 
i think a point that needs to be discussed is the actual FP design on the case and cable....

it definetly makes a difference.
 
The reason I don't use FP Audio is because Antec typically grounds them to the same ground as the USB ports in the panel. Result? Noise. Tons and tons of noise. Apparently a problem with some Silverstone cases as well.
 
Most cases have shitty jacks & wiring for FP hookup. So I've been using my speaker controller jack instead, plus it's easier to get to.
 
Its just me, But I would love to see a external breakout box of a full featured Xonar DG, I know you have the U3 but its not the same.

I want one like the Xonar essence one... Just cheaper like $100 > it with the only plug up front it the headphone amp out.
 
I used the FPA exclusively even after installing a dedicated soundcard. It wasn't till I purchased an external amp and upgraded my headphones that I noticed an issue on my current build. I could only use the rear jacks on my last PC though. There was too much noise using the front.

Oddly enough I still use the MIC without issue. Not once have I come across a complaint about my voice being distorted when using the front.
 
fpa is super convenient for headphones, but I do notice noise. If there were a high end solution where say there was proper grounding, a 1/4" and 1/8" headphone jacks, optical out, and a dedicated headphone amp built into a drive bay that could be sweet. throw in some game/mic/chat volume controls and I'd be all over it. Theres no reason not to spend good money on audio after spending a fortune on video cards. And, as mentioned, a good noise free connection to the soundcard.

Being able to use my xbox/ps3 headset with my PC would rock my world.
 
I use it because my computer is in a cabinet in my desk, so rear access is limited and it's a hassle to swap. Have it hooked up to a Xonar DG, and if it's quiet, yeah, plenty of noise.
 
I am in the external camp, just give me an optical out and I am good. Yep I use a creative audigy with the front panel box. I go from the Toslink out on the front panel to the Toslink input on my Marantz SR5001. Now I have my option for headphones or speakers at my fingertips (Marantz) or front panel ease of connection and the ability to add additional inputs. ie mic, tascam. I would love to see a breakout box with the essence or as an option wirth any card.
 
The audio out on my Silverstone FT02 just broke on me. I had been running it to a Dayton Audio DTA-100a, a set of mediocre bookshelf speakers, and a set of low end Grados.

Any vibration of the computer case (including the optical drive spinning and occasionally the HD) causes the audio to fail, and I have to plug and unplug the connecting wire.

Of all my various computer setups, my audio preferences depend the most, by far, on the layout of my workspace. I've been considering getting a Xonar, but I'm probably going to hold off until I move this summer to a new house, where I'll have room for a receiver.
 
I prefered an external usb dac amp device instead of front panel
 
Thanks a lot for everyone's input! There were a lot of good points made and lots of good suggestions and usage details for us to consider for our next design. Thanks again!~
 
I don't. It's audio output is almost always going to snake along a long, long internal cable that get's hit with all kinds of EMI (and does, in my experience), while connecting to some useless FP connnector that shares a ground with the front USB ports, too (silverstone... looking at you, you useless FP boggarts), so I can listen... litterally listen, to my data being transfered via USB.

I'd get an internal sound card, but my FT03 + Max4GENE + GTX580 + capture card setup leaves little spare room inside, so I use an external DAC+AMP now, but fed via the onboard optical out (sometimes via a COAX output "bracket," since I don't always have an optical port avalible due to xbox+ps3 being greedy).
 
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