Onboard soundcard = external DAC?

[semisonic9]

I've seen them compared to each other a lot online. I don't understand the differences between the two. Probably b/c I honestly don't understand what each does.

Pros? Cons?

-S

Edit- By "onboard", I don't mean built into the mobo. I mean something like the Creative series, an X-Fi platinum, etc, etc. "Discrete" would probably have been a better choice of words?

 

[semisonic9]

45 views, no replies.

Is this just a painfully stupid question, or does nobody know?

-S

 

[Cyrilix]

The difference is in the quality of the output, although personally I find that differences in sources are generally pretty small once you get past a certain price range (speaker improvements being far bigger). Whether or not it's worth it for you to get an external DAC is something that you'd probably want to test out before committing money to.

Also, know that in the audiophile world, the best stuff is typically not integrated. Integration tends to have simplicity and "hands-free" in mind, but generally isn't oriented towards quality.

 

[Leb_CRX]

I really looked into this topic as well before purchasing my prelude and the bottom line is ... it depends who you talk to and your budget

I ended up going with the prelude as opposed to using an external DAC because I found it fit me better and from what I gathered, it got the job done fairly 'well' for it's price.

I plan on picking up a zero amp/dac in the next short while and I will try and compare the differences to see if I notice any...and I'm very aware that the zero is a low end DAC

p.s. my sig is not right, I am not using the 5500's anymore, I am running a 2 chan setup with some klipsch rb62's

 

[JamesL]

Integrated doesn't necessarily mean bad. In the case of soundcards and onboard sound, there are a lot of decisions and limitations to the soundcard itself that hurt its performance.

First off, focus
A soundcard contains a DAC, Amp/buffer, ADC, processor, and supports 7 or so channels + a lot of other features... look at the number of chips on a card.

Power quality and quantity limitations(?); Power comes from the PCI bus, through the motherboard, and receives already noisy power from the switching regulator in you psu. The amount and quality of power is very important in a dac or amp, and the lack of clean power already hurts the potential for true hifi sound.

"made to look good" .. stuff like 7-channel.. high noise/ripple rejection.. size/heat constraints, low cost, really limits the components and design.
Things like xram.. third party technologies... dolbyetc... crystalizer, cmss virtual/headphone, etc.. marketing, multichannel support, various features - software and hardware... is where there money goes.
Look at the things that they -advertise- the soundcard for... thats the things they invest in.
Again, this goes back to "focus".. the focus is to make money.
The way to make money in the mainstream market is to convince the consumers that the product is high-quality.
On the other hand, the way to sell audiophile products is to design it so it sounds good.
Do you think something like the zero dac would sell if it didn't sound good? They have little reputation, much smaller consumer base, less profit margins, etc..
Let me know if you find a solidstate cap in any hifi equipment... Why do all the big dogs use it on their products? because they look good.. because most people think they're better.

Sound cards have an advantage in the sense that there is more money to work with, no casing required, mass produced for audio on the cheap, etc.

 

[ashmedai]

45 views, no replies.

Is this just a painfully stupid question, or does nobody know?

Mostly just one that has already been answered extensively, several times by me, and I'm not sure I want to type up another mini-essay.

As far as the DAC component goes, (electrical, signal) noise is a huge design concern. There is lots of noise inside a computer that an external device doesn't have to deal with. Therefore, it is much easier to build a much better external DAC given a constant price point. Other stuff too...more room for larger power filter caps, stuff like that. The miniaturized design necessary for a sound card can be very limiting, more so because you also throw in a bunch of other stuff that isn't the DAC circuit which adds even more noise to worry about.