onboard vs card driven

Q

quisman

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 10, 2008
Messages
110
Hey all,
I was just thinkin with all the new technology going into onboard sound, coax out, optical, and old fashion 1/8"....is there a point in getting a peripheral for sound output?
I guess the question is, will you see a change in quality w/ a good speaker system or is it best used for means of connectivity and remote access?
I would assume it's similar to home audio where you get what you pay for like onboard video vs cards, but I don't know.

Thanks for the input.
 
good onboard audio=a cheap sound card in terms of sound quality

and there are several reasons to get a nice sound card- like gaming, music, home theater, and audio creation. you generally get what you pay for but there are always exceptions
 
For Vista, I say, a usb dac to stereo or usb to digital converter into a receiver for surround gets you much better sound.

There are good sound cards out there. Just better to get that outside the box for cleanest sound.
 
It has been my experience that on board analog out is..let see see how I can say this "Crap" Now with the new add on sound cards from the MBoard manufactures there has been an improvement..With the Coaxial outs on the MB there is a definite improvement. I was trying an A/B sound comparison with my DFI coaxial out and a Prodigy HD2 sound card with a Toslink out to a Zero Dac > Dared Tube amp. If I did not know any better I could live with it. The sound was just fine.
A lot depends on what you are sending the signal to for a good sound and each has its own signature
 
spaceman said:
For Vista, I say, a usb dac to stereo or usb to digital converter into a receiver for surround gets you much better sound.

There are good sound cards out there. Just better to get that outside the box for cleanest sound.
Click to expand...

So you're saying a receiver can actually do the job of a soundcard, particularly with onboard being alright? AKA if we buy a receiver, a soundcard isn't necessary?
 
Alai said:
So you're saying a receiver can actually do the job of a soundcard, particularly with onboard being alright? AKA if we buy a receiver, a soundcard isn't necessary?
Click to expand...

If you use Coax or Digital, thats correct.
 
for a typical desktop system, unless you have real sensitive ears, you will not be able to tell the difference between onboard and a sound card. Even then, it is generally best to stick with a 5.1-7.1 card such as an XFi or Asus Xonar
 
I ordered a Xonar D2X, last night. If I run an optical connection from my Asus P5 mobo to the receiver (Panasonic XR57) will that be nearly as good as a dedicated sound card? If it'll save me $200, I'm all for it.

EDIT: Meh... I'll stick with the Xonar and see how I like it.
 
Mr. Wolf said:
I ordered a Xonar D2X, last night. If I run an optical connection from my Asus P5 mobo to the receiver (Panasonic XR57) will that be nearly as good as a dedicated sound card? If it'll save me $200, I'm all for it.

EDIT: Meh... I'll stick with the Xonar and see how I like it.
Click to expand...

Actually, I use that Trends Audio usb to coax into my receiver. Really decent sound that way.

For $120 you can get a Sherwood 6500 receiver. Run an optical cable from the onboard into the receivers dac (the Xr-57 has a REALLY good dac btw) and get some pretty nice sound with a headphone and speaker amp. Beats a sound card except for size lol.
 
spaceman said:
Actually, I use that Trends Audio usb to coax into my receiver. Really decent sound that way.

For $120 you can get a Sherwood 6500 receiver. Run an optical cable from the onboard into the receivers dac (the Xr-57 has a REALLY good dac btw) and get some pretty nice sound with a headphone and speaker amp. Beats a sound card except for size lol.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the XR57's DAC is one of the main reasons I chose it. I just canceled my Xonar order. I'm gonna try running an optical cable from the onboard to the XR57 and see how I like it.
 
Very good stuff guys, thanks. Sounds like a nice fat monster coax cable to the ol harman kardon will do the trick for now.
 
Onboard audio, especially in laptops, is prone to one thing I genuinely cannot stand: Ground-Loops.

This can be seen as a pulse at 60Hz, and is caused by not having an isolated ground for your audio components.

Offboard sound devices, including external (USB) solutions, do not tend to suffer from ground-loops as much. I suggest the X-Fi line of cards from Creative, ASUS, or Auzentech (sp?). Personally, I run an X-Fi Titanium Champion, because I'm running in Vista x64 and it has perfect compatibility with my OS. Also, PCI-E.
 
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