Are Soundcards worth it in 2022?
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- čas přidán 1. 04. 2022
- This goes over Sound cards, Digital vs Analog, 44 vs 48 Hz, and more options that you will encountering when dealing with sound in Windows
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It's not so much that people don't care, Realtek took the question out of the game with their onboard about... 15 years ago. Coming from a broadcasting background, we used to use $2000 soundcards prior to then to get broadcast quality audio, around 2008 the replacement of computers in the workplace no longer required the additional card to matchup with the editing software because the onboard was a good enough standard. Even oem HP office pcs. For interviewing and so on, even a mic plugged into your phone is good enough today, the standard has raised.
I have both fedora 35 and windows 11 on the same pc , I dont know what it is but when im listening to music the fedora sound quality is miles better than the windows one.
To disagree with you Toslink is no longer where it's at, the best way to get digital audio in 2022 is HDMI, in fact Toslink isn't able to support some of the really High bandwidth Sound signals like Dolby Atmos
Optical audio has its limitations, its not so professional nor audiophile. Its not maximum high resolution and its used for 5.1, 7.1 audio. Which is for movies. True audiophile audio is always stereo. USB is also garbage, to much noise. Best connection so far is I2S. For my audiophile setup i use an Raspberry Pi4 with IQAudio DAC hat, i use it as an network streamer and its the best sounding device i ever used. It uses I2S connection. I dont know many DACs that use that connection, bcuz of its cost implementation, but I know PS Audio does have some amazing DACs with I2S.
Many of Creative's internal cards are actually new designs that were released in the past few years. And they don't have issues with noise like you say.
Bought a used Asus Xonar Essence STX for a decent price recently. I wasn't expecting much since I already had a good and modern onboard audio setup, or so I thought. I was completely blown away with the clarity of the sound output. It is much better than onboard audio and it is a card released more than 10 years ago. Of course, you need to pair it with a good headphone. In my case I have an Audio-Technica ATH-M50x. The listening experience is magical.
Simple soundcard? Behringer U-Control UCA222 for €24, 2 in, 2 out and USB (if you want surround you have to channel up). A little better, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen also USB, much better... RME audio, Much much better UAD or SSL or Audient. As I'm in the business, I always have a Behringer thing in my same toolbox as my DI converters. Because it's so versatile, it's better than a iPhone 😉 I'm not kidding, some tracks sent to me are recorded with an iPhone. And No, Soundblaster is never used in the industry. RME PCIe cards are amazing. And can be linked from ADAT to analog channels. PS: we use wordclocks to sync our soundcards, I have about 32channels in 96Khz, 24bit and that wordclock says to any interface, these settings. So you always have the right setttings. But all this stuff costs a ton.
Are soundcards worth it in 2022? Yes they are, if you are doing something more than gaming or multimedia as a consumer only. If you produce music or do multimedia production in a pro level, a soundcard can give you: full duplex, high quality sound monitoring, connection diversity, multichannel, low noise and interference, hardware sound processing, less latency, and so on. Try that on your Realtek (and I've tried). And in games, the detail you get in sound (in conjunction with good headphones) is awesome. So yes. In my case I will still buy soundcards with any new PC I got, if they keep producing them even if adolescents listen to crappy quality of sound and they are OK with it.
You need to get audio as quickly out of the computer as you can to stop interference. I use a IFI Zen dac which I've had no complaints with not sure if this audiophile grade but I love it.
An external DAC on USB is just as good as optical because the analog conversion still happens outside of the PC. A good basic setup for a lot of people willing to spend a bit more to really get into the entry of nicer gear is the Schiit Modi and Magni. By no means are they the best, but for $200 its a good option for a dedicated amp/DAC combo
Thanks Chris, I am also one of those people who likes to have better sound quality. I was looking to add a sound card until I viewed your video on the subject, so I will look at other alternative's. Love your videos, keep up the great content.
I remember the sound cards, back to the 8 bit ones. I was big into the optical ones too until HDMI. My previous mobo's optical out didn't support 5.1 to my theater receiver, and I learned that 5.1 is about the most bandwidth optical can support. I'm running a 7.1 setup, soon to be full on 9.1.2 Atmos, and the optical simply won't carry that bandwidth. Then again, I think my scenario is different. The HDMI carries the digital audio signal through the graphics card, to a completely separate receiver, and that's essentially been the setup for my main entertainment pc for the last decade.
I remember the first sound blaster card I bought in the 90’s. I had a 486 with just the PC speaker and was a huge Wolfenstein 3D fan. When I installed this behemoth of a card, I couldn’t believe the sound quality. I was hooked for years in terms of using internal cards. But I haven’t used one for probably 20 years now
the reason why some internal soundcards have a cover is that the cover is actually there to stop noise caused by other components in the PC. I have a few different ones. For me even though i have optical whenever im recording an event the place only has XLR so i just use the line in, though even cheap ones do decent as well.
Something random to add, but just using your optical output located on most enthusiast motherboards (event the low-end ones) are a massive benefit.
KUDOS for sharing! OMG I remember buying the sound blaster cards etc, and could never afford a Turtle Beach one? Yes optical is the way to go, and from what I remember, cleanes way as well. A good resource may be a musician friend or shop? You ARE FORTUNATE indeed to have MicroCentre local to you! Miss it MUCH from when I lived in DFW area years ago! ALL THE BEST and Cheers! :)
A lot of the good audio mixers have built in USB interfaces. I use the Behringer UMC404HD for live broadcast and a Zoom for 16 simultaneous channels. I've been looking for a multichannel optical mixer but have not found one yet.
The weakest part in the onboard Realtek sound on my motherboard seems to be the amplifier component. Yes, if you turn up the output too high or use the volume boost feature you can add noise to the signal (so can the microphone port, muting it can make a huge difference), but I found that I could clean it up by using an external headphone amplifier along with some reference headphones). Personally, I don't like to use external devices for sound because they can add noticeable latency in games and cause problems when recording or in titles like Rocksmith.
I find additional PCI sound cards deliver more power to run the sound and the sound is more pristine.
I think the cool think about sound cards is just the built in IO on your pc, enabling you to record your own vinyl and use analogue audio setups easily. Evga sells one that looks cool