darry wrote on 2020-04-14, 17:38:

UCyborg wrote on 2020-04-14, 16:33:

VIA VT1708B

I'll bite. On what card is that chip ?

Well, it's baked into the motherboard. That's what its specs (ASUS M3N78) say it has for audio.

I use the on board audio of my ASUS Prime x470. It's entirely adequate in quality and clarity using digital out and connected to my home cinema amplifier.

Is much rather spend an extra £100 on cpu or GPU speed.

Cheaply bought (used) Asus Xonar DX. My current motherboard has Realtek ALC892 and it sounds OK, but its mic input is awful (too quiet).

A RME HDSP 9632 PCI with Fostex VC-8 as a breakout box at the studio rig,
a TC Desktop Konnekt 6 (firewire) at the home rig...

...and ye olde trusty SB Live! 5.1 at work, only to get rid of the half-broken on-board Realtek junk 😁

I forgot to mention my sound card was a demo unit. Could explain why the volume knob is bad, but I don't think so.

About onboard sound... I've never found a motherboard that doesn't have terribly noisy sound.

imi wrote on 2020-04-14, 20:52:

curious for what reasons people use sound cards for digital output

Not my reason (I don't use spdif output), but a lot of motherboards just don't have spdif.

I used to have a Xonar DG but my new system has no PCI and I don't really find the need for a discrete sound card.. The audio circuitry on modern high end motherboards makes them mostly redundant, though I may invest in a USB DAC for recording.

ZellSF wrote on 2020-04-15, 13:40:

imi wrote on 2020-04-14, 20:52:

curious for what reasons people use sound cards for digital output

Not my reason (I don't use spdif output), but a lot of motherboards just don't have spdif.

well, that would be valid reason, but every motherboard I had since socket A days had spdif, are there really any modern consumer motherboards that don't still?

There are plenty of motherboards without spdif but you can buy spdif USB modules for peanuts rather than a whole sound card.

even the most barebone budget boards have spdif headers at least or a combo jack more often than not.

maybe a lot of people simply don't know they have spdif on board because there's no dedicated connector on the rear I/O.

I think spdif might become obsolete eventually though as people are switching to more USB and HDMI devices.

I've been using Cambridge Soundworks 2.1 digital speakers since the early 2000s, so I was pretty much on spdif only very early on.

Currently running this in my main rig, I've been having some intermitant issues with it not powering on sometimes with a cold boot. I've changed PSUs removed additional cards etc and it still occurs sometimes. It's a great sounding cad but I'm a bit annoyed by the intermitant issue, I've talked with creative but I havent decided to send it back in yet since it could be related to my hardware.

download/file.php?mode=view&id=80666

Edit: Turns out the board was bad. I sent it back to Creative and they sent me a new one and no more problems. Excellent Card!

Im using optical because my onboard chipset is not supported in linux, and my external dac is 1000000 times better than the motherboard and the xonardx and using external dac integrates better into my sound system.

imi wrote on 2020-04-14, 20:52:

curious for what reasons people use sound cards for digital output

Using the 3.5mm digital optical in my old MacBook to send playlists to portable MiniDisc recorders (still having fun burning and listening to MDs from time to time, I even have a tascam MD deck in my stereo setup)... Even got a boxed SoundBlaster MP3+ for cheap a few months ago for this very purpose - it is portable and has a nice TOSLINK out!

kjliew wrote on 2020-04-14, 20:38:

Really??! I have been using the on-board audio since the Pentium III days, from AC97 to HD Audio. And, that's it. 😜 Never spend a dime on sound card anymore.

Do you have faulty ears or something?

I bet a lot of us had really crappy speakers back then that really didn't warrant any better sound cards x3

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-04-15, 17:41:

kjliew wrote on 2020-04-14, 20:38:

Really??! I have been using the on-board audio since the Pentium III days, from AC97 to HD Audio. And, that's it. 😜 Never spend a dime on sound card anymore.

Do you have faulty ears or something?

TBH, on-board sound chips have improved over the past decade with regard to noise. Still not satisfied with their overall reproduction though. Personally, I hate them due to their tendency to fry randomly. Had this happen once, I blamed the PSU. Twice, I blamed the cheap Asrock mobo. Had this happen on more than seven, and all of them were Realtek ALCxxxs, on totally different builds, different places, even on new motherboards within warranty, so... Also TBH, never had an on-board CMedia, VIA Vinyl or even Yamaha ACXG back in their age, die on me! Maybe I'm prejudiced? My experience with Realtek NICs is a totally different story though, so it's all good 😜

well the only sound card I had in the past 19 years fried randomly x3

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-04-15, 17:41:

kjliew wrote on 2020-04-14, 20:38:

Really??! I have been using the on-board audio since the Pentium III days, from AC97 to HD Audio. And, that's it. 😜 Never spend a dime on sound card anymore.

Do you have faulty ears or something?

I could definitely enjoy and appreciate a good set of speakers with a quality home stereo, but for PC, I just couldn't justify the SoundBlaster hype of multi-stream and 3D positional audio. I had had 3 sound cards throughout my computing history, an SB16 PnP, followed by SB AWE32 PnP then the last SB Live! value PCI. Those were the time when PC sound didn't come for "free". I had heard many people complained about early AC97 implementation, but when I actually got one on the Pentium III board, it was OK for me. Nothing that I would complain and CPU performance was adequate with or without audio processing offloading. Never again would I be looking into dedicated sound card for PC since then. I wouldn't mind if I could get it for free though, but to spend my own, no thanks (To Creative) 😜!

imi wrote on 2020-04-15, 15:01:

even the most barebone budget boards have spdif headers at least or a combo jack more often than not.

The first random board (H310M S2V) I looked up did not have a combo jack or a SPDIF header. Even if it had a SPDIF header, that's useless without having something to connect it to.

If the first board I look at doesn't have it, I doubt it's as common as you claim.

jmarsh wrote on 2020-04-15, 14:45:

There are plenty of motherboards without spdif but you can buy spdif USB modules for peanuts rather than a whole sound card.

If you're absolutely sure you will never need any sound features other than SPDIF out, that's a good solution.

But like with all things, if you suddenly find out that's not enough you would have wasted money trying to save it.

On the other hand, if you aren't too concerned with saving money, a small portable USB-SPDIF device will probably be handy to have at some point anyway. I have a few random cheap audio devices I've never actually used, but I could need sometime.

well like I said, all the boards I had ever since socket A hat dedicated SPDIF connectors on the I/O even, and most I looked at had at least headers or combo jacks, honestly I haven't looked at a lot of intel board in quite a while, and yes I did find an A320 board without, but I also found a few with headers, so at least to my experience it is indeed very common ^^

but yes, there are boards that don't, but if you are using one of those I doubt you are the target audience for getting an extra soundcard for cash ^^.

also I am not objecting to anyone using sound cards, I'm just genuinely interested ^^

also if you're using headphones a lot and don't want to use an external dac it makes even more sense, though I'm perfectly happy with my current onboard audio for that too.

imi wrote on 2020-04-15, 21:44:

well like I said, all the boards I had ever since socket A hat dedicated SPDIF connectors on the I/O even

Were all the boards you had budget boards though?

imi wrote on 2020-04-15, 21:44:

but I also found a few with headers

Finding a few is easy. But you sounded like you thought practically all motherboards had them.

imi wrote on 2020-04-15, 21:44:

but yes, there are boards that don't, but if you are using one of those I doubt you are the target audience for getting an extra soundcard for cash ^^.

Needs and financial situations change. You might've had little money and no need for SPDIF out when buying a motherboard, but have a bit of money and need for SPDIF out later.

Getting a soundcard can be cheaper and/or easier than replacing a motherboard. Plus, it can make your next motherboard purchase cheaper/easier because that's one "high end" feature you don't have to worry about.