Z170 onboard sound vs. dedicated card

[Furious_Styles]

I have an older HT Omega sound card and know that pretty soon it will be phased out because no one makes mobos with legacy PCI slots anymore. So my question is pretty simple, how does the new onboard audio stack up these days? And any opinions on which is the best soundcard currently available would also be appreciated.

 

[evilsofa]

Since it sounds like you're going to be buying a Z170 board regardless, you have nothing to lose by just trying the onboard sound it comes with before making a decision about buying a dedicated sound card. Onboard sound is much better than it used to be, with motherboard makers making an effort to isolated PCB layers to avoid crosstalk and signal problems.

Most of the Z170 boards are using the basic Realtek ALC1150 which is reported to be pretty solid. If you want more, HardOCP really liked the sound on the Gigabyte Z170X Gaming G1, calling it one of the best onboard solutions they've heard.

 

[Criticalhitkoala]

From my limited experience with current gen onboard sound from the Gigabyte Gaming N z97, MSI Dark x79, Asus Rampage V Extreme is the sound is decent, but I feel the sound from my Xonar U7 and SoundBlaster Z is a lot richer and more filling on the headsets I use.

The Gaming N z97 advertised having isolated circuitry that prevented noise issues but I still heard interference that was completely removed by using an external sound card.

Overall I think onboard sound has gotten a lot better, but I absolutely LOVE the sound coming from my Asus Xonar u7 and the SoundBlaster Z. Preference wise I love the xonar more but intitialy there was issues with windows 10 with it.

 

[Furious_Styles]

From my limited experience with current gen onboard sound from the Gigabyte Gaming N z97, MSI Dark x79, Asus Rampage V Extreme is the sound is decent, but I feel the sound from my Xonar U7 and SoundBlaster Z is a lot richer and more filling on the headsets I use.

The Gaming N z97 advertised having isolated circuitry that prevented noise issues but I still heard interference that was completely removed by using an external sound card.

Overall I think onboard sound has gotten a lot better, but I absolutely LOVE the sound coming from my Asus Xonar u7 and the SoundBlaster Z. Preference wise I love the xonar more but intitialy there was issues with windows 10 with it.

Appreciate the replies thus far guys. I should not have ruled out the X99 chipset, that is a possbility for sure.

 

[Dion]

Most of the Z170 boards are using the basic Realtek ALC1150 which is reported to be pretty solid. If you want more, HardOCP really liked the sound on the Gigabyte Z170X Gaming G1, calling it one of the best onboard solutions they've heard.

Doesn't that use a Creative Card integrated onboard.

OP if you care about audio.. Get a discrete card. If you just want something good enough.. Onboard audio is fine.

 

[tungt88]

OP, what HT Omega sound card do you have? I have used a Claro Halo (PCI) and a Fenix (PCIe) before, and am currently using an eClaro (PCIe).

For "best gaming soundcard" available, I'd go for external (if you can afford it): Sound Blaster X7 Limited Edition

Internal oriented? You have a choice of several, each with their positives and negatives:
Sound Blaster ZxR
HT Omega eClaro
PowerColor Devil HDX
ASUS Strix Raid DLX (don't think it's out yet in North America)

Of course, a good external DAC/amp will do you well, too. There are some good USB DAC's that have pretty decent amps. My Audio-Technica ATH-AG1 came with a solid USB DAC w/built in amp.

 

[GibsonEX]

Like Tungt88 says, in case you're going for headphones/sound card combo, make sure sound card has a decent amp (unless you have one already) to drive whatever headphones you intend to use.
Just for example my AKG Q701s don't sound that good with Sound Blaster Z in terms of sound stage or bass, but volume is there. But Asus Essence STX drives them lot better and everything sounds more detailed while at little over half a volume compared to SBZ. When i tried same volume it was really unpleasant experience, my head almost exploded (playing music or Battlefield 4/ Battlefront).
What headphones/speakers are you using (or intend to use) with your new sound card when you get it?

 

[StoleMyOwnCar]

What headphones/speakers are you using (or intend to use) with your new sound card when you get it?

I'm surprised it took this long for the most important question in this topic to get asked. Your sound card is just a DAC/ADC (most of the time with a digital out and whatnot) with a weak headphone amplifier. What you it up to tends to be more important than the product. If you hook up a 1k DAC/AMP to trash, you'll get trash out. If you hook a trash DAC to 1k powered speakers... well actually it'll probably still be better than the former (by a lot). DAC's aren't terribly demanding to make these days.

Well, my current speakers have the whole DAC/AMP/Speaker combo together...

 

[Furious_Styles]

I'm surprised it took this long for the most important question in this topic to get asked. Your sound card is just a DAC/ADC (most of the time with a digital out and whatnot) with a weak headphone amplifier. What you it up to tends to be more important than the product. If you hook up a 1k DAC/AMP to trash, you'll get trash out. If you hook a trash DAC to 1k powered speakers... well actually it'll probably still be better than the former (by a lot). DAC's aren't terribly demanding to make these days.

Well, my current speakers have the whole DAC/AMP/Speaker combo together...

Currently using sennheiser 598SE w/ an HT Omega Claro. I've been looking into a DAC/AMP as well recently. I've been really satisfied with the ht omega tbh. Served me for many years and never given me a problem.

 

[StoleMyOwnCar]

I've heard the 598's at Best Buy. They're okay.

My MSI MPower Z87 came with a headphone amp. For powering your specific headphones... something like that would probably be okay. They have a pretty low impedance, so I don't think you'll have much trouble driving them with an on board setup like that. I'm not sure off the top of my head which ones have an amplified headphone out. That being said, I wouldn't do it.

If you find that you can get a good motherboard without said amplified port for like 50-60$ cheaper than a good motherboard with said headphone amp port, at that point you're wasting too much money on a feature that might be hit or miss. From what I see, there seem to be plenty of Z170 motherboards with a PCI slot. Your sound card seems to be a pretty high end model from the earlier gens. It's not like we've made huge leaps and bounds in sound cards since then. I'd just get one of these and use it:
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/motherboard/#c=110&d=1,6&sort=a8&page=1

Your next step up should be to a dedicated headphone DAC/AMP, if you plan to keep using those earphones (though I'm not sure just how much they'll benefit).

 

[Furious_Styles]

I've heard the 598's at Best Buy. They're okay.

My MSI MPower Z87 came with a headphone amp. For powering your specific headphones... something like that would probably be okay. They have a pretty low impedance, so I don't think you'll have much trouble driving them with an on board setup like that. I'm not sure off the top of my head which ones have an amplified headphone out. That being said, I wouldn't do it.

If you find that you can get a good motherboard without said amplified port for like 50-60$ cheaper than a good motherboard with said headphone amp port, at that point you're wasting too much money on a feature that might be hit or miss. From what I see, there seem to be plenty of Z170 motherboards with a PCI slot. Your sound card seems to be a pretty high end model from the earlier gens. It's not like we've made huge leaps and bounds in sound cards since then. I'd just get one of these and use it:
http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/motherboard/#c=110&d=1,6&sort=a8&page=1

Your next step up should be to a dedicated headphone DAC/AMP, if you plan to keep using those earphones (though I'm not sure just how much they'll benefit).

I just looked and I'm pretty amazed there are that many z170 with a legacy PCI slot. The only problem you run into with most of these boards is that the placement almost always makes it difficult to run non-reference cooler SLI.

 

[Criticalhitkoala]

Try a xonar u7 on amazon and return it if it sucks. Lol I love mine.

 

[StoleMyOwnCar]

I just looked and I'm pretty amazed there are that many z170 with a legacy PCI slot. The only problem you run into with most of these boards is that the placement almost always makes it difficult to run non-reference cooler SLI.

SLI with non reference coolers tends to suck in the first place. I know from hard experience. If you're running SLI of any sort, you probably want to invest in a Kraken G10 for at least the top card. Honestly though I would generally not recommend SLI to begin with. After switching to a 980 Ti, I've generally been a good deal happier than I was with my 780 SLI setup.

If you insist on doing SLI... well there are still a few boards that would accommodate your card while minimizing airflow obstruction. Just look over your options. With how much you paid for that sound card, it's really not worth going for another option.

 

[Furious_Styles]

SLI with non reference coolers tends to suck in the first place. I know from hard experience. If you're running SLI of any sort, you probably want to invest in a Kraken G10 for at least the top card. Honestly though I would generally not recommend SLI to begin with. After switching to a 980 Ti, I've generally been a good deal happier than I was with my 780 SLI setup.

If you insist on doing SLI... well there are still a few boards that would accommodate your card while minimizing airflow obstruction. Just look over your options. With how much you paid for that sound card, it's really not worth going for another option.

I've come to the same conclusion. I got an excellent deal on here from a forum member for 2x 970 so I just rolled the dice and got 'em both. But based on my mobo setup (asrock extreme 4 z77) anywhere I placed the sound card was going to block airflow. So if I went with the kraken G10 that would be quite an added expense. The cheapest option seemed to be just either buying a new sound card or just using onboard and getting a DAC/AMP. So I've decided to just wait it out on one 970 until pascal and see what people think of the current gen of soundcards/new chipset mobos.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I love ASRock's Realtek ALC1150 and choice of opamp to go with it. So much I like the sound coming of that more than both my ZxR and Essence STX II. I find as long as you stick to 5.1 speaker channels in windows (no speaker options enabled but "surround speakers" settings both enabled, the positioning is good enough and staying most true to the original sound compared to Creative or ASUS that with the various sound card processings can exaggerate the positional sound in some cases but at loss of fidelity or natural sound. I'm the guy that prefers sticking as much as possible to the original sound, if I can just improve positioning without significantly changing the quality or fidelity, then that works best for me and to me that's what the 5.1 speaker setting on onboard for me does, unfortunately somehow both the ZxR and STX II doesn't give as good positional sound if simply using 5.1 speakers (with all other processing disabled) as Realtek does, it's as if Realtek does this slightly differently somehow as it leads to more convining out of the head sound for me.

 

[tungt88]

Currently using sennheiser 598SE w/ an HT Omega Claro. I've been looking into a DAC/AMP as well recently. I've been really satisfied with the ht omega tbh. Served me for many years and never given me a problem.

The quick budget option would be to get a USB DAC/amp. They can be had for under $100 -- Schiit, Fiio, Monoprice all have them. I was running non-reference 7970/R9 280x in Crossfire earlier this year and used my USB DAC to get around the blocked PCI slot on my motherboard (for my Claro Halo) until I got a eClaro.

 

[sweets3450]

the ALC850+ are great, it will take very nice speakers or headphones to really tell the difference between the onboard sound and a quality DAC. Of course an $800 DAC will sound much better, but not 10x better. The best reason to upgrade to an external DAC is due to noise and inputs/outputs.