Well /g/ what's the verdict? Sound card, dac/amp/,

Default if you're not a faggot, external DAC/amp if you have too much money and want to masturbate to your audiophile setup, soudcard if you're mentally retarded.

>>57815991
If you need yo ask you'll probably be fine with integrated motherboard audio chip.

a decent amp will shit over most soundcards

hell my optical toslink 5.1 oldass sony amp shits over the auzentech cards ive tried out and its way easier to use and creative audigy/xfi as well

Sound card all day. I have an oem soundblaster z with my consoles and TV box plugged into it so I can listen to all of them via my pc with headphones or speakers.

I was looking at dac's before I got my sound card but any decent one was more expensive and had less than half the amount of ports eg optical in and out.

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Finally built a desktop so for Christmas I going to get a vmoda m100 to replace the absolute dogshit that is Plantronic 760

I've never been a big audio phile until I took a trip to New York 2 years ago and went to an audio place there. Blew me out of the water.

Now that I'm getting decent headphones thought about getting pic related before remembering how much they get shit on. So maybe just an amp or is that even too much?

I have an old soundblaster that's been going from case to case for years now just because I like the MIDI sound.

>>57815991
Depends on the moba/DAC/sound card.

>>57816220

I got a MSI Z170A PC Mate.

I probably going to get a decent motherboard eventually but it'll be a while.

>>57816200

Same here, but mainly for its low latency audio drivers. I found it in a computer that was going to be trashed. I can't believe that a 16 year old soundcard can pull that off, but new low-end cards can't.

The only downside is that it has a PCI bus, so that limits me severely in regards of buying mobos. I don't want to shell out major money, but only the high-end models have additional PCI slots.

Audio interface

Sounds like a waste of money to me, not the PC building guy but unless you're some kind of audio professional why would you need a "good" soundcard? even shitty 200 dollar walmart computers put out CD quality sound

>>57816176
> Mememoda
> Good headphones
Make sure to buy a fedora to go with your stylish headhpones

The lack of any double blind tests showing an audible difference in onboard vs discrete sound cards really says it all.

>>57815991
>Sound card, dac/amp/
God damn I hate these terms, they are literally the exact same thing, only one is external

Get an amp if you have high impedance headphones.

Sound cards are placebo.

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>>57815991
my motherboard already have the Realtek ALC892.

Now i am planning to get Fiio D03 Taishan to pair with the onboard audio.

>verdict
Depends on too many factors so there's no clear answer to this.

>>57815991
Have one.
Absolutely meme

>>57817852
Bait

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>>57817055
One is less than 100$ price, and other is high end audio masturbation device for 200$ and more

>>57818771
Blyat'

>>57815991
You got low end audio shit, motherboard
you have mid range headphones, possibly motherboard, possibly dac
high end is going to be dac no mater what.

you got speakers, this will usually be better from motherboard unless you have a great need for better audio, and at that point, an external sound card or dac would be used.

generally, motherboard is good enough, unless your shit is low end, or something broke... last motherboard the audio shit the bed so a sound card was needed, but dacs where not common back then.

>>57815991
my motherboard has a 300 ohm amp, which is plenty.

>>57816027
I shit over you, idiot. Comparing amp to soundcard, how fucking retarded are you.

I've ordered an FX-Audio DAC-X6 for use with my Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Plus. I hope it will be worth the money, even though it was like 67 euroshekels.

I had my 2.1 system, a Logitech X230 for a decade, I want to replace it with non-meme-tier speakers. I want something cheap that would still sound better, but I am not sure what would qualify. I bought "reference studio headphones" in the past that were four times as expensive than my cheap IEMs and they sounded like complete shit, so throwing money at it won't solve shit in my experience.

>>57816897
>listening to 480p sound

>>57818771
how so? i'm serious.

waiting for christmas offer

>>57815991
External DAC is the best, you will hear a noticeable difference in sound quality.

Doesn't having a sound card reduce CPU load and latency?

Getting an external dac can be a good idea if your motherboard is dogshit

>>57820536
How would it? It's not got any sort of actual processing power on the sound card itself, it's just forwarding the information through the PCI lanes to the CPU and then the drivers do all the work to turn it into your audio.,

About the only things a sound card will add are different inputs and outputs as well as higher powered amps for headphones or better quality DACs, etc.


As for latency you could actually argue they can add latency since you're adding more electrical pathways for the signal to travel through vs. the integrated sound card.

I'm using a Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H which comes with Realtek ALC1150 and basic Edifier S330D speakers and thel ast time I researched <100€ sound cards, the consesnus seemed to be that they wouldn't be an improvement over my onboard solution.

>>57820624
Not quite sure. I thought I read before about how onboard audio can drag down your system performance. Even if it does it probably isn't significant.

>>57820752
Correct. You'd have to buy a Xonar Essence STX at the very least for an upgrade.

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Had a chance to test ALC 888, 1150, creative audigy 4 and soundblaster ZxR on old genius speakers pic related and pretty good Teufel concept E speakers.

Realtek 888 is so bad compared to 1150 I didnt even bother plugging it to teufel. While 1150 is good, it still gets destroyed even by the 10+ years old Audigy 4 with halfassed driver support. Couldnt tell the difference between Audigy and ZxR on Genius speakers (boht sounded bad lol but thats the speakers fault) but on Teufel system ZxR had cleaner and more detailed sound.

tl,dr: unless you are deaf, its allways worth investing into soundcard over onboard codec, even base models or some second hand shit will be major improvement if you are using some decent 5.1 setup.
Dont go for high end models like ZXR or STX though unless you are rocking some expensive headphones or surround setups

>>57822611
tl;dr: you need more expensive speakers to hear differences between less expensive sound cards, but you need a more expensive sound card to justify having expensive speakers.

This logic is totally messed up dood.

>>57815991
Use a sound card if your Mobo is a cheap piece of shit with terrible onboard audio. Use an external DAC if you're a sound whore for music. If you're on a budget, just get a cheap mobo with a decent sound card.

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>>57816027
>>57819299
Calm down, you butthurt dumb boys. Also, I'm an intelligent beautiful woman.

>>57823148
wut? where did I say that? If anything, I wrote that old shitty integrated < the best new integrated < old basic dedicated soundcard, even on old shitty speakers.

So you dont need expensive speakers to tell that, just not being deaf.

Only to hear the difference between base old dedicated card and new high end one you need expensive equipment. But only retard would buy 250$ soundcard for 50$ speakers.

>>57823638
Well... my DAC will arrive hopefully soon enough and I'll test exactly how much merit your "onboard audio is the shittiest" statement has. Granted, I have yet to experience this "sound stage" thing people are talking about. There is zero spatial placement in any audio I hear, just a direction, and I have $200+ Beyerdynamic cans. We'll see by how much that will improve with a DAC.

>>57815991
I still have a PCI sound card somewhere from the last time I bought a mobo without integrated sound. I think it might have been purchased 2002.

As a general rule, if you think your soundcard is what's keeping you from having a good experience with a game, you need a different game.

>>57815991
>linus tech tips
>sound cards

Gaymer faggots say good sound is a placebo. They listen to music on their computer using on-board sound with their Logitech headphones. On the go, they listen to music on their Android go-phone with Skullcandy earbuds.

[spoiler]aka me T—T[/spoiler]

>>57816027
>a decent amp will shit over most soundcards
AMP <> Soundcard.

They are different things.

A good sound card (STX in my case) will give you clean analog recording. My onboard sound introduced noice to any recorded audio whenever i moved the mouse. Having superior output quality is only a minor added bonus for most people (onboard is "good enough"), but for any kind of voice chat, commented streaming or similar stuff a dedicated sound device is a massive plus if your onboard sound sucks.

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>>57815991
For years I had used a Soundblaster X-Fi PCI, kept moving it over from PC to PC because why not.

On my last build I decided to say goodbye to PCI and thought I'd give onboard sound a go.

The onboard sound on my new mobo (Gigabyte H170N-WI-FI) sounded flat an unremarkable to the point where I felt like I had made a mistake.

Due to space contrsaints I couldn't use a PCI-E soundcard so I ended up getting a Soundblaster Omni (pic related).

To my ears it sounds significantly less flat than the onboard sound and I'm very happy with it.

I'm not an audiophile by any measure, I just know when I hear something I like. The Omni does have a 600 ohm headphone amp which might have something to do with my impression.

>>57823732
>>57819299
So are both needed? Whats the difference?

>>57816460

Get a pci-e to PCI adapter, I got one for $25 and has worked in all the machines I tried.

>>57823718
I bought a Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Plus headset for an all purpose pair of cans. Then I just stopped listening to music on my phone, because it's utter shit in quality even compared to my old ALC898 onboard audio and with 1150 there's just no comparison, it's superior, period.

I have one stupid question and this is the most appropriate thread to ask.

Can I turn my laptop's line out to front out, rear out pair? I have 4 THX speakers and want to have quad layout. And don't sell me splitter bullshit. Is it possible to turn mic-in to line-out 2? Is it possible to somehow send s/pdif over line out?

Thanks, stay wavy baby. Keep it loopy.

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>>57823822
you cant generalize like that, there are phones with good DACs and amps already, LG V10 and V20 are using ess sabres which are miles ahead of your average rebranded 50$ chink dogshit

>>57823902
Yes I can generalize, if that's the case generally. The V20 is just one phone. Funny you should mention it though, the change in tonal difference with the new pair of cans that made me completely stop listening to music came between onboard audio (that improved by leaps and bounds) and a G4. The G4 is in the top 20% when it comes to audio.

So yes, I can justify saying phone audio is generally shit once you get a decent pair of whatever to put on your head to listen to it.

>>57823902
Only two or three phones with decent DACs. Look at other flagships like the S7 and its even worse than the one in the S4, going by other reviews, examination on parts used, and my own personal experience

>>57823770
Some cards, like the STX, have a built-in headphone amp, so that line is kinda blurry.

Sound codec (onboard/card/external): Transform digital audio data to an analog audio signal (and the other way around for input), sometimes mixing
Amp: Make stuff louder

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I have pic related in my XP nostalgia rig because the on-board audio went ded, tried all kinds of drivers clean installs no nothing.

I also have a Xonar DG lying around somewhere, but I cba to buy an adapter because my mobo doesn't have ye olde PCI slots and any modern on-board audio chip sounds decent enough to me anyway.

>>57819675
This. An external DAC with good headphones ( Think Sennheiser HD650 or better ) is about the best you can do without seriously breaking the bank with some McIntosh tube amps and shit like that.

Actually, a McIntosh D100 DAC would really be the way to go. But, I am the wrong person to ask. My parents use to own an audio shop back in the 80's and my home theater system is all older McIntosh stuff that actually appreciates in value over time lol

I spent $60 on a FiiO E10K and it sounds way better then my onboard soundcard. Not an audiophile though, $60 DAC and a pair of Sennheiser's is about as far I go with audio equipment.

>>57824458
>Think Sennheiser HD650 or better
Nobody in their right mind would think HD650 or better in any context where a computer is involved. Anyone who spends more than 300 bucks on a single piece of equipment to spend most of their time listening to lossy audio through their PC I'd declare clinically retarded. Youtube is not lossless, Netflix is not lossless, nothing except music from very particular sources is lossless.

Won't any internal soundcard pick up the noise from other components?

>>57824568
the entirety of this post
lol

>>57824656
To a varying degree. But with the sound card you at least have the chance to use an EQ. With a DAC you are pretty much stuck with "whatever the artist intended it to sound like", which is just a hipster faggot way to say bland and boring. Detailed, but bland.

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i need something like a DAC - a small usb box with 3,5mm jack headphone output and mic input, volume knob, line-in and thats all

what should i buy?

>>57824735
DAC doesn't do mic. It's a DAC, not an ADC.

>>57824676
Not him but what's so funny?

>>57824568
yeah this is exactly what i did. hd598s, set up is pretty nice

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Post your DAC and expensive watch

>>57824824
>DAC
>and watch
Please also put your expensive sextant in there, then the anachronism would be perfect.

>>57824751
ok, ok i already have learned that dacs dont have mic inputs. i meant something like in in terms of form factor

>>57825125
Nothing decent I know of. There's the ASUS Xonar U7, but it's barely any better than the already mentioned internal ALC1150.

>>57824652

Lossless music is fantastic beyond measure. In a context of true appreciation of content, youtube, netflix or any form of streaming can't match formats allowing higher headroom of accurate reproduction. Everyone has a right to stay functional and utilitarian within their means, but in the fairness of good taste without regard to any cost effective valuation, artificially capping limits on scales of spectrum because of a mainstream consensus isn't rational when the very nature of consumption involves the likelihood of preferably good taste attributable to the consumer.

>>57815991
For most normal users they would be good with onboard sound and the onboard sound cards have a come a long way since the last 3-4 intel generation chipset releases for motherboards.
Even a cheap motherboard onboard sound cards are considerably better than old releases from 3-4 years ago.

That said external DACs are best for headphones and for best results you would need to have at least mid to high end audio headphones and listen to music which makes best use of the DAC hardware.

If the headphones are entry level then there are not likely to be any benefits in improvement to the audio and if the music is too simple or generally shit then it is very unlikely to would hear any benefits (even with the best high end headphones and external amp).

Sound Card is best suited for speakers (bookshelf speakers minimal, anything less is unlikely to be benefitted) where sound is concerned or if a surround sound setup requires multiple inputs which aren't available from the standard jacks on the I/O plate for the motherboard. Sound Card is also good when the onboard sound has packed up too and don't want to get another motherboard.

For me personally I recently upgraded to an external DAC after my onboard sound developed an intermittent fault which also damaged my headphone (now crackles for high frequency noise, usually affects vocals more often than instruments for music).
My damaged headphones still work well overall and do work better on my DAC.
Currently waiting on mid-high end headphones which I ordered (short supply due to Christmas which has caused a delay).

>>57824297

Hey I have a XONAR DG too because of that Toslink jack I needed. Is the XONAR DG something good?

>>57825237
Fancy words. Nonetheless the meaning behind them stays the same. You want to cringe every time you listen to youtube for the sake of being able to enjoy some diminishing returns in audio quality while listening to your flac library. Got it.

>>57819521
are you in yurop? i'll sell you mine

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this DAC meme has gone too far

>>57815991

Onboard sound is good enough for most people.

I have an RME Hammerfall Fireface 400. It's getting bit old and Firewire is a dead standard, but it's still a good audio interface.

>>57825350
MSI has this tech too. Time for ASUS to adopt it as well.

I don't even know my motherboard audio specs, but it seems to drive the DT 770 fine. Recently got an E10k and there's no huge difference. It sounds better, but it's not like the upgrade from shit headphones to decent headphones.

>>57825287
It is said to be a pretty good entry-level headphone amplifier and sounds nice for the money. I have zero listening experience on it but I'd assume it's an upgrade from most low-end onboard stuff. That's all I know.

>>57825350
Also have this on my motherboard too (Gigabyte) and have my external DAC connected to it (might as well use it as it is there).

Haven't really felt the need to do a comparison for difference in USB ports as I am happy with the significant improvement for DAC over onboard sound.

Probably not important for most people but is a continued improvement for audio features from motherboards.

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>>57815991
Depends on the motherboard. Until a few years ago they all had terminally shit audio, but that's become the latest focus to try and attract people. The latest high end Gigabyte boards basically have a Creative sound card tacked onto the board.

The audio on my Asus Maximus VIII Hero Alpha is fine. I have no complaints using a set of MDR-7506s.

>>57825504
Well, as I said I needed the toslink jack to connect it to the 5.1 receiver. I find this sound quite impressive. I have different speakers and they are positioned rather randomly but the sound really is a blast. The bass is to the point and the trebble is brilliant.

>>57825587

Higher end onboard audio justify upgrades and open up an industry.

>>57823755
Your headphones are probably too powerful to be driven by your motherboard, that's all it is.

The sound *quality* from the mobo is fine. You just need a headphone amp.

Someone please show me a blind test comparing onboard audio from a modern, non-budget mobo to an expensive DAC.

I've yet to find a single one.

>>57826993
That'd require assembling a bunch of audiophile autists in a room AND them willing to be embarrassed by potentially getting it wrong. Good luck.

>>57826993
Sure, Tom's Hardware did one!

"Using world-class headphones, a $2 Realtek integrated audio codec could not be reliably distinguished from the $2000 Benchmark DAC2 HGC in a four-device round-up."

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733-19.html

It's one big placebo.

>>57827029

The more zeros on the price tag the better the product!

t. coconut audio

>>57825214
>ASUS Xonar U7
it's 7.1 - I won't ever need this, i just want stereo

pls anons, help me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L34S4Tt1EuQ

I just use my studio hp at home and they're 500 ohms so I need an external dac. Just using an apogee groove for now on my desktop/laptop and apollo 16 for work

>>57827158

Its still hard to tell if he is endorsing those headphones or not.

mobo for almost all circumstances

dac for if you have interference/feedback/power cleanliness issues, or need an amp to drive power hungry headphones

sound card STRICTLY for ports you are otherwise lacking, no other valid reason

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>>57815991
I need a sound cart because my motherboard doen't have XLR input or low latency ASIO

>>57815991
Anything is better that integrated.

Any dac or sound card has more power for high resistance headphones and much clearer sound free from noise and kinda more crisp due to quality sound chip.

I use Asus Xonar DG I got for 20$ and those are the best 20$ Its just infinitely better than integrated solution.
>no noise
>loud enough with headphones
>tangibly higher quality sound
I love it.

>>57817852
>coaxial/RCA
>Good
pick one

>>57827275
There's an accompanying written review. They're awful.

>>57827322
>sound card STRICTLY for ports you are otherwise lacking, no other valid reason

This is where you are wrong.
Soundcards do have a lot more power than integrated solutions enough to kick even the heavy 64ohm and above headphones (I use my 64ohms at 10% volume used to use 32 on 100% on integrated)
And due to being on a separate PCB even still inside the case but outside of MOBO circuit it is completely free from any noise

>>57827365
>no noise
>loud enough with headphones
Yeah okay these are legit reasons to buy a discrete audio option.
>Tangibly higher quality audio
Please google "Placebo effect".

>>57827464

Its a sad state of affairs if a vid like that cannot communicate his feelings towards the headphones. I've seen audiophiles react like that to something they claim is the best thing since sliced bread.

>>57827476
Yeah but you could also buy an amp for much cheaper which would do the exact same thing. And if your motherboard isn't cheap dogshit (it shouldn't be if you can afford expensive audiophile shit), it should have well isolated audio circuits which don't experience noise if you don't use the front panel audio like an idiot.

>>57827512
>muh modern MOBO
I think i'm gonna be rocking my golden 2500K for ages more, it just rocks
>AMP
AMP would amplify the noise too
And I'm getting shifucking hell lot of noise on my realtec (and it also had issues with Bad Company 2)

And are there any AMPs that are significanty sheaper than 20$ i paid for Xonar DG?

>>57827084

God damn. That's nuts.

>>57815991
Default mb for audio and video, always

>>57815991
I've got a DAC, Xonar DX from like 2008 and the typical integrated mobo sound card (ALC1150). I can't really hear a difference between the Xonar DX and the DAC, haven't really tried the onboard for regular playback because I need to do some weird shit with it to get my mic to work.

The DAC was pretty much a useless buy, the difference between it and the Xonar DX is subtle to non-existent, on HD650s and speakers. It's nice for the multiple inputs I guess, but absolutely not required. As for the Xonar DX, it does a pretty decent job with HRTF shit for games with headphones, the sound gets somewhat altered but the sound positioning is quite good. Worth using if directionality matters more than sound quality, so basically for games and nothing more.

>>57820624
This shit is pretty much irrelevant with modern CPUs, but back in the day sound cards actually had the capability to do processing themselves to offload from doing it software-side on the much slower CPUs. Not sure if dedicated cards still do this, modern processors are way beyond fast enough to do it in software without any issues at all.

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>>57823732
>>57823635
>>57816027
>What is the DAC in the Amp
Absolute fucking retards.

>>57827790
And why should we assume an amp has a DAC in it? Most amps are just amps, if it's an amp/DAC it will specifically say so, unless it's normie tier shit in which case they don't say because normies don't know what a DAC is.

>>57827808

Isn't it usually the other way around? DAC made specifically to compete with sound cars may or may not have amps included in them?

>>57815991
Everyone I know uses external interfaces, I only know of people using soundcards in actual studios nowadays

>>57828024
? What's the difference....?

Not all amps have DACs, fact.

Not all DACs have amps, fact.


Whichever way you want to phrase it I couldn't care less, the end result is the same.

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>tfw buy soundblaster for the sweet alchemy to enable eax

>>57822611
tge 892 was shown to perform as good as a $1000 dac, the 1150 was a huge upgrade to it

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>>57828154
FACT: amps and dacs are two totally different things.


retard

>>57828229
>ALC1150 still has crap-tier mic input
This thing is almost useless for my mic which is clipped on to my headphone cable and as such sits on my chest. It's OK if I pick it up and put it right in front of my mouth, but otherwise requires extra amplification. Xonar DX mic input is much higher quality.

some mobos (I've particularly noticed this in laptops) have just really really terrible onboard soundcards. On some laptops sound recordings (with relatively good headsets) went from muffled and hard-to-understand to crystal clear after I attached a cheapo $10 external USB soundcard.

If your mobo has a decent one, then whatever.

>>57828907

How do you know if it's decent or not if you don't have much in the way of comparison.

>>57816010
Your kind deserves to be gassed. Kill yourself, shit for brains.

>>57825329
too bad I'm not. why do you want to sell it anyway?

>>57827401
i'm planning to use optical anyway

>>57829175
People have done blind comparisons and there's no difference.

My friend had $2000 to burn on a work machine, so I built him an 8-core single CPU Xeon machine using mostly parts from Supermicro.
Little did I know that Supermicro does not put a DAC on their motherboard (you would think).
He decided to buy a sound blaster on his own, and in the meantime I told him to use the DAC on his big TV.
I don't think it matters.

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Since this seem to be an audio thread, I hope you don't mind me asking if I did'dun fucked up. I was looking for something preferably under £200 as an upgrade from my monitor sound. Did I do good?

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>>57816010
pretty much this and im a dac sexual

>>57816176
amp without a clean dac?

someone stop this madlad

just get a decent usb dac amp comburu

>>57831464
lol

>>57831509
Let's just say the product with its set of features is worth the money, and it will be a definitive upgrade. However if it was purely sound quality you were going for, you could have spent that 200 GBP on better stuff in a different form factor.

>>57831806
Sadly space is somewhat limited for my setup so the form factor was restricted to that, I'd just have enough space for the bass but that's it really.

I do appreciate the honesty and lack of triggered "LOL WASTED MONEY FEGT" trollage

>>57815991
More than 90% of people most likely are going to not die if they use onboard sound. These days you can get a good mobo that isn't costly that supports 7.1 surround. Buying a soundcard, for most people, is reaching autism level. Same goes for wireless/ethernet adapters.

>>57815991
>DAC
>DAC
>DAC

Why the fuck is like 60% of /g/ so retarded when it comes to basic knowledge of audio devices? Why?

This isn't rocket science. Literally spending 10 minutes on Wikipedia will give you 95% of knowledge you need about this shit and will make you stop spouting retard meme terminology.

>>57832761
FUCK U KID

I just got a E10k and never bothered with anything else. I'm not going to pay a fuckload on an amplifier, I'd rather get better gear.

>>57832761
I'm sure they are more content with reading audio myths and listening impressions on the Internet to get this fixated on the converter. They don't really want to know as long as they get an answer.

>>57832888
Even that's going pretty overkill in terms of the gain you get out of it.

>>57815991
it depends what you're doing with your computer. If you're a musician you definately do, else, probably not.

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>>57816027
This!

>>57816897
It is.

>>57825608
See, this is why I don't even get what most of the commenters in these threads are blabbering about.

Make sure your motherboard has a toslink output when you buy it. Connect that to your receiver. That toslink signal is digital and it's the same bits on any toslink. I know there are some crappy speakers you can connect directly to a 3.5mm output but those are all jokes compared to real speakers. No meme dac device will changd that I don't see the point.

Ever movie and tv show has AC3 or DTS, you obviously need toslink to your receiver for that. Ard you meme freaks listening to suround sound in stereo of something?

>>57833264
Not many mobos have toslink outputs.

>>57815991
I know a guy who had an ASUS Xonar, and he said it was noisier and worse than his motherboard's onboard sound. Internal soundcards, for whatever reason, are always garbage, probably because they're marketed to gamers and other know-nothings. USB audio is the way to go if you want to upgrade from motherboard audio.

>>57833342
I know, thus my "make sure" comment. It's the first thing I check when I look at motherboards. If it doesn't have that then I'll click on to one who does. Though I've noticed newer receivers all have HDMI inputs so this may change if my trusty Pioneer receiver fails me.

I have macbook pro and it does decent with mine HD600, still getting an external dac/amp this new year.

>>57815991
I use a creative x-fi SBX usb sound card with sennheiser g4me zero headphones and it is absolutely amazing.

I think it only matters if your headphones are like a million ohms like the sennheisers, my other headphones like the Marshall Monitors (also awesome) work great without the creative usb card, but they are less ohms

>>57833506
Aside from impedance (ohms,) you also need to pay attention to sensitivity (decibels per watt.) Some headphones (especially planars) are low impedance and low sensitivity, meaning they're even more likely to melt your amp than a high impedance low sensitivity headphone.

Soundblaster 16 ftw

Combined with 3dfx Monster 3d gives you the sound and video experience in gaming ever.

>>57833506
All you need is a headphone amp to get the same effect. A headphone amp you could get for twenty bucks.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733.html

snake oil.

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http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733-19.html

>Using world-class headphones, a $2 Realtek integrated audio codec could not be reliably distinguished from the $2000 Benchmark DAC2 HGC in a four-device round-up. Again, all four devices sounded great. The same might not apply to full-sized speakers; we can't say, since we didn't test them. But as far as some of the best headphones in the world go, we stand by these test results.

>While calibration does show that Realtek's ALC889 is less linear, and thus less hi-fi than the other devices we're looking at, the 1.4 dB difference at 100 Hz apparently isn't enough to reliably differentiate the experience it delivers from others in real-world scenarios. Isn't 1.4 dB a pretty big difference? In a "pure tone", it would be quite noticeable. That's less the case when you're listening to regular music though, especially if the more sensitive 1 to 4 kHz tones are more accurately matched.

Audiophile gear is snake oil tier, unless you're a professional who works with audio.

What's the best USB asynchronous DAC I can get at a decent price?

>>57827084
>didn't write which headphones were used
>didn't write source audio

I agree that 2k is mostly a placebo unless yo really need to read that 2000bits mgdss audio but c'mon this test is lose.

>>57833641
If you click the actual link they break down the testing procedure in detail, explaining the headphones used.

Two sets were used, Sennheiser HD 800s and AKG K 550s.

If HD 800s didn't show a difference, nothing will.

>>57833676
Fuck, I am too used that bottom is reserved for links to other related articles, HD800 tho, thats a strong point.

>>57833414
You do realize that "Xonar" is a product line, and not a product, right? $1000 DACs are called ASUS Xonar.

>>57829944
upgrading to a USB sound interface so I can use active speakers

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>>57827790
I already know that, you butthurt dumb boy. Also, I'm an intelligent beautiful woman.

do you still need an amp if you already have enough volume? i looked and some people said an amp would still improve clarity with better dynamics

>>57824109
So an amp/dac combo would be better than a sound card. An internal sound card DAC would have electrical infetterence.

>>57824652
>spend most of their time
Wearing headphones all the time is bad fot your ears. You use speakers or cheap cans or earbuds when listening to lossy garbage and use your good headphones when listening to music. Its that simple.

>>57827084
Deleet this

>>57836485
>you buy cheap shit to use with your expensive DAC most of the time, and expensive shit to use only occasionally
spotted the clinically retarded one

>>57834609
No and those people do not understand amplifiers nor do they know what clarity and dynamics are. There are some reasons to buy an amplifier to act as sort of an impedance buffer and low noise output even if you already have good enough volume but this question about "do I need/benefit/whatever from an amplifier" always depends on what you have now.

>>57836464
Nearly every single computer sound card for consumers acts as a headphone amplifier, all of them have multiple DACs and interference is not some internal sound card only issue nor are computer cases automatically bad places for audio equipment.

>>57836485
It's not bad for your ears, encoding quality and its audibility has very little to do with headphone/audio equipment quality and I really don't get what you are saying.

>>57815991
>Well /g/ what's the verdict?
What >>57818736 said.

>Sound card, dac/amp/, or default moba?
All of those have DA-converters and amplifiers in them.

Any other retarded questions? You could make a montage out of the stupid as fuck answers in this thread. So much misinformation.

>>57827116
pls halp

>>57833065
It is. There is no notable difference when compared to my onboard audio.

>>57829213
Fuck off dipshit, you know he's right.

>>57838211
No. He is yet again another retard on /g/ who spouts bullshit about technology and products he doesn't really understand. I suspect you are on that same boat for agreeing. Stop posting.

>>57833676
Actually, they only used the 800s. They didn't use the K550s, which have a lower impedance and a less flat impedance curve.

>>57815991
Ask Linus :^)