are they a meme ?
are they worth the money comparing to a recent on board DAC ?
>>54344902
If you don't know exactly why you need a sound card, you don't need a sound card. Same goes for DACs. If you find yourself wondering if you should get one or not, use the integrated sound, its the same shit for your purposes.
>>54344947
thats not the question.
is there really that much of a difference, or is it another "audiophile" voodoo (unmeasurable)
>>54345175
i use one for audio production. you don't need one if you aren't a musician or filmmaker etc but if you like hd audio they're a good vanity buy
bamp
>>54344902
thats not what a meme is you tool. fuck off
I always put a sound card in my builds, likely because whenever I started out integrated audio wasn't a thing so its just a habit I got into. Like some others have said, if you don't have a specific reason for one, you don't need one. But go big or go home right? Plus they're pretty inexpensive ..
Sound cards still suck for playing your FLAC anime music or whatever, since they still pick up all kinds of case noise. A $50 USB DAC is much better.
>>54344902
everything audiophile is a meme, you can't tell shit between 192 320 and flac, a dac is useless andchange nothing
>>54344902
Seriously OP, quit trying to apply meme speak to every fucking thing. Sound cards been around a long fucking time. Use to be that you actually had to buy one for your pc or they came installed if bought a complete pc. Sound cards are not as meme, they are a legit piece of hardware that just has been replaced by on-board for most part. That does not make them meme you stupid fuck.
Quit being a faggot teen kid and adopting every fucking term these faggots here toss out daily. Most are used incorrectly..just like their use of linux as a desktop OS.
>>54348292
many "audiophile" gear are meme and have no measurable advantage over other regular hardware.
you stupid fag
>>54344902
The real question is do you have headphones or speakers good enough to warrant a soundcard.
Most probably you do not.
>>54349067
yes. got a pair of decent headphones.
>>54348991
>many "gamer" gear are meme and have no measurable advantage over other regular hardware.
>
>you stupid fag
>>54349088
Obviously they're not decent if you're asking whether you need a soundcard or not.
Onboard sound can't drive high impedance headphones.
Just buy one of these cheapo CM108 adapters.
get an external dac/amp
sound cards are literal memes
>>54349175
what is a good cheap one?
>>54347764
>FLAC anime music
I have a Fiio E10 usb DAC it's pretty good. (pic related)
>>54344902
>are they a meme
undefined
>are they worth the money compared to recent onboard?
Depends. A lot of expensive motherboards with 'fancy' DACs have really poor implementations - shitty drivers, bad power regulation, et cetera.
If you have PCI slots available (not PCIe), then you really can't go wrong with ebaying a Audigy2 ZS for $10. Full Linux compatibility and Windows 7 compatibility with 108dB SNR, 24-bit 192Khz playback, ASIO drivers, 10Hz to 22Khz frequency response, 0.004% THD...
>>54344902
Audiophile shit is a placebo meme. Once you recognize the tells you're basically fucked and in a slippery slope of buying shit other people cringe about. Do not tread down the headphone/speaker high-end path or else you'll be spending loads of fucking cash and having a empty wallet.
Stick with what you have. Don't have more than two headphones/speakers/DACs/amps. It'll fuck with you and you'll have upgraditis.
>>54344902
Depends what you're using it for. I have a Xonar DX from way back, it seems to have much better microphone quality than my friend's Z97 motherboard. Despite both of us using the same mic, I come in clear and undistorted, he always has background noise/distortion or is too loud or too quiet.
I also like Dolby Headphone, I've no idea why people shit on it, if I enable it it's always very, very clear to me when sounds are coming from behind me in a game. I only use this card for games though, so no Dolby Headphone when listening to music.
>>54349727
I had one of these, it was great. I don't even remember exactly what happened to it, I think it eventually broke after years of service. Good card and at that time it made a very clear difference in sound quality compared to on-board shit.
>>54349727
>$10
i guess its worth the shot.
thanks for the tip
>>54349803
i'll only use it for music, listening.
>>54349916
Then it depends on what your other equipment is. As long as the integrated sound card doesn't have any serious shortcomings like audible hum/buzzing/clicking which can sometimes happen due to interference, I'd say give that a try.
If you're going to use something with relatively special requirements (very high impedance headphones) you may need something else or at least a headphone amp.
>>54349982
my new headphones are 250ohm, but my on board DAC seem to drive them just fine.
>>54350105
Well then, what matters is that you're happy with the sound you're getting. I much prefer speakers and don't have too much experience with headphones.
is a meme
>>54350133
i was just wondering if i'd get sound improvement.
don't get me wrong, the audio quality i'm having now is the best i'v ever had
I found a VIA sound card with gold plating and shit for pci.
Thinking of sticking it in for shiggles, will I regret it?
>>54350402
you might, as other anon's said this will only matter if your speakers/headphones aren't what's really limiting you.
You will also
- be able to use hardware DTD/Dolby3D/etc
- save some CPU by offloading all the mixing and said fancy 3D sound to another device
- be able to use better interface/protocol like ASIO instead of directsound/etc
- have more jacks for more speakers (and probably MIDI)
in older (single-core-era) machines it wasn't uncommon to gain 5-10% FPS in CPU-limited games and tasks by offloading the audio to dedicated hardware. in [current year] the difference is probably negligible.
>>54350455
pics ?
>>54350587
Will post when I get home.
Might even start a thread, so keep your eyes open for a new sound card thread in around 6 hours.
What if I bought a Soundblaster for DOS games?
