Will I hear difference if i upgrade sound card?

I

IRTxert

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Will I hear a difference if i upgrade my onboard realtek HD audio (desktop) to a dedicated sound card? I have logitech z-2300 for a speaker, and Sennheiser HD555 for headphone. Music quality is a bit more important to me than movie quality. At the moment I'm not planning on getting a 5.1 system.

If the answer is yes, are there any suggestions for a sound card? Thanks.
 
Advantages of dedicated sound cards:
1. More power in terms of volume
2. More audio effects
3. Best for audio creation

If you don't need any of these then there is no point in upgrading.
 
Hearing tends to be subjective so nobody can really tell you if you yourself will hear a difference. I can tell you that I can hear a difference but that's also with my different speakers/headphones.
 
I heard a pretty big difference going from my onboard to a Xonar ST with my HD280s. They gave a lot more clarity across a wider range which was good for music and offered better equalisation to give more bass for gaming. Though I didn't buy it for the HD280s, I bought it for the HD650s I was getting at the time.
 
You'll probably hear a difference, but it don't expect miracles. It depends on what you buy and your ears.
 
If you have decent ears, you'll definitely notice a difference from switching to a good sound card. As for specifically what you should get, that depends on your budget. For music purposes, it's hard to beat the ASUS Xonar line in the consumer space.
 
I've posted this in 3 threads now... but yeah, I have Sennheiser PC350s and Shure SRH 840s. The sound with the Creative X-FI Titanium HD is light years better than the onboard Realtek Audio on my machine and even blows my previous Fatal1ty card out of the water. The built-in headphone amp does wonders for the sound quality with the Sennheisers. I would recommend this sound card to anyone with the budget.
 
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Yes, a dedicated "quality" soundcard will give you better digital to analog conversion for analog output to your headphones or speakers. And the drivers and control panel for the sound card will give you more sound control options/effects. Also, a dedicated sound card may take some of the calculations off your CPU, which may help overall computer performance (though you're not likely to notice). And some sound cards include amplification which makes a difference.

If you already have a nice receiver that can convert digital input (SPDIF/TOS optical or SPDIF/RCA/COAX digital) then that would be another way for you to bypass the analog output from your computer, if your motherboard has optical output. Or you can get a sound card with optical or digital output.

Music is mostly designed for stereo 2.0/2.1 setup, so you do not need to waste money on a 5.1 or 7.1 mega setup. If you want to maximize games or movies that have multichannel sound, then it makes sense to get a fully surround system.

In the end, your budget will likely dictate what you can purchase. Good luck!
 
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With your current speakers, I doubt you'd notice. There should be some improvement for the headphones, though.
 
after reading a bit on the forums I think I'm down to getting the ASUS Xonar STX or the Fiio E7. I want a gradual upgrade path so the E7 might allow me to get higher end headphones such as the AKG K701 and the E9 later.

I do have SPDIF out on the mobo but I think the E7 just uses an USB?

I do plan to upgrade my speakers eventually but haven't looked into it much. Would the E7 be a good enough DAC for powered speakers or is it mostly for headphones?
 
The onboard will ad noise to the signal for every content that's over 16bit. The DG will start at 17bit and the STX and Titanium will start add noise at 20bit.
Onboard will add a total noise of 46db to the signal, the DG 36db and the STX and Titanium 24db for 24bit content for Cds no difference it got a locked snr of 93db 16bit you won't hear a difference much between it aswell. Only when you start to go over 16bit you will
Cheers
 
Spooony said:
The onboard will ad noise to the signal for every content that's over 16bit. The DG will start at 17bit and the STX and Titanium will start add noise at 20bit.
Onboard will add a total noise of 46db to the signal, the DG 36db and the STX and Titanium 24db for 24bit content for Cds no difference it got a locked snr of 93db 16bit you won't hear a difference much between it aswell. Only when you start to go over 16bit you will
Cheers
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None of that post makes any sense.
 
sorry might be a little off topic, but how would an sxt perform against an e7/e9? i guess more specifically, the e7's dac vs the sxt's. or more even a more overall comparison as well for anyone who knows.
 
The STX blows the E7 away. But the E7 & E9 combo blows the STX away by a great margin in both sound and power. The E9 by itself has a great deal more power than the STX, but the STX has a better sound signature than the E9, IMO.

OP for your Logitech I would get the E9 straight away and then either add the E7 later or a lower end Xonar to go with it like the DS, you wouldn't need the ST/STX unless you were planning to mainly run headphones.

The volume pot on the E9 makes static while adjusting. For some it's no big deal. Just a heads up though. I sold mine because of that issue. Another good bang for buck around that range would probably be the hifidiy.net 'Aune'. It can be had for a buck fifty on ebay. I haven't tried it personally so I can't say, but I've heard great things about it.
 
i might just end up waiting for fiio's e15 which is supposed to be better in overall power and sound quality than the e7/e9, or even the e17/e9 as well. but i kind of do want a generally decent sound card to replace my current audigy 2 zs just for general speaker use... so i'm kind of looking for a good replacement in that area.
 
I don't really hear a difference between a modern onboard sound chip and a dedicated card. I've compared to the original X-Fi and the Revolution 7.1.

The ALC889A on my Gigabyte motherboard has a SNR of 106db on the outputs. (104db on the inputs) I doubt my ears could even here the difference to a 108, 112 or 116db card. The different DACs might color the sound a bit different, but not enough to spend $100-180 on a card.

We are a long past the days when on-board has SNR of 76 or 85db.

All of this only applies to playback of course. If I was recording I'd want a card with high sampling rates, etc.
 
Will the OP see better gaming performance or bugs resolved? Some EA games of mine have voice out of sync with the game and sound cutting out completely. Will dedicated sound card be better than onboard?
 
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