Computer Audio

[IAHawk]

So have most of my parts for my new build. One thing I would like an opinion on is using a sound card. My old computer has a Creatve sound card but I also have a HTOmega Claro II sound card. I have read using a sound card is not a recommended. If not how do you connect an audio device like the LogiTech Z906? Do you use the audio connections on the motherboard. If you use the audio connections on the motherboard how is the quality compared to a sound card?
What are the differences between the motherboard audio and sound card.

Also any good suggestions for a fan hub preferably one that I can control fan speeds. My case does not have any 5.25 slots. I will have some RGB fans, an AIO CPU cooler and going to add additional fans.

I went with the ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate motherboard.

Thanks

 

[EarthDog]

Doesn't the Z906 have a SPDIF/Optical? Many motherboards with the more premium sound solutions have an optical port.... including the Taichi Ultimate... take a look at the IO panel.

 

[trents]

So have most of my parts for my new build. One thing I would like an opinion on is using a sound card. My old computer has a Creatve sound card but I also have a HTOmega Claro II sound card. I have read using a sound card is not a recommended. If not how do you connect an audio device like the LogiTech Z906? Do you use the audio connections on the motherboard. If you use the audio connections on the motherboard how is the quality compared to a sound card?
What are the differences between the motherboard audio and sound card.

Also any good suggestions for a fan hub preferably one that I can control fan speeds. My case does not have any 5.25 slots. I will have some RGB fans, an AIO CPU cooler and going to add additional fans.

I went with the ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate motherboard.

Thanks

Would depend on the particular sound card and the chipset it uses as well as the quality of the other electronic components on the card. There should be no reason not to add in a sound card if you want to go that way. But as ED said, look at SPDIF first if quality audio is a primary concern. You would also need a receiver or speakers that possess that technology or at least get an adapter that will convert SPDIF to analog.

 

[Alaric]

I would spend the same money as a good sound card on some different Schiit. As others have said, use the digital audio out and use an good outboard DAC, like this. http://www.schiit.com/products/magni-1

 

[habbajabba]

Alaric has it right. Get a schiit for your desktop. Modmymods has an internal fan controller with 4 outs expandable to 12, software controlled and has an impressive max configuration if you watercool and what not.
https://modmymods.com/aquacomputer-aquaero-6-lt-usb-fan-controller-53234.html
Nice mobo btw!

 

[wagex]

i have an asrock x299 board, the front output headphone amplifier that is built into the new boards is no joke, i love it most of the time i cant even turn my windows volume above 75% because its TOO much lol.

 

[EarthDog]

Before you go off buying sound cards and dacs, try the onboard. They sound good for most people.

 

[Alaric]

One of the reasons I bought my mobo was the Creative Audio chip along with the replaceable op amp. I can't stand Realtek's audio, but the root cause of lousy computer audio is too much stuff happening on the PCB. Computer audio has come a long way in just the last 5 years but there are too many ground paths and too much EMI. To those problems add the fact that you can only squeeze so much extra cost in to a motherboard for things that don't make it a better computer. If they start tacking on $500+ to the price of a mobo for properly implemented Cirrus Logic or Wolfson DACs they won't sell too many mobos. It's the kind of situation that made a $100-$150 Schiit Magni a golden opportunity for Schiit and consumers alike.

 

[wagex]

One of the reasons I bought my mobo was the Creative Audio chip along with the replaceable op amp. I can't stand Realtek's audio, but the root cause of lousy computer audio is too much stuff happening on the PCB. Computer audio has come a long way in just the last 5 years but there are too many ground paths and too much EMI. To those problems add the fact that you can only squeeze so much extra cost in to a motherboard for things that don't make it a better computer. If they start tacking on $500+ to the price of a mobo for properly implemented Cirrus Logic or Wolfson DACs they won't sell too many mobos. It's the kind of situation that made a $100-$150 Schiit Magni a golden opportunity for Schiit and consumers alike.

but they have went as far as to separate them to their own section of the mobo away from other components and giving them their own layer of the pcb to minimize any noise plus lots of filtering caps. its not like they put the amp over by the pci controller and the audio chip right next to the cpu or something like that. From what little bit i understand of how electricity and interference works i'd think it wouldnt be picking up anymore noise than what a DAC would be getting having a shared ground to the dac via the usb cable.

 

[EarthDog]

but they have went as far as to separate them to their own section of the mobo away from other components and giving them their own layer of the pcb to minimize any noise plus lots of filtering caps. its not like they put the amp over by the pci controller and the audio chip right next to the cpu or something like that. From what little bit i understand of how electricity and interference works i'd think it wouldnt be picking up anymore noise than what a DAC would be getting having a shared ground to the dac via the usb cable.

QFT.

Try out the integrated first. If it isnt good enough, then go buy something better.

 

[Alaric]

but they have went as far as to separate them to their own section of the mobo away from other components and giving them their own layer of the pcb to minimize any noise plus lots of filtering caps. its not like they put the amp over by the pci controller and the audio chip right next to the cpu or something like that. From what little bit i understand of how electricity and interference works i'd think it wouldnt be picking up anymore noise than what a DAC would be getting having a shared ground to the dac via the usb cable.

That would be the improvements in the last few years I mentioned. And an optical cable solves that problem, but the filtering in a good outboard DAC renders in unnecessary. It's still not the optimum (or even a good) solution, though. It comes down to your gear downstream and the priority you place on sound quality. If you're listening to mp3 through the speakers that came with your first Dell and it works for you, then you probably won't be able to justify upgrading. Since the thread is about upgrading the SQ the pros and cons of mobo audio seemed appropriate. Even with my replaceable op amp I rapidly run into a cost/benefit wall. By the time I spend money on a good, custom op amp (the analog implementation of the DAC signal) I'm already in Schiit, etc. territory price wise. My TI LM4562 op amp is actually a Burr Brown and they're used by manufacturers like NAD. For $5 it was a big upgrade. To get noticeably better we're at $80+, and it can still only amplify the signal quality it receives because it's just the pre amp. so a $100 Schiit Magni is the next logical progression.

 

[wagex]

And an optical cable solves that problem, but the filtering in a good outboard DAC renders in unnecessary

optical still doesn't stop them from the common ground at the wall, nor the same power source (your home power), as mentioned the premium onboard bits now have a lot of filtering as well, i dont see why they couldn't possibly be as good a schiit, i had a look at the internal bits of the schiit dacs, its not that impressive as far as power filtering, certainly about as much as that is on OP's motherboard that's only what's dedicated for the audio bits.

 

[Alaric]

My mobo is regarded as having one of the better implementations of onboard audio, and no, it can't touch decent, dedicated audio gear. Not even in the same ballpark. Realtek chips aren't even the same sport. LOL

 

[wagex]

My mobo is regarded as having one of the better implementations of onboard audio, and no, it can't touch decent, dedicated audio gear. Not even in the same ballpark. Realtek chips aren't even the same sport. LOL

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ my quite large FLAC library sounds fantastic on my sennheisers on the new board lightyears beyond what any previous board has had (granted last one was z77 lol), though i have not ever bothered to spend the extra money on a DAC (i have one in my living room if you count a receiver that receives only digital signal that gets decoded by the receiver itself) but there were talking a few watts vs 500 watts with midrange speakers, perhaps i need to plug my 1/4 to 3.5mm adapter in there and play some FLAC over it and see how that do.

also OP is using a set of logitech surround sound speakers, so i doubt he'd gain anything from a DAC or amp or anything really, considering they have their own amp and hav optical in themselves.

 

[Alaric]

Yup. Once you start down the audio path you discover ways to spend money you didn't anticipate. You upgrade the source and discover your amplifier's shortcomings, upgrade the amp and now you can hear what your preamp is doing wrong. Right, now that that's all sorted out-your $50 speakers can only do so much. So you throw caution and budget to the wind and get some really good, revealing, detailed and with a flat response curve, treating yourself to some good quality boxes. And the first thing they reveal is your amp doesn't have a big enough power section and can't keep up with your Norwegian Death Metal collection. So, new amp. Oops, that preamp sounds like it has veil over it now. By the time you run out of money you find out half your music collection was poorly recorded and/or produced because you can now hear every wart and pimple in the recordings. So now your beloved Neil Diamond Concert Series goes unloved and unused. A quality lossless file, like FLAC, of a terrible recording is every bit as bad as an mp3. Sometimes worse, because the promise of the music is still there, it's just held hostage by a crappy sound engineer and producer. LOL

After all that you finally realize it's about the music, and making that more enjoyable is far more important than than gleaning every last scintilla of the bass player clearing his throat in the background on Bobby Troup's "Get Your Kicks On Route 66". When you reach that stage of enlightenment you should go listen to a good tube amp setup, because by then you should have saved up enough to start all over again....