Do I really need a sound card?

[simsimma4]

Hi,

I'm currently in the middle of building my computer, just compiling the parts.

My question is do i really need a sound card? I already have an external home cinema amplifier, would the onboard sound be sufficient enough to connect to this, or would i need a dedicated sound card also?

I was going to connect it to my amplifier anyway, so how much difference will a dedicated sound card make over onboard sound from motherboard? Connection would be via Optical or Digital cable. Am i right in thinking that my amplifier would be doing all the sound processing so there won't be much, if any, difference at all?

Thanks,

Sim

 

[KING_OF_SAND]

Yes!

Xonar DX

BIG

 

[Lollipop]

If you're going to use the optical output on your mobo i'd say no.

 

[SnW]

No.

 

[BKCXb]

I would say wait and see. You already have onboard sound and the amp! So nothing is wasted by trying it, first and seeing if you notice the difference.

Take a CD and pay it straight from the audio system and listen to it a while, than hook up your computer and play it in the optical drive and see! If you think it sounds the same a sound card isn't needed. If it sounds like crap, a sound card may help, but it also may not.

In my computer my X-Fi sound card sounds way better than the on board audio. I recently changed my case, power supply and graphics card, and my unsheilded X-Fi card was negitivly affected. In my new build, my onboard should be better, if it's not I will buy a new sound card. Looking at the ASUS ones but until I need it I havent decided on a model, because a better or cheaper one might come out before I need it.

 

[Excalabur50]

As KING_OF_SAND said get an Asus Xonar DX, onboard sound verses soundcard is chalk and cheese most onboard is garbage.

 

[simsimma4]

Hmm getting mixed views. I'm a bit of an audiophile aswell so I might invest in a sound card. But I will definitely try without one. However because I'm looking at the Z77 boards the wait will be a little while.

Which is the best sound card, everyone is talking about this xonar cards. What's the best one, I like watching movies and enjoy listening to music. I'll be gaming a bit aswell, though I doubt that will affect the choice of sound card. Is the Xonar DX the better one to go for?

 

[sheroo]

I'm getting a little confused about this myself.

This is taken from "Buyer’s Guide to Building a Home Theater PC" April 2011 by Renethx @ AVS Forum.

So from my understanding, if you're output is via HDMI, you have something that produces TrueHD/DTS-HD (inc onboard) and you are using an external av receiver to decode the HDMI signal then you don't need a soundcard. You only really need a soundcard if you want to plug analogue speakers or headphones directly into your pc, because then you'll be bypassing the onboard sound and letting the superior discrete sound card decode the signal instead.

This is the way I understood it, but if I'm wrong, I'm happy to be corrected.

 

[PEXON]

Any sound card is better than onboard. If you are a proper audiophile, you won't settle for anything less than a Xonar Essence ST, no arguments, nothing less. Another option is a mid-range sound card and an external amplifier (I do this with a Xonar card, Pro-Ject amp and Beyerdynamic DT770 250ohm).

 

[simsimma4]

Hmm well I am a bit of an audiophile, I've a got a great av amp and speakers. But it's all confusing. If I have an output via HDMI/ optical and tell computer to output linear PCM, therefore letting my amp do the decoding then should it really matter if it was connected to a sound card or inboard sound?

I don't want to have to spend money if I don't need to...

 

[sheroo]

Hmm well I am a bit of an audiophile, I've a got a great av amp and speakers. But it's all confusing. If I have an output via HDMI/ optical and tell computer to output linear PCM, therefore letting my amp do the decoding then should it really matter if it was connected to a sound card or inboard sound?

I don't want to have to spend money if I don't need to...

What motherboard and chip are you using?

What sound quality do you want to output? (DTS,DTS-HD etc)

Can your AV decode TrueHD/DTS-HD?

 

[simsimma4]

I haven't got the board yet. But I am considering the MSI Z77A-GD80 with the ivy bridge 3770K. My amp can decode all those new HD audio stuff. DTS-HD, Dolby True HD etc..

If you want further spec the amp I have is the Yamaha DSP-Z7. And it can decode pretty much anything you can throw at it.

 

[Rastalovich]

Put together a gaming computer over the weekend. The old one had a pci Auzen 7.1 Prelude. Decided to try the onboard realtek ALC892 - and the Auzen is about to be sold.

Really we're not in the past where onboard sound used to be criminal. Since the days of around ALC888/889, the onboard has been as-good. Particular from the days of Vista and now Windows 7, where frankly the extra stuff extra cards boast either doesn't work or works when you patch it - sometimes.

For music - fine. For tv/media - fine. Inherently you'd want an extra sound card for high samples, extra types of input/output, 7.1 when your onboard is only 5.1.

The biggest factor of all is what you plug the outputs into. Amps, headphones - whatever you're going to molest the sound with afterwards.

Heck an ipod can be used in a broadcast studio, there's little reason to go overboard with these things.

 

[sheroo]

I haven't got the board yet. But I am considering the MSI Z77A-GD80 with the ivy bridge 3770K. My amp can decode all those new HD audio stuff. DTS-HD, Dolby True HD etc..

If you want further spec the amp I have is the Yamaha DSP-Z7. And it can decode pretty much anything you can throw at it.

Those new chips will have the new HD4000 graphics on die, and will output via HDMI TrueHD/DTS-HD which your external receiver will decode, so in your scenario you don't need a soundcard.

 

[simsimma4]

Those new chips will have the new HD4000 graphics on die, and will output via HDMI TrueHD/DTS-HD which your external receiver will decode, so in your scenario you don't need a soundcard.

Ahh excellent. Just as I thought. Saves me buying a sound card then. Thanks for your advice

 

[simsimma4]

Put together a gaming computer over the weekend. The old one had a pci Auzen 7.1 Prelude. Decided to try the onboard realtek ALC892 - and the Auzen is about to be sold.

Really we're not in the past where onboard sound used to be criminal. Since the days of around ALC888/889, the onboard has been as-good. Particular from the days of Vista and now Windows 7, where frankly the extra stuff extra cards boast either doesn't work or works when you patch it - sometimes.

For music - fine. For tv/media - fine. Inherently you'd want an extra sound card for high samples, extra types of input/output, 7.1 when your onboard is only 5.1.

The biggest factor of all is what you plug the outputs into. Amps, headphones - whatever you're going to molest the sound with afterwards.

Heck an ipod can be used in a broadcast studio, there's little reason to go overboard with these things.

Just as I expected. Plus I'll only be going 5.1 so onboard sound should suffice.

 

[BKCXb]

As far as I know this is the only Sound card that does on card audio processing, thru HDMI pass thru.

http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_hometheater_hd.php

The confussing thing is it is 7.1 lossless audio with no downsampling, thru HDMI. What are you gonna connect it too??

Only thing I know of is a 7.1 home theater reciever, witch would be impossable to find without decoding built in.

so the options are:

Blu-ray drive sends out all the digital info and Cyberlink’s sofware seperates out the video, sends it to the video card and the audio to the sound card. Than the video card processes the video, which is passed thru the audio card so when it finnishes processing the sound it can add in the convereted sound back into the audio piplines of the HDMI cable.

PROS: just one cable from the computer(really 4 HDMI cables, video card-sound card-reciever-TV)

CONS: 4 HDMI cables passing thru alot of componets, expensive

or

hook the HDMI cable to the TV and let the graphics card do the video conversion and hook a toslink cable to the reciever and let it convert the sound!

PROS: each componet is doing the job it was best desiged to do, raw digital signals stay raw until they arive at the componet that will decode and use them.

CONS: 2 differnt types of cables

or

wait and see if Ivy bridge, Z77 chipset, and your motherboard all have everthing working togeather to natively do it for you.

PROS:if it does, nothing else is needed.

CONS:if it doesnt, there is nothing you can do about it, except spend mony on more hardware/software that will, you have to wait and see!

 

[simsimma4]

Hmm so I'll play the waiting game and see what's available when ivy bridge is launched. Worst case scenario is I have to get the xonar essence ST as mentioned above.

But good point with the video and audio splitting via HDMI I wonder how it is done. I'll probably go with the second option.

 

[sheroo]

For BluRay in order to be able to playback TrueHD/DTS-HD its all about PAP (Protected Audio Path). The current SB i3,i5 & i7 all support PAP via the on die graphics natively. So just plug in a HDMI cable into your motherboard straight into your av, & then you need a HDMI cable from your av to your TV job done.

 

[simsimma4]

Yeh I suppose it depends on the board, whether is has HDMI connectivity for audio.