Is onboard audio really that sucky?

J

jordan12

[H]F Junkie
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Dec 29, 2000
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Guys,

In all honestly, if I am playing games or playing music, am I really going to hear a difference between onboard sound vs a sound card?

I would really like your guys take on this..
 
Depends on the motherboard and whether you use digital or analog output and even your speaker config.
 
And it depends on your ears. Some don't hear it, some do.

I personally thought the difference between my Realtek 882 chip and my Asus Xonar D2X was huge-- I could barely listen to music before on my PC (and I listen all the time at work-- with an Audigy 2 card) without it driving me nuts. The Xonar, on exactly the same setup, sounds much better....

Buy a soundcard somewhere where you can send it back if you don't notice a difference...
 
with my z2300 i noticed a diff but with my new system i prob dont as its digital.
 
I use Klipsch 2.1's for the speakers.

And I use analog, I am sure...I wouldnt know the first thing about using digital..

I have the IP35-E onboard sound. And that uses the Realtek..

But either way, wasnt all that sure. Thought I would ask. :D
 
For analog it could very well make a big difference. I have Klipsch 2.1s and they really like a clean source...

But like I said, some people will swear up and down there's no significant difference, it really depends on how sensitive your ears are to whatever quality of "sound" the card provides.That said, you almost always read "Wow, my system sounds so much better after getting card x", and rarely "gee, what a waste of money, my onboard sound was so much better!" or "I don't hear a thing".

Maybe it's just justifying your purchase. That said, I'd never want to run without a sound card for any length of time again...
 
It's also important to discuss based on terms of the operating system involved. For example, Windows Vista has "software" based DirectSound and doesn't support hardware acceleration features. At that point, it really comes down to just the signal/noise ratio.

Some motherboards have pretty high signal/noise ratio's and several others have fairly normal to poor.

But in Vista the playing field is a little more level.
 
jordan12 said:
I use Klipsch 2.1's for the speakers.

And I use analog, I am sure...I wouldnt know the first thing about using digital..

I have the IP35-E onboard sound. And that uses the Realtek..

But either way, wasnt all that sure. Thought I would ask. :D
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Huge, huge difference, depending on the card. If it's halfway decent you'll hear a great improvement. I noticed it on my crappy 4.1 Logitech speakers. Night and day, really.
 
Onboard audio isn't that bad anymore. While it isn't the equal of some of the nicer add-in sound boards the hardware itself is good enough for most people.
 
I found that my abit ip35 pro onboard hd audio had deeper richer sound than my creative x-fi xtreme music.
 
Sennhiesers+flac. I have really sensitive ears though. I am considering a soundcard
 
From my experience, I found the difference to be quite huge from 680i onboard to razer barracuda AC-1.

Which is why, unless I use optical connections, I will always use a sound card.
 
I have always found onboard sound to be lacking. I'll take even an old SB Live! 5.1 over oboard. My gaming rig has an Audigy 4 in it - it does very well. Onboard sound tends to be the worst in Linux too, where most applications have to wait to get control of the card to do sound - so you end up with what ever program grabbed the card first is the only one that can play noise.
 
dandragonrage said:
If you're not detecting humm/hiss from your onboard, don't change.
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As a matter of fact, this is why I was looking...I do get some hiss when I have no sound going, but I have the sound up a little on the speakers. I get a sizeable hiss..

That is exactly why I was inquiring. Wanted to know if that was maybe normal with sound cards, or if it was just the on board crap.
 
Most onboard has bad SNR (which accounts for hiss mostly). Some sound cards are better. Certainly the high quality ones talked about around here are.
 
dandragonrage said:
Please do elaborate.
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Onboard sounds flat and dull, while with a sound card, the sound is so much more refined, bass is better, highs are clearer, in essense its so much cleaner and has more definition.

The difference isnt big, but at the same time its big enough to justify a sound card alltogether, you know what I mean?

Onboard sound is very good these days as someone above said, but there is a difference between onboard and a sound card, whether its worth it depends solely on the listener.
 
I listened through some headphones to my Xtremegamer and the onboard audio of my Tforce 550SE Am2 board... and definitely heard a difference. Basically the X-Fi just sounded more full, while the Realtek onboard sound had that more tinny, even kind of mechanical sound. I doubt it's the best onboard sound that there has been, but it definitely didn't sound as good as the sound card. YMMV
 
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