Should I go for a USB Sound card?

E

ededra77

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I have used my laptop for more than 2 yrs and now want to upgrade its sound quality with a USB sound card. However, my concern is that whether USB sound card really helps a lot for better sound quality in a laptop?

I did some research and now focus on the Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 and ASUS Xonar U1. But I still watch and look before jumping into one.

BTW, are there any other ways I can do to improve the sound quality of my laptop? If USB Sound card is really a great solution for a laptop, I think I would then go for it.

Any advice or suggestion? Really thanks in advance.
 
Try plugging in a set of decent speakers or headphones. Beats the crap out of any laptop speakers. adding an external sound card wont help improve the sound quality if the outputs are rubbish.
 
Sound quality for what - movies, games, music? I think whether there is an improvement depends on what you are using it for.
 
From what ive read both of those are supposed to be pretty poor. I think uDac is the current fav over on head-fi.
 
Forceman said:
Sound quality for what - movies, games, music? I think whether there is an improvement depends on what you are using it for.
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I think I will use it mostly for music. As not a professional audiophile, could I ask how and what important this diiference is?
 
I tried to find some info. about uDAC and found it's really small and compact.
But how about its sound quality compared with Xonar U1 or X-Fi Surround 5.1? Actually, uDAC costs more than the other models I mentioned above. If uDAC's high price is mostly credited to its extremely small size but just in the same level of sound perfromance as the other models (such as ASUS Xonar U1 or X-Fi) are, I think I might choose the cheaper ones.
Any sharing about this?
 
i've heard the worst of speakers sound 10x better with a USB soundcard. i'd go for a new soundcard over speakers. if you want 5.1, go with the turtlebeach card via spdif optical. (if your motherboard has spdif, use that and just get new speakers.) for 2.1 or headphones, the creative x-fi go

edit: that creative usb surround card looks nifty, wish i held out for it. my sb go! was just kind of a random purchase, but i like it a lot
 
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The uDAC is a good dac, and also has a good headphone amp built into it. For music, I'd use the uDAC above the rest. Although for the most part its not going to be a night and day difference.
 
ewdca953 said:
I think I will use it mostly for music. As not a professional audiophile, could I ask how and what important this diiference is?
Click to expand...

If you are not looking for games, then you don't need to worry about game-type features, and an external DAC is probably a better choice.
 
Really thanks for you guys’ kind replies. It seems many people here recommend an external DAC more than an external USB soundcard.

I check the spec of Nuforce uDac and ASUS Xonar U1, but still a little confused. Are the functions of an external DAC almost the same as those of an external USB soundcard? Or can I assume the 2 rigs are almost the same but just in different names (external DAC V.S. an external USB soundcard)?

Could anyone let me know what the difference between them and whether external DAC is better than an external USB soundcard? Thanks in advance.
 
DAC is 'Digital-Analogue Conversion', you need one to convert your digital sound into analogue wave to physically listen to it.
The "external soundcard" is a DAC. Soundcards are more likely to have features such as dolby, eax and stuff to make MP3's "sound better" etc that will mean next to nothing if you're only interested in listening to music.
DAC's can be cheap or very expensive, you usually get what you pay for, but with soundcards you pay more for "features" and the brand. External DAC's can obliterate "external soundcards" in regards to quality and power and are usually of better build quality.
In your situation i would suggest to go for the Creative X-FI USB "soundcard" for simplicity and also it's not bad in regards to quality for price, nothing special but good for under $50
If you want to spend more money and want to use good speakers/headphones I would suggest the Fubar series of DACs
 
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I set up a Dell PC for my mother a month or two ago and figured on board sound would be good enough (for music). Turns out it was really crappy, even compared to her old PC. I got her the SB X-Fi Surround 5.1 external USB card and it sounded quite good after that was installed. I have no experience with DACs but I can recommend the X-Fi Surround 5.1 card. It should be a pretty noticeable improvement over your laptops built in sound (when used with external speakers)

Back in college I personally used an external Sound Blaster sound card with my laptop, the Audigy 2 NX and although its been years since I've used it I don't remember having any complaints about it. Believe it worked pretty well.
 
It could be quite difficult to compare between Xonar and X-Fi, coz each model has its fan, the price is much the same, the funtions have too many different...and so on. About the external DAC, I think some would like to choose it for much purer sound. If you need more features such as Dobly tech or some things, external USB soundcard such Xonar U1 or X-FI might be a good choice.
 
I can vouch for the UDAC as well. Bought it to use on my laptop and the sound from this tiny box is much improved compared to the headphone port on my laptop. It also pulls all of it's power from the USB port, so no need for batteries.

For $100 it's a deal.
 
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Thanks for all you guy's replies. I can now conclude that DAC (such as Nuforce uDAC, usually with headphone amp) is targeted at music enthusiastic while external USB soundcards (such as Xonar U1) target at general users who watch movies, listen music, and play games thru laptop. If I want a multi-functions rigs, I should go with an external USB soundcards; if I focus on music enjoyment, I should go an external DAC instead. Is that right??
 
ededra77 said:
Thanks for all you guy's replies. I can now conclude that DAC (such as Nuforce uDAC, usually with headphone amp) is targeted at music enthusiastic while external USB soundcards (such as Xonar U1) target at general users who watch movies, listen music, and play games thru laptop. If I want a multi-functions rigs, I should go with an external USB soundcards; if I focus on music enjoyment, I should go an external DAC instead. Is that right??
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Yes, pretty much spot on there.
 
I have one query. How about a external DAC compared to a USB soundcard (such as X-Fi 5.1 or Xonar U1) with a built-in amp? Is this eough to compensate the lack sound quality of an external USB soundcard?
 
To be honest, most users will be disappointed with external Dac/AMP combo units. These external Dac's have one benefit and that is they get rid of electromagnetic interference internal to the computer. They do not sound better or pfovide better sound quality for normal headphones. Unless you have really inefficient cans, you wont notice a difference in sound quality between your $300 Dac and your Onboard HD sound chip, other than the emi interference. So if you are like most of the world and have sub 100 ohm headphones, save your money. Buy a good soundcard or a really cheap usb interface dac.

pure usb units can also sound like shit, as usb has really dirty power and these units are not expensive enough to have regulated power.
 
Recursion said:
To be honest, most users will be disappointed with external Dac/AMP combo units. These external Dac's have one benefit and that is they get rid of electromagnetic interference internal to the computer. They do not sound better or pfovide better sound quality for normal headphones. Unless you have really inefficient cans, you wont notice a difference in sound quality between your $300 Dac and your Onboard HD sound chip, other than the emi interference. So if you are like most of the world and have sub 100 ohm headphones, save your money. Buy a good soundcard or a really cheap usb interface dac.

pure usb units can also sound like shit, as usb has really dirty power and these units are not expensive enough to have regulated power.
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Lol wut?
What a load of poop.
 
Rossi~ said:
Lol wut?
What a load of poop.
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Go take a look at the onslaught occurring over on Head-fi. Most senior members are coming out that Dacs really mean nothing. But its your money if you want to waste it. I left the source component market a long time ago, for this very reason. There is no sonic difference between a $200 dac and a $1000 dac. Other than EMI or flavor defined by opamps. Comparing any decent sound card with expensive Dacs also leave little gain.
 
Recursion said:
To be honest, most users will be disappointed with external Dac/AMP combo units. These external Dac's have one benefit and that is they get rid of electromagnetic interference internal to the computer. They do not sound better or pfovide better sound quality for normal headphones. Unless you have really inefficient cans, you wont notice a difference in sound quality between your $300 Dac and your Onboard HD sound chip, other than the emi interference. So if you are like most of the world and have sub 100 ohm headphones, save your money. Buy a good soundcard or a really cheap usb interface dac.

pure usb units can also sound like shit, as usb has really dirty power and these units are not expensive enough to have regulated power.
Click to expand...

"Go take a look at the onslaught occurring over on Head-fi. Most senior members are coming out that Dacs really mean nothing. But its your money if you want to waste it. I left the source component market a long time ago, for this very reason. There is no sonic difference between a $200 dac and a $1000 dac. Other than EMI or flavor defined by opamps. Comparing any decent sound card with expensive Dacs also leave little gain. "


No sonic difference between $200 dac and a $1000 dac? I may agree, but it is a stretch to state that on board sound is better than any dac.
The OP has requested suggestions for better sound quality from his laptop. One could assume that the solution would be driving headphones. One could also assume that the head phones are nothing exotic, ie requirements that exceed "normal" consumer grade headphones. With those assumptions it would leave USB sound or a dac as possible solutions to the OP's query. Both suggestions would work, both do not need to have an outragious price tag.
 
Recursion said:
To be honest, most users will be disappointed with external Dac/AMP combo units. These external Dac's have one benefit and that is they get rid of electromagnetic interference internal to the computer. They do not sound better or pfovide better sound quality for normal headphones. Unless you have really inefficient cans, you wont notice a difference in sound quality between your $300 Dac and your Onboard HD sound chip, other than the emi interference. So if you are like most of the world and have sub 100 ohm headphones, save your money. Buy a good soundcard or a really cheap usb interface dac.

pure usb units can also sound like shit, as usb has really dirty power and these units are not expensive enough to have regulated power.
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Sorry, like some of the others here, I have to strongly disagree with this. I can tell you, going from my on-board laptop audio to my uDAC was a big leap in quality.

It was well worth the $100 I spent, I can't listen to the audio on my laptop without it.
 
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The OP has requested suggestions for better sound quality from his laptop. One could assume that the solution would be driving headphones. One could also assume that the head phones are nothing exotic, ie requirements that exceed "normal" consumer grade headphones. With those assumptions it would leave USB sound or a dac as possible solutions to the OP's query. Both suggestions would work, both do not need to have an outragious price tag.
Click to expand...


Sorry, like some of the others here, I have to strongly disagree with this. I can tell you, going from my on-board laptop audio to my uDAC was a big leap in quality.

It was well worth the $100 I spent, I can't listen to the audio on my laptop without it.
Click to expand...


The problem is, you wont get better sound quality from a External dac than you would a decent soundcard. As an example by Abit as a RealTek HD soundcard on the motherboard. The Realtek is subject to EMI, but sound wise, It sounds as good as the best amp. I have tried for hours on end, doing A/B tests and never once could I discern a quality difference between it and the Dac's.

If you have very high impedance headphones then you need an amp and a dac may help vs a soundcard a lone, but just because you choose to use inefficient headphones doesn't mean you will get better sound quality from the same sources.

Headphones provide the real gain in sound quality, as better headphones simply have better resolution.

But, considering the average user who does not have $300+ headphones, a recommendation of a external dac will not provide more sound quality than a decent onboard/expansion. The fact remains that most computers/motherboards these days use some form of high quality (HD branded) onboard sound, whether it be RealTek, Nvidia or Intel. These solutions are really good. They compare with the best in terms of sonic production.


The external Dac does not and will not have the ability to somehow make your music sound better. if you have expensive headphones, it will allow the same signle to be amplified for your headphones to be properly supplied.

But for the average user, who does not spend $300+ on headphones, a cheap solution will be best. A $250 dac will not provide any better sound quality than a Xonar, X-fi or M-audio card for average user headphones. You really are just wasting your money. But it is yours to waste.

Here are some links from head-fi

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/495666/audio-gd-sparrow-blind-test

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread...ealistic-improvment-from-soundcard-to-dac-amp

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/494089/dac-testing-not-much-difference


As for the uDac, I suggest you do a pure A/B test with a third party person like crazy-carl did on head-fi. Surly not purely scientific, but it will tell you what you are really hearing. $100 is not all to much money, and getting rid of the internal EMI sounds great. But the uDac is just a $.98 cent dac. I may be wrong and you can actually tell the difference and if so great.


It all comes down to what you like. Its wrong to send an unexperienced member down the path of promised better sound quality. Because the sound quality is simply not there. A Dac is a Dac and we have gotten to a point, where they are all so good, even the 98 cent ones, that the vast majority of humans cannot tell the difference.

It just sucks, when somebody is told, "You will get much better sound quality from this external dac", they get there unit and they hear no difference. Now they blew $200+ on the unit and it does nothing for them.

The only external Dac that is actually worth its weight is the E-mu 0404. Just because of how utilitarian it is and its async usb abilities. If you are going to buy a Dac, just get that one. None of this Chinese crap.
 
Recursion said:
The problem is, you wont get better sound quality from a External dac than you would a decent soundcard. As an example by Abit as a RealTek HD soundcard on the motherboard. The Realtek is subject to EMI, but sound wise, It sounds as good as the best amp. I have tried for hours on end, doing A/B tests and never once could I discern a quality difference between it and the Dac's.

If you have very high impedance headphones then you need an amp and a dac may help vs a soundcard a lone, but just because you choose to use inefficient headphones doesn't mean you will get better sound quality from the same sources.

Headphones provide the real gain in sound quality, as better headphones simply have better resolution.

But, considering the average user who does not have $300+ headphones, a recommendation of a external dac will not provide more sound quality than a decent onboard/expansion. The fact remains that most computers/motherboards these days use some form of high quality (HD branded) onboard sound, whether it be RealTek, Nvidia or Intel. These solutions are really good. They compare with the best in terms of sonic production.


The external Dac does not and will not have the ability to somehow make your music sound better. if you have expensive headphones, it will allow the same signle to be amplified for your headphones to be properly supplied.

But for the average user, who does not spend $300+ on headphones, a cheap solution will be best. A $250 dac will not provide any better sound quality than a Xonar, X-fi or M-audio card for average user headphones. You really are just wasting your money. But it is yours to waste.

Here are some links from head-fi

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/495666/audio-gd-sparrow-blind-test

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread...ealistic-improvment-from-soundcard-to-dac-amp

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/494089/dac-testing-not-much-difference


As for the uDac, I suggest you do a pure A/B test with a third party person like crazy-carl did on head-fi. Surly not purely scientific, but it will tell you what you are really hearing. $100 is not all to much money, and getting rid of the internal EMI sounds great. But the uDac is just a $.98 cent dac. I may be wrong and you can actually tell the difference and if so great.


It all comes down to what you like. Its wrong to send an unexperienced member down the path of promised better sound quality. Because the sound quality is simply not there. A Dac is a Dac and we have gotten to a point, where they are all so good, even the 98 cent ones, that the vast majority of humans cannot tell the difference.

It just sucks, when somebody is told, "You will get much better sound quality from this external dac", they get there unit and they hear no difference. Now they blew $200+ on the unit and it does nothing for them.

The only external Dac that is actually worth its weight is the E-mu 0404. Just because of how utilitarian it is and its async usb abilities. If you are going to buy a Dac, just get that one. None of this Chinese crap.
Click to expand...

Well put, and that is what I was trying to get across. OP does not need to spend a small fortune to get "better" sound than his 2 year old laptop offer. "better" is completely subjective.
 
Recursion, I am only speaking from my experience with the uDAC. The soundcard in my laptop was a huge POS. Tons of hiss, static, popping noises, you name it. What I was looking for was an alternative to my laptop sound card seeing as how I can't very well replace the soundcard in my laptop, being integrated into the mobo and all.

So, you know what I did. I went to head-fi (regular member there). After about 10 minutes of looking, I found several threads in the Computer Audio section (can't link them, websense at work) all praising the uDAC. Go to that section, you will see them.

Now, I don't know about your claims that the uDAC is a ".98 cent DAC". I do know that when I first hooked it up to my laptop, I was very impressed. Gone was the hiss and static that plagued me before. The audio I heard was clearly improved as well. Most likely due to the built-in amp, which helps with what you call "inefficient" headphones. I am using a pair of custom, re-shelled UE Triplefi 10s BTW. I have also used my Denon D5000s with it as well. In that case, there is no comparison to the audio straight from my laptop and the uDAC.

So, to say the "sound quality is simply not there" is in my opinion misinformation. I was just passing along my experiences, thus trying to help the OP.


Just a quick question though, do you own a uDAC?
 
Recursion said:
To be honest, most users will be disappointed with external Dac/AMP combo units. These external Dac's have one benefit and that is they get rid of electromagnetic interference internal to the computer. They do not sound better or pfovide better sound quality for normal headphones. Unless you have really inefficient cans, you wont notice a difference in sound quality between your $300 Dac and your Onboard HD sound chip, other than the emi interference. So if you are like most of the world and have sub 100 ohm headphones, save your money. Buy a good soundcard or a really cheap usb interface dac.

pure usb units can also sound like shit, as usb has really dirty power and these units are not expensive enough to have regulated power.
Click to expand...

You're crazy :p

I went from HD280s (64 ohm but very efficient so I didn't need additional amping) on an onboard sound to a Xonar ST, which is still inside the PC but gets its power from molex, there was a MASSIVE difference. You'd have to be deaf not to hear it. The sound clarity difference was immense, the separation was hugely better, going back to on board just sounds like a murky mess. The only bad part was that the ST lacked bass compared to the on board (the bass it does have is way more defined than the muddled boomy bass coming from the onboard, there was just less of it), though upgrading to HD650s made me realise it wasn't the Xonar ST lacking bass, it was the HD280s.

So going from onboard to Xonar ST without using the headphone amp was just changing the DAC and associated circuitry, and the difference was huge.
 
kraken0698 said:
Recursion, I am only speaking from my experience with the uDAC. The soundcard in my laptop was a huge POS. Tons of hiss, static, popping noises, you name it. What I was looking for was an alternative to my laptop sound card seeing as how I can't very well replace the soundcard in my laptop, being integrated into the mobo and all.

So, you know what I did. I went to head-fi (regular member there). After about 10 minutes of looking, I found several threads in the Computer Audio section (can't link them, websense at work) all praising the uDAC. Go to that section, you will see them.

Now, I don't know about your claims that the uDAC is a ".98 cent DAC". I do know that when I first hooked it up to my laptop, I was very impressed. Gone was the hiss and static that plagued me before. The audio I heard was clearly improved as well. Most likely due to the built-in amp, which helps with what you call "inefficient" headphones. I am using a pair of custom, re-shelled UE Triplefi 10s BTW. I have also used my Denon D5000s with it as well. In that case, there is no comparison to the audio straight from my laptop and the uDAC.

So, to say the "sound quality is simply not there" is in my opinion misinformation. I was just passing along my experiences, thus trying to help the OP.


Just a quick question though, do you own a uDAC?
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No I don't own one, but like every other $100 usb dac under the sun, they are all nearly the same. What I meant by 98 cent dac, is the actual dac chip inside of the unit is about $1. I am also well aware of the units hype, but on head-fi for every praise there i also a disappointment.

You stated your onboard soundcard has hiss and static, such EMI is common on onboard units, but almost always goes away when there is an actual signal to your phones. Getting outside of your computer, like you did with the udac usually gets rid of this static to an extent, usb power tends to be really dirty, but it's implications are far less worse than the emi experienced by onboard cards.

The udac not having that statis/hiss has nothing to do with the actual sound quality being outputted. The two likely have identical sound quality, though the absence of the hiss/static made you feel it was better, which is fine and understandable.

Your denon cans only have a 25 ohm impedance, and thus are very efficient. You likely would gain nothing from an amp. You need 300+ohm impedence cans to notice a difference from an actual amp.


But I am not you and if you feel its better, then its better. hearing is subjective, not an objective science.

There is a lot of misinformation going around on the internet, in the audio world the biggest one currently is the idea one will benefit greatly from more expensive options.

Read my response below as well.



You're crazy

I went from HD280s (64 ohm but very efficient so I didn't need additional amping) on an onboard sound to a Xonar ST, which is still inside the PC but gets its power from molex, there was a MASSIVE difference. You'd have to be deaf not to hear it. The sound clarity difference was immense, the separation was hugely better, going back to on board just sounds like a murky mess. The only bad part was that the ST lacked bass compared to the on board (the bass it does have is way more defined than the muddled boomy bass coming from the onboard, there was just less of it), though upgrading to HD650s made me realise it wasn't the Xonar ST lacking bass, it was the HD280s.

So going from onboard to Xonar ST without using the headphone amp was just changing the DAC and associated circuitry, and the difference was huge.
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Thank you for the kind words.

That muffled/murky sound may have been due to EMI, you should test the onboard sound for it while your headphones are plugged in with a null file playing.

As for this massive difference you perceived, you very well may have heard it. If you were using a ac'97 based chipset and installed the ST or kraken with his udac, you would likely see a large improvement, as the actual ac'97 hardware and software is poor. Though if you had a good onboard soundcard like the Intel hd, realtek hd or the nvidia, you really should here no difference. So if you tell me what your onboard soundcard is, we could better evaluate the situation.

Ive compared realtek HD to very good dac's and I have never heard a sonic difference other than static/hiss.
 
Recursion said:
No I don't own one, but like every other $100 usb dac under the sun, they are all nearly the same. What I meant by 98 cent dac, is the actual dac chip inside of the unit is about $1. I am also well aware of the units hype, but on head-fi for every praise there i also a disappointment.

You stated your onboard soundcard has hiss and static, such EMI is common on onboard units, but almost always goes away when there is an actual signal to your phones. Getting outside of your computer, like you did with the udac usually gets rid of this static to an extent, usb power tends to be really dirty, but it's implications are far less worse than the emi experienced by onboard cards.

The udac not having that statis/hiss has nothing to do with the actual sound quality being outputted. The two likely have identical sound quality, though the absence of the hiss/static made you feel it was better, which is fine and understandable.

Your denon cans only have a 25 ohm impedance, and thus are very efficient. You likely would gain nothing from an amp. You need 300+ohm impedence cans to notice a difference from an actual amp.


But I am not you and if you feel its better, then its better. hearing is subjective, not an objective science.

There is a lot of misinformation going around on the internet, in the audio world the biggest one currently is the idea one will benefit greatly from more expensive options.
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I can already see this is going nowhere.

Look, if you want to do direct comparisons between hardware you own, that's fine. But don't tell me that there is no difference. I am sitting here swapping my headphones back and forth between my laptop headphone port and the port on my uDAC.

The difference is clear. Pun intended.
 
kraken0698 said:
I can already see this is going nowhere.

Look, if you want to do direct comparisons between hardware you own, that's fine. But don't tell me that there is no difference. I am sitting here swapping my headphones back and forth between my laptop headphone port and the port on my uDAC.

The difference is clear. Pun intended.
Click to expand...


what sound chipset does your laptop have?
 
Recursion said:
Thank you for the kind words.

That muffled/murky sound may have been due to EMI, you should test the onboard sound for it while your headphones are plugged in with a null file playing.

As for this massive difference you perceived, you very well may have heard it. If you were using a ac'97 based chipset and installed the ST or kraken with his udac, you would likely see a large improvement, as the actual ac'97 hardware and software is poor. Though if you had a good onboard soundcard like the Intel hd, realtek hd or the nvidia, you really should here no difference. So if you tell me what your onboard soundcard is, we could better evaluate the situation.

Ive compared realtek HD to very good dac's and I have never heard a sonic difference other than static/hiss.
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I went from Realtek ALC888 HD to Xonar ST, before buying the Xonar ST I also tested a TEAC AG15D home theater receiver (ran optical out from the mobo to the reciever) and listened to the same set of headphones on 3 different mobos (my old one, my new one and my friend's one), they all sound very different and the ST sounds a lot better. I find it hard to believe the only difference is EMI, especially since the HD280s are efficient and dont require amping. The receiver had a very warm and bassy sound compared to the brighter Xonar and all of the mobos sounded boomy but lacking any real depth to the sound.

The only reason I bought a Xonar ST was because someone suggested testing the HD280s on my receiver, I wasn't expecting a big difference as I figured they're all just converting digital to analog, how hard can it be? But when I heard the phenomenal difference between my old receiver and the onboard sound it motivated me to research upgrade options from the Realtek, and when I bought the Xonar ST I was pretty happy with it, definitely worth the money, my only regret is thinking maybe I should have bought an external DAC so I could use it on my lappy as well.
 
Inevitably there will be slight differences between products, be it internal or external. While EMI certainly does affect sound clarity (which is pretty obvious), there are out-of-the-box differences between products. Even sound cards or motherboards based on the same chipset can sound different. To the average consumer, external sound cards or DACs will most certainly give you a perceivable difference in sound output. On the flip side, there probably isnt much of a difference other than EMI considering almost everything can be adjusted in the equalizer to our own personal preferences. Whether or not people bother to fiddle around is another matter altogether.

To a certain extent, I do agree with Recursion being that most chipsets can be made equal. Its more of how they are implemented that makes them stand out. Else there probably isnt a need for all the different products out there. There is always two sides of each argument like how [H] performs their GPU reviews. We can compare the numbers and they might all be comparable but in real world scenarios where no tweaks are applied, theres always one better than another. To provide an analogy, a great monitor is still going to look shit if its badly calibrated.

Personally, I find that a decent headphone or speakers makes much more of a difference AFTER tinkering around with the EQs.
 
I'd like to just point out that some people listen better than others. In a setup where I hear huge differences between two products, others will say they sound exactly the same. Obviously there are people in both camps and varying levels in between.

Tweaking an equalizer does not make a poor sound card sound like a good one. We are not just talking about frequency response making good sound. If you are only listening for "how much bass there is", maybe you can make those equivalent. But there are many more factors for good sound that others may be picking up on.

Now I can tell you the uDac and uDac-2 sound much better than your standard onboard audio. The difference is not small at all. Yet I know there are people out there who think it sounds pretty much the same.

So I guess the point is, if you are good at listening and are researching something better than your standard onboard audio. Do consider higher quality external DACs like the inexpensive uDac. The output quality will be much better than most gaming sound cards or home theater sound cards inside the computer as those are are focused more on effects and gimmicks rather than pure sound quality.
 
bcwang said:
I'd like to just point out that some people listen better than others. In a setup where I hear huge differences between two products, others will say they sound exactly the same. Obviously there are people in both camps and varying levels in between.

Tweaking an equalizer does not make a poor sound card sound like a good one. We are not just talking about frequency response making good sound. If you are only listening for "how much bass there is", maybe you can make those equivalent. But there are many more factors for good sound that others may be picking up on.

Now I can tell you the uDac and uDac-2 sound much better than your standard onboard audio. The difference is not small at all. Yet I know there are people out there who think it sounds pretty much the same.

So I guess the point is, if you are good at listening and are researching something better than your standard onboard audio. Do consider higher quality external DACs like the inexpensive uDac. The output quality will be much better than most gaming sound cards or home theater sound cards inside the computer as those are are focused more on effects and gimmicks rather than pure sound quality.
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Kind of tricky to replace a sound card inside a laptop.
 
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