Hi guys, I've decided that its time for me to get a soundcard since a lot of the reviews I read on the Internet claimed that its a big upgrade from the onboard audio.I have an Asrock p67 extreme4 gen 3 motherboard with a realtek chip. The headset I use is the Razer Carcharias. I mostly play games and occasionally listen to music and watch movies. The soundcard I was thinking about is the Asus Xonar DG. Do you think that I will notice a difference and is it worth the money?
New budget sound card
- Thread starter Plasmodii
- Start date
Sound cards don't make a lot of difference... I've had soundcards in the past and they were barely better than onboard sound (they do have some interesting features tho, so if it's features you want, not better sound quality it might be a good idea to get a sound card)
Currently I'm using the USB Sound Card from my old Sennheiser Headset. It's better than my on-board soundcard and I would say it's equal to or better than a good pcie sound card.
So my general advice would be to either stick to on-board or get a USB sound card. Unfortunately I have never used USB sound cards other than my Sennheiser one, which I doubt can be bought individually, so the only other USB device I can recommend is expensive (which would be the ODAC+O2 combo).
I suggest looking up some reviews for USB sound cards.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not an Audiophile, but I do like me some music and gaming. Currently in possession of a beyerdynamic Custom One Pro and AKG Q701
Currently I'm using the USB Sound Card from my old Sennheiser Headset. It's better than my on-board soundcard and I would say it's equal to or better than a good pcie sound card.
So my general advice would be to either stick to on-board or get a USB sound card. Unfortunately I have never used USB sound cards other than my Sennheiser one, which I doubt can be bought individually, so the only other USB device I can recommend is expensive (which would be the ODAC+O2 combo).
I suggest looking up some reviews for USB sound cards.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not an Audiophile, but I do like me some music and gaming. Currently in possession of a beyerdynamic Custom One Pro and AKG Q701
iBeInspire
New member
/EDIT : 1000th post 
DDDD
To be honest anything is better than onboard, those realtek chips are very bad... Having said that, the DG/DGX's crown jewels are the dolby headphone support, makes games a fair bit nicer to listen to, as well as movies... music not so much, but it's easy to toggle on/off. For gaming I would actually recommend the DG/DGX as the GO TO output device under a good ~£60 cause dolby headphone is THAT good...
For pure audio quality I would of course recommend going out via usb to a DAC, something like a fiio D03K or the D5 (if you need your mic to also go through the dac), although to be honest this again isn't going to blow you away sound quality wise, but it will be better than the DG/DGX, but then again it won't have the wonders of dolby headphone...
To be honest if I was in your situation and GAMING/MOVIES was my top priority, I would just get the DG/DGX. If you're quite fond of your MUSIC, and, very importantly, are planning to upgrade to a decent set of headphones, I would save up for a proper DAC like the Fiio E10 or simliar.
tl;dr :
GAMING/MOVIES : buy DG/DGX.
MUSIC : Save for a proper DAC, and plan to get good headphones.
DDDDTo be honest anything is better than onboard, those realtek chips are very bad... Having said that, the DG/DGX's crown jewels are the dolby headphone support, makes games a fair bit nicer to listen to, as well as movies... music not so much, but it's easy to toggle on/off. For gaming I would actually recommend the DG/DGX as the GO TO output device under a good ~£60 cause dolby headphone is THAT good...
For pure audio quality I would of course recommend going out via usb to a DAC, something like a fiio D03K or the D5 (if you need your mic to also go through the dac), although to be honest this again isn't going to blow you away sound quality wise, but it will be better than the DG/DGX, but then again it won't have the wonders of dolby headphone...
To be honest if I was in your situation and GAMING/MOVIES was my top priority, I would just get the DG/DGX. If you're quite fond of your MUSIC, and, very importantly, are planning to upgrade to a decent set of headphones, I would save up for a proper DAC like the Fiio E10 or simliar.
tl;dr :
GAMING/MOVIES : buy DG/DGX.
MUSIC : Save for a proper DAC, and plan to get good headphones.
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I have a Sound Blaster Z that i had bought and stuck in the closet.Last month i decided to put it in my rig.Its a pretty decent sound card for gaming.Then i bought the Kingston HyperX Cloud Gaming Headset,and wow what a difference.It sounds awesome with the right headset. It is a great little sound card.In my humble opinion,and i'm not audiophile strictly gaming/movies.
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SuB
The Webmaster
iBeInspire
New member
As above, stay away from creative, unless it's a used x-fi card that you know works ... and even then, drivers will suck 
