WYP
News Guru
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EVGA reveals new NU Audio products, promises lifelike gaming audio
- Thread starter WYP
- Start date
Dark NighT
New member
Ohhhhh maybe those are candidates for replacing my Xonar STX 2
Avet
Active member
I am so against any form of internal sound cards. Fully digital ones yes. But anything that has DAC inside the case... No. There is just too much electrical noise. I am really interested in trying Creative's Super X-Fi. Adam from PC World is stunned by it. I would sincerely recommend anyone who wants to buy this one to go with external option instead.
trawetSluaP
Member
Are internal soundcards anywhere near as good as external set-ups like the Fiio E10K or Schiit's Modi/Magni?
Avet
Active member
In the same price range it is always better to go with external.
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
E10k is a good cheap solution. But the Schiit stack is in an entirely different bracket of performance.
As said above it's better to have external in the same price range.
trawetSluaP
Member
I have the E10K for my gaming headphones and the Modi/Magni for my audiophile headphones but it's a pain having them taking up desk space. Just wondered if internal card could have the same quality.
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
Depends on the quality of the PCB, amp chip, DAC chip, noise floor, resistance to internal noise, etc.
Generally external enclosures are aiming at quality not gaming. So therefore have better priorities.
Generally external enclosures are aiming at quality not gaming. So therefore have better priorities.
Dicehunter
Resident Newb
This !
I've tested some really high end external AMP/DAC combos and some have actually made games sound very flat where as soundcards such as the AE-5, For example, Have made the games seem very full.
Personally would only get an external solution if I was only using it for music.
Avet
Active member
It also depends on the quality of your headphones/speakers.
The less they change the source the better quality DAC/AMP it is. Unless they are Tube AMPs. Tubes add specific color to the sound. Like old guitar AMPs.
Gaming sound cards and headsets usually have EQ or are tuned to emphasize bass. You can always add EQ to the good DAC to make it more bassy.
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
The reason gaming audio gear has a place is because they are EQ'd to suit games specifically. Audio gear isn't like that and is tuned differently for a better audio experience. They can still be tuned to do gaming levels however.
Really the biggest difference in gaming gear comes down to headphones EQ levels and the audio chain supporting that vs a broad spectrum of high quality audio. I use an audio chain aimed at high quality music for gaming too. I don't feel like a great gaming headset would offer much more tbh. I didn't even EQ it either.
I've seen many streamers use the Beyerdynamic DT 1990. Most definitely audiophile grade. They all love them. It's just expensive but can do both markets well.
Really the biggest difference in gaming gear comes down to headphones EQ levels and the audio chain supporting that vs a broad spectrum of high quality audio. I use an audio chain aimed at high quality music for gaming too. I don't feel like a great gaming headset would offer much more tbh. I didn't even EQ it either.
I've seen many streamers use the Beyerdynamic DT 1990. Most definitely audiophile grade. They all love them. It's just expensive but can do both markets well.
trawetSluaP
Member
For gaming I have a pair of BD MMX-300 paired with the E10K.
For music/films I use a pair of Sennheiser HD6XX paired with the Schiit Modi/Magni.
Would you guys say these are good combos? Any suggests for improvement is of course welcome.
Also, sorry if this is a little OT.
For music/films I use a pair of Sennheiser HD6XX paired with the Schiit Modi/Magni.
Would you guys say these are good combos? Any suggests for improvement is of course welcome.
Also, sorry if this is a little OT.
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Kei
Member
Absolutely this. Internal cards can have equal or better noise performance than some external devices. A lot of noise rejection is based almost entirely on PCB design. If you want the best noise performance, use TOSLINK as it eliminates the potential for interference pickup. (galvanic isolation at it's finest) It has it's limitations although that is more down to the consumer audio market not making better use of SPDIF. The ADAT protocol is more capable over the same fibre optic link.
Personally, I gave up on gaming based sound cards and went down the professional path with an RME HDSPe AIO. This was partly down to the improved driver support and latency for ASIO. The additional inputs and audio routing/mixing features have been handy too. Certainly not a card for everyone, but it's an internal card with no "shielding" or fancy opamps yet suffers no interference issues even when sandwiched between two GPU's.
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