Best sound card

Zaraky

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 12, 2010
Messages
117
Hey guy, I'm building a new system and I was wondering which sound card could be the best for my need. So far, I have a home theater, some wireless sennheiser headphone and thinking of getting the MM550x sennheisr or the Quietconfort15 from bose. I was amazed by the effiency of the QC15 at the shop.

So yeah, I would love a card that i could plug my home theater , plus my headphone with out much trouble. If possible I want the a very good sound quality for game, video and music all together. I don't know if it's possible to get good overall quality in every domain.

Hope ti find sme good information here too!
 
I think your best bet is optical out to home theater, but if you want the best soundcard, I'd say Asus Xonar Essence STX. Has a 600 Ohm Headphone amplifier.
 
I think your best bet is optical out to home theater, but if you want the best soundcard, I'd say Asus Xonar Essence STX. Has a 600 Ohm Headphone amplifier.

I have bad luck with optical so far. My computer is pluuged in optical to my home theater, when i do test every 5.1 speaker make a sound but when i play 5.1 file ect it just work for left and right. I don`t really know what to do anymore lol.
 
Well if you are willing to fiddle with HDMI out that is a good way to go. I personally use the Auzentech X-Fi Home Theater HD to do HDMI out to my receiver. Works really well for me. It does have a headphone output, not sure of the quality, but it is specifically designed for phones. Of course you can always just plug your phones in to your receiver, which has the added benefit of automatically muting speakers.
 
Well if you are willing to fiddle with HDMI out that is a good way to go. I personally use the Auzentech X-Fi Home Theater HD to do HDMI out to my receiver. Works really well for me. It does have a headphone output, not sure of the quality, but it is specifically designed for phones. Of course you can always just plug your phones in to your receiver, which has the added benefit of automatically muting speakers.

A cheaper option is any newer card from the AMD 5000 series or including/after the GeForce GTX 460. For example the HD 5450 can bitstream HD audio and it's only about $20. Its power consumption is probably similar to the HTHD too, only 5 watts at idle.

EDIT sorry let me clarify my above post.

For AMD, any GPU series including and after the 5000 series can bitstream HD audio.
For nVidia, any GPU including and after GF104 (GTX 460) can bitstream HD audio.

Your sig isn't showing but your current card might support this feature too.
 
My new build will have an Asus sabertooth z77 and a evga gtx680 ftw+ 4gb gpu. Would the hd bitstream from the gpu be better then the onboard audio? Would it still be better to get a soundblaster or a xonar or another one to take all over?
 
If your home theater accepts HDMI then that would be ideal. HDMI and optical and USB all send a digital stream without D/A conversion. This is the absolute best quality that can be achieved and it takes your computer audio hardware out of the equation as a factor in sound quality.

EDIT there's something I'm not sure about. IDK if HDMI can do Dolby Digital and DTS, the audio that comes with DVDs. IDK if this is important to you.

EDIT2 Oh I misunderstood your question this whole time. No, there shouldn't be any difference between the sound quality of the onboard HDMI or the 680 or any other unless the software settings are different. It's the same stream of zeros and ones. :)
 
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Te hdmi connection are used by the xbox360 and my tv. Im using optical for the computer but since it doesnt work might switch tv to optical and hdmi to computer..

I just want the best sound possible with out going with overpriced stuff.
 
Are you using surround sound of any kind like ProLogic or Dolby Digital or any DTS equivalent of these codecs? If you do you should check to make sure your equipment will be compatible with the same stuff when you swap the optical and HDMI.
 
Hmm yeah I guess that might be the problem. Codec wise I use k-lite mega pack. I have no idea if its equivalent or not -_- lol... That's some stuff I'm totally ignorant about.
 
I have no issue with my Asus Xonar DX digital out. I still find that using the Unity drivers somehow sounds better than onboard optical out. Like more data is being transferred or something.

Just sounds more lively up yourself! Yes I am having fun today thanks. Making Blueberry Wine with my little brother. Interesting.
 
I have no issue with my Asus Xonar DX digital out. I still find that using the Unity drivers somehow sounds better than onboard optical out. Like more data is being transferred or something.

Just sounds more lively up yourself! Yes I am having fun today thanks. Making Blueberry Wine with my little brother. Interesting.

Drunk post?
 
OP check the instruction manual or do some Googling and you'll find it. Or just list the model number of your receiver here and I'll check.
 
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I like this:

$400 DAC Port

http://centrance.com/products/dacport/

And or this:

$800 DAC Mini

http://centrance.com/products/dacmini/cx/

Both products are awesome and could be used to great effect in any system depending on your setup, DAC Port for portability, affordability and simple setups, DAC Mini for more complex at home setups.

High end DACs from the company that other high end audio companies go to for high end DACs. And the reviews are stellar. And while it may not seem it, the value is great with these products for the quality of product and sound you get in return.

These are premium headphone amp and line outs that are combined with premium DACs, and a leader in USB DACs. Put these between your PC and a nice set of speakers/amps and you have a high end audio system.
 
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Dac's port seem awesome but really pricy. Though I could get something alright for about half the price. If there is really no alternative to get a good audio for pc then so be it i'll adjust somehow lol.
 
So seriously, is it worth it to put 200$+ for a sound card? If I buy the xonar essence stx or essence one, will I see a good difference in sound quality or it's just fluff stuff? Maybe I should just go with a maximus formula with thunderfx then to be just better then sabertooth z77 one?

Sigh I see so many different post showing that soundcard are useles, some are good and make a difference ect ect.. What to do ?
 
I have bad luck with optical so far. My computer is pluuged in optical to my home theater, when i do test every 5.1 speaker make a sound but when i play 5.1 file ect it just work for left and right. I don`t really know what to do anymore lol.

Makes sense; Optical can only transmit 2.1 audio if its not encoded to Dolby/DTS spec. Nevermind Dolby/DTS are horrid audio formats (lossy), but you need some other equipment at the other end of the audio chain to handle the conversion to analog, which will ultimately be the driver of audio quality.

Sigh I see so many different post showing that soundcard are useles, some are good and make a difference ect ect.. What to do ?

Soundcards are hardly useless. Going without a soundcard is like playing a game @ 1080 with no Anti-Aliasing. You can, but its very ugly compared to what it could be.

Most times, I find people who claim soundcards make no difference either:
A: Have very low quality desktop speakers
or
B: Connect using optical, have a headsets control unit handle the conversion to analog

Both of which kill quality.
 
Makes sense; Optical can only transmit 2.1 audio if its not encoded to Dolby/DTS spec. Nevermind Dolby/DTS are horrid audio formats (lossy), but you need some other equipment at the other end of the audio chain to handle the conversion to analog, which will ultimately be the driver of audio quality.
Soundcards are hardly useless. Going without a soundcard is like playing a game @ 1080 with no Anti-Aliasing. You can, but its very ugly compared to what it could be.

Most times, I find people who claim soundcards make no difference either:
A: Have very low quality desktop speakers
or
B: Connect using optical, have a headsets control unit handle the conversion to analog

Both of which kill quality.

I disagree, getting the digital audio signal out of the pc does not "kill quality" at all. Too much of a blanket statement there.
 
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