Are Soundcards worth it in 2022? 

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.

Electrical Noise is the cause of the hiss sound in your head phones and While the quality of your DAC chip on your sound card matters it is UNLIKELY the cause of the hiss you hear on many sound cards, in fact the single component causing this hiss or electrical noise is your POWER SUPPLY, unless you are using a Multi-rail-voltage Electrically noiseless power supply (NOT AUDIO NOISE) you will continue to suffer from electrical noise in the audio regardless of the quality of your sound card's DAC. All this noise issue is mainly applicable to analogue recording and play back. For most people digital cables are unlikely to be used especially that most head sets are using the analogue plug... And the reason why sound cards are gone is because the Audio quality built-in on the motherboard nowdays is very adequate for the vast majority of people. If you are recording audio into your PC from an analogue source beside using an electrically noiseless Power Supply you would want a sound card DAC with 115 ~ 120 dB SNR - (Signal to noise ratio). Using less than 110 ~ 113 dB SNR, depending on the quality of your sound card you may experience some hiss or humming noises, and using anything below 106 dB SNR for analogue to digital recording is NOT recommended.

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

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.

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.

Something random to add, but just using your optical output located on most enthusiast motherboards (event the low-end ones) are a massive benefit.

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

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.

I find additional PCI sound cards deliver more power to run the sound and the sound is more pristine.

I still use an Asus Essence STX 1 & II. I have USB dacs like the Dragon Fly Red and Oppo Ha-2 but the Essence still sounds stunning to me, both via the headphone amp & phono out.

Is the hi-fi bug going around or something? I recently have gotten into the hi-fi world as well. Just a small point of clarification: speakers are driven by analog signals, so the conversion from digital to analog always will happen at some point in the audio chain regardless of whether you are using optical inputs and outputs--the question is just where. Also, if you're using optical out from your source, the source may resample or do some other processing on the digital signal. That is, the audio stream that goes into the sound card technically might differ from the audio stream that goes out. Meanwhile, if outputting from your computer via USB, the audio stream basically skips past the internal sound card in your computer. In this case, the PC is merely "passing through" the audio stream from RU-vid, Spotify, etc., whereas with optical, the sound card is first processing the audio stream before outputting it.

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.

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

I use a little USB FiiO E10K-TC that you can pick up for $75 or cheaper on sale. Works out of the box in Windows and Linux with no issues. Only time I do have an issue it is with updated NVIDIA drivers changing the audio device to an HDMI monitor. It brings the audio signal outside of the PC case so the noise floor is very low, and there is a line-out on the back for powered speakers as well. I keep it at 96kHz for my needs, but it supports upto 384kHz if you need it. I am by no means an audiophile but I know what I like.

I'd gladly shop at Microcenter if any were local to me. Microcenter, YOU NEED TO OPEN MORE STORES.

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. Another reason people used to use sound cards is that they had hardware processors to take some strain off of a CPU. That got killed off with the move to Windows XP because Microsoft changed the way sound got processed in Windows, essentially making it all software based and instantly making gaming sound cards like the Soundblaster range pretty much pointless as soon as the onboard sound systems became 'good enough'.

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.

for a while now I have used smsl dac and amp for my headphones and a scarlett 2i2 for my mic and this has worked fine for me.

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.

OK Geeks, the way to REALLY lower the sound floor is with cryogenic heat sinks liquid helium or Peltier devices (satellite transducers) and Green Bank Radioastronomy Dishes. As this tech (including the Javelin missile) is mature and coming down in price. I am surprised no one has run with this. MRI machines use liquid helium to run enough current in the coils to run city blocks for a bit to get incredibly detailed images otherwise "lost in the noise".

I really liked Micro Center in Dallas when I was there as late as 2003.

Biggest problem I usually run into is not the quality of the onboard sound card or the features, but the amp for my headphones. Not a problem I've had for my speakers but I assume that's because they've got an amp built in running the speakers. Apart from that though onboard has been good for me on my Asus x570 plus. I just use a SMSL Headphone amp using optical and it really brings my headphones to life. Not a professional music producer or anything, just enjoy music and video games, so for my needs a good headphone amp and I'm happy.

Hello Crhis. I use dac fiio e10k with Sennheiser HD 599 headset for gaming and audio. For me, it's perfect.

Today audiophiles use USB interfaces. I use smsl dac. topping makes top cheap interfaces. For recording I use an ESI. There are a lot of pro adc dac affordable, under 200 €

I bought an ASUS Xonar (can't remember which one) soundcard last year to use 5.1 optical out to my Logitech Z906 speakers. I was using the 3.5mm audio jack's in my motherboard but I didn't like the noisey sound coming from it. Microsoft made it so that with the latest versions of Windows 10 you can only set 2.0 out in optical unless you use modded drivers for some devices. I couldn't find any modded drivers for my MSI X470 Gaming plus that worked so I bought an ASUS Xonar card that works with unixonar drivers. Those drivers allow me to set 5.1 audio out through optical out.

Thank you for again reinforcing what I have always believed and heard, Toslink optical is the best for music as "interference" can not find it's way into the signal as can with Analog. Another thing, analog and coaxial digital (the single rca sound cable) are only 2 channels. With optical, it can handle 8 channels of sound. And is what gives you true 5.1 Surround Sound. Nothing else does, and why it was invented. Without it everything is computer simulation otherwise "Hi Def" audio.

Hey Chris, excellent info on your channel here today. I use a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB interface for everyday sound. It does 44 - 192khz sample rates. A good reliable interface. NZ$ 350. I use this setup for my music production at a minimum. Keep up the great work. Be safe and well where you are.

For some reason with Sound Blaster internal sound cards the remaining noise floor can be eliminated by pulling the card out of the PCIE slot by 1mm. I did it with my Sound Blaster Z and it made a bigger difference then going from motherboard audio to the sound card in the first place.

I disagree, over here I use a PCIe ASUS Xonar Essence STX II sound card with 124dB SNR, >0.0003 %(-110 dB) THD+N, native 192kHz/24-bit max, Bur-Brown PCM1792A DAC used in hi-end, studio grade equipment. There are other DACS like the ASUS Xonar U7 MKII that doesn't get that far, however, it has a native support for SACD and DSD that for people that create for RU-vid and other platforms, this, SACD and DSD features makes no difference at all. So, yes! Sound cards still worth if the person knows what he is doing.

I use a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Had it for many years and still works like a charm

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

I have the AE-9 with MUSE OPamps.. fantastic sound and very clear on Beyerdynamics DT- 1990 Headphones (with Dekoni replacement pads) and previously with Sennheiser 650. Its overkill for gaming but what I can now hear in games is exceptional... and on music is just awesome regardless of genre.

I'm glad I got a screenshot of that cheeky "no" version of the thumbnail. Took it because it made me chuckle :^) a brief distraction from the pain of existence.. still a great video though! Cheers 👁️👄👁️

The RealTek chip on my motherboard doesn't come close to my AE-5Plus Sound Blaster. There is a very noticeable difference in audio quality.

i didn't think it would make a difference before ... the audio from my computer was very weak , i used a usb sound card from turtle beach i bought almost 20 years ago ... what a world of difference ... booming sounds coming outta that card

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.

I’ve honestly had nothing but great experiences with Micro Center I live in Southern California and the nearest one to me is the one that’s in Tustin love the crew there

This just popped up on my home page ... and, yes, I know I'm way late to the party this time. There is an entire subset of audiophiles and music lovers who use "Home Theatre PC" driven systems. The HTPC is generally one of the new mini-computers that are so popular right now. The magic is all in the software. The audio gear can run anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of hundred thousand dollars... and yeah, it can be downright spectacular. The general arrangement is to have the HTPC at the centre of the setup, handling local storage, media streaming, some gaming and, of course audio and video duties. Video is easy ... big TV, HDMI cable and bob's yer uncle. Audio... not so much. Most often the setup for the audio is a USB DAC (Digital to Audio Converter) that feeds the audio power amplifiers. These aren't cheap "soundcards", some of them can cost $10,000 or more. For DACs there are two basic standards ... Usb Audio Classes UAC1 and UAC2. UAC1 runs up to 24 bits, 96,000 samples per second. UAC2 tops out at 32 bits, 384,000 samples per second ... For most Windows machines the appropriate drivers are selected on the first connect. (To learn more, do a search for "PCM Audio" and/or "Windows Audio"... there's a ton of stuff out there to read.) Software wise, Windows includes an "Exclusive Mode" , used in high end audio, that is triggered by the media player to keep the data flow as pristine as possible, taking a direct route from the source file decoders to the USB output that blocks all other sounds and will play media files in their native speed and size formats. So, to answer the question of whether sound cards matter anymore... the answer is "Yes" and in all truth they probably matter more now than they did 10 years ago. Of late I've been on a bit of a quest, looking for the most economical DAC that supports UAC2 standards. It's not easy, because there are some really wonky things on the market. Some DACs will block the Windows volume controls, forcing you to use the volume knob on your preamplifier or amplifier instead. This of course kills the whole idea of using a wireless keyboard to run the system... which can be a real deal breaker. Others require special drivers that seldom work right... And on and on... So that brings up the question of: "Is it better to buy computer interfaces from an audio company or to buy audio interfaces from a computer company" ... the answer being "These guys really need to talk to one and other!" Computer designers have neglected the audio and audio designers don't understand the computer side of things. Still, when it works, it most often works spectacularly.

The issue with Toslink is it can not carry uncompressed audio greater the 2.1, with the exception of HDMI analog 3 x 3.5mm outputs analog is the only way to get surround output.

I use a audiophile 24/96 card in my server which came out about mid 2000's. Pretty dated but this card is fantastic. Has RCA plugs and amazing SNR. I use it for capturing vinyl and other analog sound which goes to my youtube channel. On Linux it works if you plug it in however once in a while I'd do a fresh install and need to manually change some settings in whatever computer I had it in at the time as it would think it's a different model of M-Audio card (once this is set this is no longer a problem). It uses a program called Mudita to set custom settings like capture rate, rate lock, etc.

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! :)

$10 Sound usb $15 Speakers $15 Headset $6 steam sale classic games on linux

I upgraded my 2002 Compaq tower with a sound blaster card and never went back (very dated now) It drives my Sennheiser headphones and tightens up the bass. It records at only 16/44.1 but sounds great. I used it recently (computer still runs.. win XP) to digitize all of my music reel to reel master tapes. It beats my current HP laptop motherboard that does not drive headphones well, just does not sound as good as the old system.

I have the ae9 which I got 100 quid off. It is a beast of a soundcard which I modded as well. It does clap a lot of cheeks after modded and the audio quality/price ratio is very good.

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.

I use a Fiio usb DAC, mainly because it drives my Sennheiser headphones much better than my motherboards on board sound. The DAC is good for the price.

Micro Center is awesome. They got me a 555 timer! Those things are not easy to find anymore.

Microcenter seems like a cool company. If you haven't seen the recent Gamer Nexus video where they stop in Microcenter, you should. It's a feel good video. I clicked every one of the Microcenter links in the description just on principle. :)

Much of the appeal of sound cards got thrown out the window when Microsoft changed their audio system with the release of i think windows Vista, and it ruined hardware accelerated positional audio like Creative EAX. I still use a sound card today though, a Creative X-Fi Titanium HD. I do so because i really like some of the gaming features like CMSS-3D and how it's one of the few cards that passes those audio enhancements through the Toslink output to an external DAC/Headphone Amp.

Was given a friends computer but it didn't have optical out for sound. I bought an Asus Xonar SE Gaming sound card. I run an optical cable from sound card to my Lavry DA 11 dac and then in to my Pioneer VSX D1S pro logic receiver and use infinity Kappa 5 main speakers, a HSU 12 powered sub woofer and some Jamo rear channel speaker for movies , this is my computer set up. I also use a BBE Sonic Maximizer for tone control on occasion. I'm content with the sound. I also use a FIIO BTR5 and BTR 7 (Much Better) for portable sound with Fostex headphones. Even the Koss KPH30i (2 pairs with oversized ear pads) sound amazing especially for the price. My 2 cents.

You can get an amazing DI for the price of a good sound card and your quality of sound is going to be amazing. DI's are the best way to go . Your mic will make a difference as well. Condescend mics are best and the DI boxes support phantom power. You only need a 2 channel DI to get amazing sound. Reaper is great to mix your audio and there are tons of plugins that you can use. Reaper and the plug ins are free. Been a musician for years and I've worked in IT for years. For sound you have to switch to music gear.

I bought a focusrite Scarlett 8is and Yamaha hs7 studio monitors. The difference in the audio quality in gaming is night and day. Taking my case Diablo to resurrected, I can hear ambient environmental and background sounds out of the monitors that I were never there before on my motherboard and Logitech speaker audio. Well worth the investment I would do it again and never look back.

I have an external DAC and amp connected to my PC via USB. works great

Sound on my PC is something I have been Struggling with. Thanks for the information.

Sound quality and computer is something I was very interested in, this is a great video that’s gonna help me get started thanks!

Creative Sound BlasterX G6 is what I use now. Great sound and flexibility , easily beats motherboard sound

I dont know much. But as far as I'm concened Mr Carlsons Lab has the finest audio on RU-vid and he uses a valve mic. It's so rich and warm in it's tone. Defo worth looking into him Chris.

I prefer USB DACs myself. Getting the source of the sound outside of the case with fans and other things going on that can introduce that background noise was what I needed for my basic setup with some higher end head phones. I use the Fulla E from Shiit Audio. Funny name with an even funnier way it identifies itself on my computer, but a good product without breaking the bank and their products are well known for being Linux friendly. It drives my DT 770 Pro headphones (80 ohm) without breaking a sweat and I got crystal clear audio on it as far as my ears can tell which is all that really matters to me. Depending on what you're needing to do, audio can be overthought about. Onboard audio chip sets on good motherboards are decent enough to get most people up and running for gaming and general computer use these days, but if you have higher end head phones/speakers, get yourself a decent DAC and you'll be well set for the all the general computer use stuff from gaming to listening to music to talking on video conference calls.

Does bluetooth use the soundcard to convert signals into sounds or the bluetooth on the motherboard does everything? Reason why I am asking this is because when I use my bose wireless earbuds on my laptop for gaming, there is a lag but on my desktop, no lag. Or is there probably a better bluetooth chip in my desktop?

A usb audio interface such as the Focusrite Scarlett or a Presonus audio box is a good affordable option for quality audio that can be had for around 100 to 200 bucks. pairing the interfaces with a high quality pair of headphone, a decent XLR mic, and a pair of studio monitors will pretty much give you a high quality studio quality recording. if you add a midi keyboard and a DAW with some decent plugins which can all be had for cheap you will pretty much have the setup to make most of the songs released in the last decade.

I use the RME Fireface UFX+ and also use the Apollo X8P on another computer setup. I used to own AVID audio hardware but sold it, because I got fed up with their bullshit. It might be too excessive for some people. But I have unique reasons why. I used to use sound blaster way back in the day.

dont forget for gamers , having a seperate sound card does reduce cpu load, which helps gamers . its a few frames per second but thats an advantage

What I learned going through this process... Step one buy quality headphones with an output profile that match your taste and you need to decide if you want closed, semi-open or open backed. I wanted very clean detailed female vocals with an open airy sound stage so I bought a set of Beyerdynamic DT880 600Ω version. The DT880 are semi-open backed and do have isolation from your environment but you can still hear what's going on around you so your better half won't be throwing things at you to get your attention. Open or semi-open headphones have a wider more realistic (imho) sound stage than fully enclosed headphones (or buds). I initially connected my PC to a Pioneer home receiver with optical toslink which worked great but my receiver runs like a toaster so I later purchased a very reasonably priced dedicated headphone amp called Micca OriGen 2. It has both USB and optical toslink in up to 24bit/192khz and power enough for 600Ω headphones, separate1/8 and 1/4 headphone jacks, nice volume knob for both the headphone or 1/8 stereo analog out for powered speakers. The 1/8 analog out doubles as a mini optical out so this unit can take a USB PC connection and pass digital through the 1/8 optical out. Apparently It can also connect to Android via USB OTG but I haven't tried that. I also picked up an unpowered 3 way optical Toslink switch so I can switch between PC input or 200 CD changer from my desk with zero loss in quality. The sound quality/price ratio is good. One thing I did notice is that if you are listening to a 44.1khz FLAC file in Foobar for example and you have your DAC/Amp set to 48khz, the output will not be passed on "raw" for external decoding but will be first decoded from 44.1khz and then re-encoded to 48khz on your PC first and then decoded again on your external DAC which did make a small but noticeable difference in audible quality vs matching the DAC to the source material. With a decent audio setup you will also notice Spotify "high quality" isn't that high quality after all (Amazon is better) with a sound stage that is noticeably compressed and duller than original source material or 320kb mp3. I'm over 50 and my high frequency sensitivity is fading now so young people will certainly notice this.

Just ordered an Asus Zonar SE specifically for the optical out to go straight into an Marantz PM6007 amplifier. I do also have a decent dac but the soundcard reduces the modular add ons and simplifies my set up. I would be happy to see Asus take this little card into a full digital version maybe with coaxial out and usb c in one. There was not a lot of choice for half height cards either but this one will do.

Good Primer. I ran a windows partition for our recording studio activities and my occasional steam gaming. I use my Linux manjaro kde partition for 100‰ of business, work and personal activities. I use the same RME babyface pro (audio interface/ external soundcard/DAC) for both partition and I couldn't be more satisfied getting 48khz and more or less 6ms latency quality on both. Most professional Audio Interface (soundcard) like RME will run flawless when you switch them to USB compliant mode. That's how Linux accesses these audio interfaces at their lowest possible latency which is important both in gaming and professional audio.

I just use my focusrite solo gen3. Pretty cheap, I plug in my SM-48 mic and my studio headphones and it’s better than any sound card I’ve ever used

I'm new to audio so forgive me if my technical knowledge isn't so great, but... I have a pair of Power Beat Pros and these sound really good to me. I don't believe the soundcard from my laptop really does anything for them at all, but I really don't know. I'm going to be building a new pc and I'm wondering how I could possibly better my sound even further. I'm sure there are a lot of different things I could do, but whatever form it takes, it would be cool to where I'm actually able to notice a real improvement. Thx for any feedback!

I've never been to Micro Center. There's one 2 hours away. Always wanted to go.

Oh the joys of a 60hrtz grounding loop from your sub, only to figure out that it is your computer, and some of its components completing the circuit for the grounding loop to happen, I finally went with a Balun box and just bypassed my computer all together, because when you have not had cable in almost 7 years, and a computer is your cable box, it just gets complicated when dealing with sound.

A good DAC should be undetectable, and not stand out. You don't want it changing the signal, you want it faithfully converting it. I'd argue the same about amps, but there are other options like tube amps that change the sound in a way that people like, similar to why people like vinyl records.

Ended up here because I had an old e-mu 1616 sound card that I was considering trying make compatible with a newer laptop. I really appreciate you mentioning the basic parts. I think you will really like the new gear you are considering. I want to check it out too. Rather than try to revive this old dinosaur. In regard to clean sound. I did find today while researching the 1616 a page a fans that feel there is a latency benefit to they way it connects to the mother board, specifically not via USB. I look forward checking out your new and old content. Cheers

I've got a Soundblaster Z, I found some EQ settings online that I liked, those coupled with simulated surround sound great through my 2.1 speakers. Games sound alive and it's a great all round experience. I heard you loud and clear and you certainly didn't sound like Alvin!

I highly recommend testing out Behringer U-Phoria HD USB interfaces (like UMC204HD)... They are an anomaly on the market! Using Midas Amplifiers and such good components at such a low price is just incredible! I have one and was not convinced at first but the guy at the store told me I could bring it back and he would give me a pricier option for free if I was not happy... I stayed with me! The noise level is... inexistant... At full volume there is no "hiss". The sound output is so clean and definition is outstanding. Mic inputs are incredible too... although I stopped using them and switched to a Rode VideoMic NTG (all digital Mic) and will never look back... Try to put your hands on one... I am sure you will like it!

If you get that Micro Center USB Thumb Drive, here is an idea!: INSTALL LINUX

i´m not a expert in sound, just like you, but i can remenber perfect clear the day the day i assemble my new computer with sound blaster x-fi paired with logitech 5500 5.1. i´ll never know if was the sound card, the speaker or the combo...but my entire world of gamer change. Was the time of Modern Warfare 2.

I've been on an audio quest since 1st creative sound card in 98. Had the Sound Blaster: Live, Audigy, Audigy 2, X-Fi, Z, ZxR, AE-5, Asus: Xonar, Essence STX 2. 2019 went to external dac amp with burson play than the playmate 2 with vivid op amps. I use the creative g6 for consoles. Internal sound cards have use but not a good market for games since gpus have tripled in size.

Well for me I have had Asus Xonar sound cards in my machines as I have that really great sound control panel that goes with them. This gives me control over the effects frequencies etc etc and I would not be without them. I can create the sound profiles that suit me and it is just the ducks guts. My cards only cost me between $60 and $80 and are the greatest thing I have put into my machines. The sound I find is so perfect for me.

you should get the schiit MODI it's a really good dac and if you want a really good amp then get the DROP + THX AAA ONE LINEAR AMPLIFIER or for a cheaper amp then go for the schiit magni

3:00 straight to the chase! I'll keep watching anyway since this is entertaining lol I recently went on the hunt for a sound card since I'm building a PC. I haven't done so in like 15 years and thought, I wonder if these are still relevant? I think the main reason sound cards were big in the late 90's-early 00's was to reduce the load of processing sound on the CPU as they were pretty slow. I'll probably just look for an external DAC & Amp.

I learn nothing from the video to be honest... As far as I know one of those PCI-E card for PC is going to bring higher compatibility with high impedance headset and software capable of emulating 7.1 and room ambient on any headphone you plug in, give you the option to swap modes with your mouse as you change from music to movies to gaming on the fly. Is a feature you won't find on most simple onboards soundcard on a motherboard and the noise level you speak about haven't even been something I even notice across the multiples PC setups I come across during my life-time. One thing I did notice is how nice is to have extra amplification by adding a SoundBlaster card into the system as the first one I ever bough made a life-change regarding the amount of volume required to drive movie format properly (similar to classic music with a high range of noise). Clear sound means nothing when movies sound much better and realistic using 7.1...I keep going back and forward using this feature and can't live without it, something you don't have on most external DAC and in my opinion is a must have if you like watching movies and wanna experience that cinema sound with headphones. Sennheiser has an external DAC and despite any weakness they come with all this feature build internally, cool stuff impo. If I come across a cheap PC with no good onboard sound I probably end-up buying one of those PCI-E sound card as they become relative cheap due to low demand. If I was living in the US sure I would spend 500$ on a good external USB device as you find them extremely affordable all consider but having 7.1 has to be included. I see the point of having fiberoptic to transport the digital signal without any distortion but most people are better off having headphones, for speakers you enter another complete topic as the requirements are completely different and no good DAC is going to bypass their internal amplification so you have more than one device altering the signal before they reach the speakers, also filters to be consider when they use several sizes speakers to drive different frequencies.

I run a Christmas light display set to music from my computer and use a Soundblaster play3. There's a bit of improvement over the motherboard card, and for $20 it's well worth it. Probably some of that improvement comes from using a long USB cord and having the audio stay digital until it's 15 feet away from the computer.

This is good for consumer audio for listening to music and watching movies at not-so-loud levels (due to SNR) however there is a whole different world being the enthusiast and pro-audio fields - they are a very demanding and an unforgiving kettle of fishies. In that game it is best to keep everything external with comms being usb and thunderbolt. The key specifications for this in addition to samples per second and bit depth are most importantly is SNR (Signal to Noise Ration), Latency and concurrent interfaces for multi-track recording as well as routing with external hardware (ie: digital signal processing units). Back on 2002 when I was in radio I produced DJ mixsets and had to get the "presence" of my voice in front of the music. I had to push the audio-compression (percieved volume) to +20db and that required a very "clean" (noise-free) audio source. Every element in the chain from my voice, the room (audio reflection dampening material), the microphone, the interface, even the quality of headphones so there was no "feedback loops". Real-Time digital processing of the voice could be done with software that rewired the microphone input to the DSP module and then rewired the input from that into the physical mixer, or the DJ software which at the time the only viable option was Native Instruments Traktor Studio. The DSP software I used was Izotope Ozone which comes with a library of presets for just about anything one could think of in mastering and processing any sort of audio - it is a very compact swiss army knife of digital audio signal processing with very low latency. As to hardware pro-audio interfaces, have a look at Apogee, Arturia, Behringer, Focusrite, M-Audio, MOTU, RME, Steinberg, Tascam, Universal Audio (alphabetical, unbiased). FM Radio is a pretty stringent environment with government imposed mandatory requirements, so DSP before hitting the microwave link to the transmitter was Orban Optimod.

I still use a PCI-E sound card today in 2024. Still rock a sandblaster z. I find a difference vs the onboard audio on my Aorus motherboard. I think I paid 150 bucks for it well worth it.

The RME will be fantastic. You won't regret it. I've used USB Audio interfaces since 2010 and 5 years ago I bought a Fireface UC. It's amazing how good quality and reliable they are.

Its best practice to use an External DAC, Do NOT use an internal sound card or DAC... Schiit or Topping for example make cheaper priced but good quality external USB DACS. Then optionally you can incorporate an amplifier... I personally use the Motu M2...

I love microcenter its like a toys R us for tech guys, and customer service is great, but unfortunately i dont shop there often because most of the time I find better deals online on amazon and newegg.

Are Soundcards worth it in 2022? Yes OR No ????

Hmm. Got curious if soundcards were useful at all. Had an old Soundblaster card. Actually still have it though it rusted a little (sat in storage for too long). In the end it's not really necessary for me. Everything I have hooks up via optical audio anyways.

So, some motherboards have a digital out that you wouldn't know about unless you know about it, as it were. Go down this rabbit hole. Search for 3.5mm mini toslink to toslink cable. For instance my Intel NUC 7 doesn't have full size toslink but the 3.5mm is mini-toslink capable.

Fireface UFX 2 + Pro Tools = happiness! Great choice.

Many sound cards now days are natively USB controlled (Asus, for instance), so you are often getting a USB device whether you realize it or not. After experiencing poor microphone quality with the Soundblaster AE-5, I have given up on soundcards. I think they were already of marginal benefit, anyways. You can get potentially much cleaner audio with an external USB solution, particularly for microphone inputs. I use a 7 dollar USB dongle for my microphone input and the result is alot clearer audio and voice recognition, particularly when used with an intelligent noise gate (like NVidia RTX). Another option is to simply buy a motherboard with good audio quality. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, you can get good sound onboard if you are willing to spend a little more money. It's a matter of the board designers isolating and shielding the relevant sound components. Even low-end motherboards now days have high-fidelity chips - my ALC887 chip on my low-end motherboard has 97 dB signal-to-noise ratio, which would have been considered hi-fi decades ago. It's simply a matter of designing a good board to go with these inexpensive integrated circuits.

External USB rigs aren't immune from electrical noise either, my Elecom HUGE trackball was introducing static into my external audio gear every time I moved the ball or clicked on anything. I ended up putting those snap on ferrite chokes on the cables of the trackball, keyboard, wallwarts and ALL USB cables like the external HD. That has helped but not completely eliminated the issue.

i love your videos Chris and welcome to the audio freaks world! It is so fun and fascinating getting to witness and experience audio qualities and hardwares for the past 15 years of my own experience. also the RME that you are planning to get is the one that i also desire to get as well 😁😎 I also want to add now that motherboards such as like my Gigabyte Aorus Master Z690 is a huge improvement coming from a Msi Z97 pc mate such as like the i7-4790k era. The new motherboards id say like the AorusMaster z690 has a super Ess audio chip that was inserted into it with multiple Inputs and outputs being able to produce a 7.1 surround sound @ 24 bit/ 192khz in all your audio speakers setup( if you have a multiple speaker or audio interface/ mixer setup to reroute them to trick your pc ins/outs). what you can do with this is if you have the correct gears and setup you can re-emulate that surround sound back into stereo in multiple ways which becomes detailed which its so much i can get into but i may have to make a video about it. But me as an Audio Recording enthusiasts/freak/sound engineer, there is so many good options and hardware and alternatives in beneficial use for anyone and everybody. What i will say if you are looking for just gaming , id say look into Audio 7.1 surround sound hardware and sound cards for example like recording or streaming and such because what you hear is what you also want people to hear but if anything feel free to reach out and I believe this video is really fun and important. 😊😁

Thanks Man, you helped to get rid the hum of the sub of my Sub on my PC speakers.

I've been building PCs since 1998 and by far the best quality sound I ever heard was a Yamaha WF192. Unfortunately you can't drive it beyond Win XP.

I use USB headphones. Hyperx cloud orbit planar magnetic. Your best bet if you need to power speakers is an external dac/amp.

That red sound blaster card, i bought a year ago and returned the same day since it was worst than my motherboard sound card. Right now I use a USB-C Soundblaster X4 DAC (because of multi function knob) that then feeds optically (outputs to) an SMSL DAC to my headphones. I already had the SMSL and the X4 is not as powerful, so win-win. I feed the sound back to PC into Voicemeeter Potato as a Digital input (all at 48kMhz). In Potato I also drive microphone rode NTG USB where i put a limiter and some denoising VST plugins that are housed in Cantabile Lite.

I bought an Sound Blaster AE-5 a couple of years ago and I've really enjoyed the richness and extra power it brings to the audio output. My only gripes with it is that ground noise can be heard on low impedance headphones and that the headset audio port doesn't provide any sound in Linux (this might have changed these days, if it has please tell me how to enable it).

I have to agree with using TOSLINK to an external DAC. When using resolving headphones, connecting to the computer's ground plane introduces hum and common-mode switching noises.