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Showing 1 of 78 conversations about:
NeenerMan
233
Jun 4, 2016
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My biggest fear and gripe about sound cards, they're noisey. External DAC/amps aren't too big to fit on a desk or on top of your computer and all of the important bits are away from noisy circuits.
NeenerMan
233
Jun 5, 2016
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rhenomEven then, it's plug directly into a power source and depending on your hardware, well you know the rest. I'm sticking with external DACs and amps. I haven't really heard any good things about sound cards when compared to external hardware.
SpOoNeeUs
4
Jun 9, 2016
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NeenerManIt depends on the sound card really, just like how there she some crappy external DACS and amps. I have a Creative Labs sound card with the Core3D chip as the digital sound processor. The sound card has shielding and filtering to handle all the electrical noise. The on (mother)board sound is much more noisy and does not have enough juice to amp high resistance headphones. The sound card also has the benefit of allowing a beam forming mic (2 microphone array) to be used. The beam forming mic picks up sound coming from a narrow arc in front of the mic (useful in canceling out noisy environments). Lastly is the Core3D DSP chip. This chip off loads processing from the CPU (good for those that are looking for those last few extra frames in games) when utilized by software.
Compared to my O2 DAC, the sound card does color the sound (can be mostly fixed through equalization) but also has the added benefits of a good mic in, a DSP and enough power to drive higher resistance headphones. In all, a sound card does have its uses and really depends on what the user wants to use it for.
From experience I can surmise where most of the bad rap of sound cards are coming from. The front panel jacks on PC cases are notorious for creating earth ground loops. In all of the dozen or so PC cases I've built in, the front jacks have grounds that are coupled with the USB connectors. Problem was solved when I decoupled the grounds.
Compared to my O2 DAC, the sound card does color the sound (can be mostly fixed through equalization) but also has the added benefits of a good mic in, a DSP and enough power to drive higher resistance headphones. In all, a sound card does have its uses and really depends on what the user wants to use it for.
From experience I can surmise where most of the bad rap of sound cards are coming from. The front panel jacks on PC cases are notorious for creating earth ground loops. In all of the dozen or so PC cases I've built in, the front jacks have grounds that are coupled with the USB connectors. Problem was solved when I decoupled the grounds.
galanafccs
70
Jun 10, 2016
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NeenerManDon't put a sound card in a cheap PC. If you have feedback/interference in your PC you've got bigger problems. Buy a decent PSU and motherboard, because one or the other is about to burn out.
That being said, I own DAC's, Amps, and 4 different sound cards. I have an STX II 7.1 I paid $200 for and it sounds better than my Peachtree Novapre hybrid. I've only experienced noise once out of a collective 20 years of using PCI-e sound cards, and that was when I found out that my watercooling loop had dripped on the slot and caused the connections to corrode.
You don't get noise from a PCI-e sound card unless your hardware is failing or you screwed something up.
That being said, I own DAC's, Amps, and 4 different sound cards. I have an STX II 7.1 I paid $200 for and it sounds better than my Peachtree Novapre hybrid. I've only experienced noise once out of a collective 20 years of using PCI-e sound cards, and that was when I found out that my watercooling loop had dripped on the slot and caused the connections to corrode.
You don't get noise from a PCI-e sound card unless your hardware is failing or you screwed something up.
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