Sound Cards

yea, i bought one back in 2003
still using it, probably will until "conventional" PCI is dead and gone

I have a soundblaster, worth it with an AMP and good hp/speakers.

>Anyone have one?
No

>Are they worth it and why?
No

DAC + AMP > Soundcard

>>57247954
Isn't sound card a DAC?

>>57247982
a soundcard also includes an amp

>>57247062
this

>>57247982
Yes but he means an external DAC that is free from signal pollution from the rest of your PC

>>57247982
Yes. Everything that gets from your computer or another digital source to an amp, speakers, or headphones is, by definition, a DAC.

>>57248024
Actually not. Dac are digital to analog converters which convert sample rates along a bit grid into analog voltage. Headphones are reverse microphones. Theres no conversion done and tgey arent digital. They just take in voltage which moves the speaker. Sound cards are useless these days when dacs are so cheap and usally come with a gain controls

>>57248024
Any audio engineer would piss in your face with that absurdity

>>57248167
>convert sample rates along a bit grid into analog voltage.
lel, where'd you read that?

>>57248167
Actually yes. It's impossible for audio to be digital, and as such conversion must happen somewhere when you play audio from a digital source like your computer, phone, or what have you.
That conversion happens in the DAC. Every single digital audio source has a DAC, including your phone, your motherboard.

The DAC takes input from a digital source and converts it to the voltage for your headphones or speakers. Doesn't matter if said DAC is in a little box on your desk, a PCI-e sound card, your motherboard. Some DACs are better than others, but all digital audio sources have one.

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>>57246714

I bought one for $100 once, it looked to be of good quality. I was using it as output to $500 speakers

I could not tell the difference between the soundcard output and the onboard sound output

it had a lot of other mixing features and shit that I never used, maybe that's what it's really for, people who make music to mix shit

Soundcards became largely pointless when they stopped having MIDI synth chips.

>>57246714
External is where it's at dawg. No interference.

>>57246714
I think Sound Blasters/Cards used to be a necessity if you wanted sound. I remember playing around on my parents DOS machine when I was younger and when I played Wolf3D I had to choose where the sound came from.

I have an Audigy 2 ZS, since my motherboard has unused PCI-X slots and no onboard sound.

>>57248472
PCs originally came with only the "PC speaker", which had a simple 1-bit DAC

it was only intended for basic audio feedback, not game audio

there were several third party audio solutions for PCs early on, the soundblaster 16 (a 16-bit wave + midi card), the adlib (FM synthesis, think sega genesis-like audio), and the gravis ultrasound (like a higher end sound blaster)

there was also things like covox speech thing and disney soundsource which were simple resistor ladders attached to a parallel port, still entirely software-driven, basically equivalent to a PC speaker, only 8-bit, making it easier to produce decent wave sounds

>>57248472
>>57248633
this isn't exhaustive, of course, but those were the most common

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdd2CNlcqn0
(roland MT-32 midi)

>>57248633
i remember the shitty sounds that came from that dino when i played games

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I have a Xonar Essence STX
> complete Linux support without bloatware
> quality ADC
> quality DAC
> headphone amp with switchable gain
> swappable opamp
> real man I/O: 6.3mm jacks, RCA, S/PDIF

I don't use the DAC and amp parts anymore and could "downgrade" but it's still a decent backup.

>>57246714
Do not buy Asus Xonar sound cards, they have a bug in it in which the sound screeches once every while because of sound switching in the Windows OS. It can't be fixed by Asus and they pretend like it doesn't exist. It's a problem of the Asus Driver and Windows Sound system together.

>>57248836
Another instance where Linux actually provides better hardware support.

>>57248836
>asus product being shit
gee, what a surprise

>>57248750
the pc speaker was the only audio system gauranteed to be available (hell pcs STILL have it, though nothing but the bios uses it anymore)
so most games at least had sound effects for it, even if they sounded like shit compared to literally anything else

some games went pretty far with it, simulating higher bitdepths using PWM in software (once machines got fast enough to do that)
here's one i used to love, half the reason i played it was because everything else had just beeps, this had real music and sound effects... on the pc speaker!
https://youtu.be/cps8VyuZosA?t=27m43s

>>57246714
>Anyone have one?'
Yes.
>why?
I needed more I/O options and wanted a guaranteed high quality audio output as well as input.
>Are they worth it
Kill yourself.

>>57247954
Every sound card is a DAC and nearly all of them act as headphone amplifiers.

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>>57248823
My negro.
You better be using it with UNI and xonar switch.

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What is a good soundcard if I fell for the hi res audio meme but I only have two desktop speakers?

>>57248823
it's voerpriced, you can get very good external dac/amp for the money

>>57249010
first get better speakers then think about better dac

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>>57249010
What's the point of having a good sound card if the output is going to be shit? If you feel like you were fooled into it and are really oblivious, you're no better than the snake oil retards audiophiles.

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Currently own Asus Xonar U7, fuck this shit.
The only barely working driver is for windows 8, sound changes drastically with a driver, it has 17(!!!) Ohm output impedance(no wonder 598s sounded like shit). Avoid.

Waiting for SMSL M6, same insides as modi2 but comes with a bonus amp which most people seem to like.

Also never buy creative stuff it has the most awful software.

>>57249144
>17 Ohm Zout
Not that bad anon but probably does something audible to HD 5xx -series' response.

>>57247062
So your argument is "No."
Right. You clearly missed the "why" part of the question.

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>>57249144
>Also never buy creative stuff it has the most awful software.
They made some great chips, though. Shame Auzentech died.

>>57248836
Works fine for me. That said, I don't use a shitty OS like Windows.

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>>57249144
What the fuck happened to creative? They could easily have monopoly of the the sound tech for pc. Instead they chose to only support their hardware for less than half a year and abandoned their own revolutionary sound APIs because fuck it.

>>57248969
Why would I, I'm using Linux which is basically this but maintained.

>>57249061
It's a complete sound card, for example it can also record.
For the price, it's quite powerful and featureful compared to many DAC/amps.
Obviously for what I use of it I could probably get a good USB recorder.

>>57249219
sound cards are worthless these days, they were somewhat useful with USB 1.1 jitter being a thing

now it's usb 2.0 async chips in DACs with zero noise at any PC load etc.

>>57249252
huh, does it take 6-pin for power?

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I had to buy this thing because my motherboard's integrated one was too shitty for 170e headphones. I can just plug it in to usb port and it just werks without any drivers or even adjusting settings. Sound quality is a massive improvement over my mobo even though it only cost 90 euros.

Meme shit /g/oy

>>57249244
>>57249144

Daniel_k has some sweet drivers for Creative shit. Just search them.

I don't have one atm because mobo switch. SupremeFx is the best built-in soundchip I've heard but is still worse than Creative X-fi audio. Currently I'm trying to find used pci-e card because new ones cost way too much.

Make sure your card has support for the 3d sound technologies like cmss3d etc and you are using proper headphones.

>>57249298
Regular 4 pin and only works as pci 1x, if you try it as 3x the sound card will not work.

>>57249298
no, Molex
I wish it was SATA instead

>>57249364
>if you try it as 3x the sound card will not work
How would you do that anyway?

>>57249265
But they are not worthless. Even cheapest X-fi cards will improve clarity and surround sounds.

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>>57246714
>>57248823

I'd say sound cards are worth it, it depends on the quality of your output and usage. Had a Xonar DX for sometime with an amp, then bought an STX II recently

you'd need HD600/650 headphones

then rolling op amps is awesome

muses 02

burson v5 / sparkos SS3602

of course you'd need a quality PSU, modular seasonic gold and above...

for speakers RCA to XLR, JBL lsr305/308 with a mixer in between if possible

drivers, uni xonar low latency dpc with foobar using convolver metal eq impulse, asio, kernel streaming

This card is something like 230 bucks only right now, considering audiophilia prices, otherwise you can get into the external stacks

I'm lovin the versatility and op amps, this comes even from quality asus deluxe crystal sound mobos

Can be great when you actually need it and know what you're doing before going full audiophile

>>57249402
>cheapest X-fi cards will improve clarity and surround sounds.
on boards are at that point already and even better than cheapest stuff

>>57249389
You can get a molex to sata power adapter.

If your motherboard supports it, it will be available to change in the bios.

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>>57249074
>>57249083
My speakers aren't that bad are they?

Shit -- maybe I don't know how good speakers are supposed to sound

>>57249422
or you can get a schiit stack for $198 and do not waste time on drivers and other crap

>>57249460
I know, but it's still bulky and basically my only molex left

I have an old motherboard, I just hope it still works when I upgrade.

>>57248207
>audio engineer
lmao

I used to use the onboard DAC on my mobo and it was pretty shit senpai. If you have home theater equipment or good headphones it's worth it, but a $20 external dac would do just fine.

>>57246714
I have a Xonar DX from 7-8 years ago. I actually quite like it, Dolby Headphone is useful for 1st/3rd person games, the microphone input is of obviously better quality than my onboard shit (it has no background noise while also being loud enough) and it sounds a bit better too. It's not quite as good as my external DAC, but definitely very close. I most certainly don't regret buying it all those years ago. It turned out to be very reliable too, it's probably the only component I'm still using from my 2008 build.

Official Xonar drivers are shit on W10, luckily UNi Xonar and Xonar Switch exist and everything works perfectly well for me.

>>57246714
if you are like me and play old games on a modern OS, creative cards are necessary

>>57249454
But they are not though. I'm currently using Maximus Hero z97 with SupremeFx and the sound is more blurry and takes static compared to a decade old X-fi audio. I have to say that SupremeFx is close though and I was pleasantly surprised by it.

>>57249467
If you are not sure, it's because they are shit.
Also phones are the ideal, being open or closed ones depending of preference. For speakers you need really good ones and not having a noisy tower that will soak up sound. Speakers are also a slippery slope to the audiophile redundancy as you'll never feel happy about how they sound.

>>57249422
OpAmp rolling is truly one of the dumbest things to sell products to audiophiles.
>listing brands and product names
Who cares?
>listing connector types
Why?

>>57249422
Good taste anon!

As cheaper alternatives Titanium HD or Sound blaster z even cheaper used and some god tier 100-150€ headphones like DT990, Philips whatsitsname etc.

has anyone here owned a Musiland sound card?

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>>57246714
Been using Tascam US-200 audio interface and Tascam VL-S3 stereo speakers for a while.
Just a reasonable quality solution for both playback and home recording.

>>57249636
maximum nihilism

>>57246714
>Are they worth it and why?

If I'm not mistaken, the only real function of a sound card might be people who use music tracker software like FL Studio. I think sound cards can juggle more simultaneous channels or something. If you tried to run FL Studio with an integrated sound chip, your projects might be incredibly choppy or slow.

>>57249603
This isn't necessarily the case, my fairly "low end" (as far as hi-fi goes) Bronze BX2 speakers sound much better than any headphone I've had or got to test. I'm currently using HD650s. Speakers + amp definitely cost more though.

>>57249493
It will, if the OS doesn't recognize the sound card it's because the pci where the card sits is at 3x. Don't be mistaken by hearing the power click and the OS not acknowledging it, that will always happen as long as the card has power, and if you don't hear the power click then you know what you forgot to plug in.

Recon3D. Works fine.

Sonar DGX here

bought it cause I need a digital audio out for my amp, and I didnt want to buy a new mobo until I can upgrade to a kaby lake as well.

Yeah, I got one for my 600 ohm headphones. Worth imo, I don't think motherboards can drive 600 ohm on their own.

>>57248424
I remember

i got an oem soundcard which has an optical in and out.

question: can i plug in, lets say a console, into the optical in and listen the console audio via my pc through the soundcard?