Are sound cards actually worth it or is fine just to rely upon motherboard sound?
>>51711580
Highly situational. The quality of the sound will not improve in any tangible sense, but some people need the overhead for technical reason.
Basically, if you don't know the reasons you would use what most would consider "overkill" quality and don't have a use for the extra jacks/features on the card, don't even bother.
>>51711580
If you don't know exactly why you need a sound card, you don't need a sound card.
10 years ago good Audigy's were worth it for surround sound.
No idea what the market's like today, don't really gaym anymore.
Also this dude's right >>51711640
>>51711671
>tfw inherited a creative sound blaster live!®™ card many years back
>no idea what to use it for now
>>51711671
>don't really gaym anymore.
Uh.. what about audio production?
using onboard for that is a joke
Unless you need it for a specific reason, dont. I have very high impedance cans, thus onboard audio was barely capable of pushing them above normal listening level, forget loud.
>>51711833
They were talking about themselves.
>>51711580
Yes. I have a Gigabyte Z97X-SLI on my new build. It has a good sound system built in. Probably 2x as better as my 2 year old ASUS prebuilt motherboard. Better sound, less distortion noise.
I jumped on the soundcard meme and got a Sound Blaster zx for a good price. I've got pretty good headphones and speakers, and being able to have them hooked up at the same time is a plus.
But the sound quality. . . Oh man. It's at least 3x better than the onboard audio. When there is no sound, its DEAD silent. The bass kicks harder throughout the range and the dimension and soundspace of the audio is incredible.
For playing games and movies the extra features, sound modes and equalizer are fantastic and dolby digital 5.1, for example, on my headphones actually works just like my home theater setup in Fallout 4.
Yeah I definitely think they are worth it, or at least the one I got with the speakers and headphones I have. I thought it was going to be a slight difference, but I shit you not, at LEAST 3 TIMES BETTER sound + features.
>>51712111
the ZX is too much money for my taste, gonna pick up a Z for $77+tax tomorrow
Pair that with some headphone extension cable from monoprice and I will be all set.
Just need to find some good headphones since I missed the Senn 598s that amazon had on sale :(
maybe the V-Modas will be on sale again at MS
>>51711580
sound cards are a meme
get a usb DAC + amp stack instead
I can't remember who conducted the tests but I remember some hardware site did blind-tests with self-professed audiophiles, trying audio through both a high end sound card and on-board audio and they couldn't tell the difference.
>>51712210
definition of [citation needed]
>>51712249
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733.html
I think this was it, but I just googled key words so it might not be.
>>51712182
this pretty much
soundcards in general have this annoying tendency to bleed into audio, you`re gonna have to deal with electromagnetic shielding and just fuck that shit. Had it happen with many laptops and desktops. If you buy a proper DAC you can do low latency recording as well.
>>51712182
Dacs are better in terms of straight up SQ Soundcards have better soundstages though
>>51711580
Mostly the guys who use audio cards are businesses who deal with microcontrollers and other microelectronics and need to debug their product by generating accurate waveforms.
Audio cards also have hardware amplifier circuits and equalizer circuits so they are often used by hobbyists and amateur music producers who seek better audio quality than the stock audio cards.
The difference between a stock audio card and an expensive ass external one isn't much but there are people who do care about that tiny performance difference. An audio cards is probably worthless to you if you don't appreciate that difference, no reason to buy one in that case
>>51711580
PCIe sound cards are utter garbage and dont compete anywhere near external USB/Thunderbolt or Firewire interfaces.
>only having 3.5mm outputs, no inputs, no XLR or 1/4"
what a fucking joke and on top of that if you dont know why you need a sound card you don't need one at all.
I don't fucking know why you people are saying soundcards are useful for any kind of production of professional setting. Anyone who is not a fucking moron would buy himself a decent audio interface instead.
>>51714153
can you reconmend anything?
Bought this over 10 years ago. Low latency means you can play guitar through the computer with no delay, and you can record audio coming from the pc with a flick of a switch. The built in effects are a bit wanky though.
>>51715018
depends what you are after. I suggest the NI Komplete audio 6 as an entry level interface. Good inputs and outputs and can easily hook up to monitors via 1/4"
Anyone know how to get cmss3d without the need of an internal sound card?
Been googling and all I get is forum posts that degrade to stereo only fag or other forum posts talking about some type of tech witchcraft of putting stones on cables and changing some eq settings.
>>51711640
Bingo.
If you have to ask, you don't need one.
>>51712111
$2 has been added to your account.
I got an audio interface and neither fell for the soundcard nor for the external headphone DAC meme. Protip, specialised equipment for headhpones (except for amps in certain situaitons) is bullshit. You spent 300 bucks on a DAC with one output for headphones? I got headphone out, balanced speaker out, midi in/out and 2 inputs for XLR/1/4 inch jacks with nice preams, phantom power and high impedance mode for instruments for 130 bucks. The actual DAC/ADC in that thing is great as well, you don't need to spend hundreds of bucks for good audio.
>>51711580
It's fine to just rely on motherboard sound.
I personally own an Auzentech X-Fi Bravura, which I originally bought in order to get digital audio outputs to connect to a receiver that didn't have any analog audio inputs. Now Auzentech is kill and I still use the card to this day because it's just the easiest way to get audio for me since I already have it.
I know that it's fucking retarded and I should have gone with something cheaper back then since a digital signal completely bypasses the sound card anyway, but whatever.
>>51711580
Asus do a nice selection of sound cards but it's dependent on your sound system. I've gone through my fair share of cards and I'm currently using the Xonar D2, it's very good for the price and I have no reason to upgrade.
If you have a decent enough set of speakers or headphones then you will notice sound difference from your on board. A few years ago I had a xonar DS which broke I then bought my current D2, at the time I had two monitors and a sub with gaming there was a noticeable sound difference my sub was outputting a few extra noises I hadn't heard previous playing BF3.
>>51714153
>PCIe sound cards are utter garbage and dont compete anywhere near external USB/Thunderbolt or Firewire interfaces.
Funny, considering the best and most expensive "pro" soundcards are PCIe.
Thunderbolt is pretty good as well, but USB is literally babbys first soundcard tier and Firewire is dead.
>>only having 3.5mm outputs, no inputs, no XLR or 1/4"
Wrong, shithead.
Some have 1/4" on board too, but most have expansion boards and whatnot.
