External DAC/AMP or Internal Sound Card

[Cask]

I currently have the Creative Sound Blaster Z coupled with a pair of Sennheiser Game One.

I was wondering if anyone could advise if the Sennheiser GSX 1000 would provide better "Stereo" sound than the sound card I am I currently using?

The only drawback I can see so far without actually testing it is the fact that it doesn't have a custom EQ setting.... only 4 presets.

[xSOSxHawkens]

For gaming? Internal Sound Card...

Personally have multiple versions of Sound Blaster running atm, from an ISA bus card in my Pentium MMX AT box all the way to the PCI-e Z seried in my modern rig. All but one of them has been worth every penny.

[Astro_80 (WASH YOUR HANDS!)]

Sound Cards these days aren't as beneficial as they used to be years ago. These days, a good quality DAC and Headphones are more than enough for most people.

[xSOSxHawkens]

I do have a friend who has an external DAC, and if you specifically use audiophile grade high-impendance headphones then an external DAC will be better for music or media creation/consumtion, but only by the smallest margins when compared to mid range add-in cards. Their only main benifit over lower end cards is their AMP's and they will almost always lack a 3D postional audio system.

And once you look into higher range cards near and above the $100 market you have equal quality in near all terms (DAC/ADC/AMP, etc) except minor discrepnacy in possible interpherance from other internal hardware.

But again, for games, a good SoundBlaster or other high grade card is well worth the price, and far better then a DAC, for positional audio, period.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Just get a DAC that has an equalizer; it will be better than any sound card, period.

[John Doe]

Originally posted by Bad_Motha:

Just get a DAC that has an equalizer; it will be better than any sound card, period.

This. I bought an M-Audio Super DAC and it delivers superior reverb and deepness compared to my old sound card, with my hi-fi speaker setup. That's not even an expensive DAC.

Those Ghetto Blaster cards don't even have proper sound caps, they have a load of cheap Chinese rubbish Jamicon non-audio caps thrown all across the card. They're crap compared to a good DAC.

[Cask]

Originally posted by Bad_Motha:

Just get a DAC that has an equalizer; it will be better than any sound card, period.

For gaming right?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

For anything. Why is Gaming so special... right cause it's not.
Sound Cards are junk ever since we moved away from WinXP

[Revelene]

Audiophile grade external DAC/Amps go well above what a sound card can do, in terms of sound quality. Not only do they use top of the line components across the entire PCB, but they also focus on the best PCB configuration for sound quality. When you get a device that is made by an audiophile, it shows.

Even if you don't get an audiophile grade external DAC/Amp, it'll most likely be better than most sound cards anyways.

Sound cards are a dying breed. Pretty much only marketed towards eager gamers that buy up anything you slap the word "gaming" on, and the unknowing home audio engineer. Sad news for sound cards, external DAC/Amps do it better for gamers, and external audio interfaces do it better for the home audio engineer.

It is 2018, we have enough high speed connections that we do not have to be limited to putting everything inside our PC, using up valuble PCI-E lanes.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Another factor is the fact that USB DAC are an isolated piece of hardware; it won't succumb to interference from your other PC components or Power Supply for example. And it actually provides Headphone users with a quality Amp & Boost, something most Sound Cards don't do very well, and the ones that do aren't cheap.

[Viper]

Unless your doing music compsing or something. There a waste of money to me. You can't tell the difference between the audio chips on current mother boards and a sound card unless you have a premium amp and a quality set of speakers.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Viper:

Unless your doing music ompsing or something. There a waste of money to me. You can't tell the difference between the audio chips on current mother boards and a sound card unless you have a premium amp and a quality set of speakers.

Most users can't afford speakers (at least good ones) and typically just use a Headset. That is where the difference can be huge when comparing Onboard Audio, Sound Cards, and USB DACs

[Revelene]

Originally posted by Viper:

Unless your doing music compsing or something. There a waste of money to me. You can't tell the difference between the audio chips on current mother boards and a sound card unless you have a premium amp and a quality set of speakers.

Even if someone is doing music composition or other audio work, there are better external alternatives. Sound cards are a dying breed.

[xSOSxHawkens]

To those claiming quality of a DAC is better...


I have done 5 person side by side comparisons of a ForucsRite Scarlet 2:2 external DAC, a Soundblaster Z, and Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium (PCI not PCI-e), with a highend Realtek ALC 1150 on an MSI board with dedicated CAPS and circutry as a baseline for integrated...

http://us.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/scarlett-2i2
https://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-z
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102024 (note that mine is the standard PCI not PCI-e version)


With 5 different people being able to try the systems side by side using a mixture of Sneheiser headphones, M-Audio Studio Monitors, and Turtle Beach Gaming headsets.

After people mix and matching across all machines, and being able to test and try games and movies at their leisure the average responce was as follows...

Originally posted by Average User:

The Integrated sounded weaker than all the others. Audio quality on the hardware bassed side was all great with little perceivable difference in real world use in terms of quality. So long as the correct output on the Sound Cards was used the high-impendance Senheisers sounded just as good as on the external DAC. For games the 3d positional sudio of the Sound Blasters was a night and day difference.

Not a single quote from any one person, but a fair sumarization of the feelings of the 5 person tester group.


Will an external DAC beat an internal card on the technically listed noise floor, sure...

Will an external DAC have better componants or layout? Not neccisarily. Get a good audio card above the $30-$50 range and you will have qual componants and comparable sheilding and layout.

Will an audio card with a proper 3D sound engine provide better positional audio for playing games over a simple DAC/AMP? Every Time


When you consider that all three of those products are in the $100-$200 range, I would take a card over DAC for games any day.

[John Doe]

The Focusrite Scarlett 2:2 is not an external DAC, it's an external studio interface.

I doubt arguing with somebody that doesn't even know this is worth the time and effort.

[Revelene]

Originally posted by xSOSxHawkens:

To those claiming quality of a DAC is better...


I have done 5 person side by side comparisons of a ForucsRite Scarlet 2:2 external DAC, a Soundblaster Z, and Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium, with a highend Realtek ALC 1150 on an MSI board with dedicated CAPS and circutry as a baseline for integrated...

With 5 different people being able to try the systems side by side using a mixture of Sneheiser headphones, M-Audio Studio Monitors, and Turtle Beach Gaming headsets.

After people mix and matching across all machines, and being able to test and try games and movies at their leisure the average responce was as follows...

Originally posted by Average User:

The Integrated sounded weaker than all the others. Audio quality on the hardware bassed side was all great with little perceivable difference in real world use in terms of quality. So long as the correct output on the Sound Cards was used the high-impendance Senheisers sounded just as good as on the external DAC. For games the 3d positional sudio of the Sound Blasters was a night and day difference.

Not a single quote from any one person, but a fair sumarization of the feelings of the 5 person tester group.


Will an external DAC beat an internal card on the technically listed noise floor, sure...

Will an external DAC have better componants or layout? Not neccisarily. Get a good audio card above the $30-$50 range and you will have qual componants and comparable sheilding and layout.

Will an audio card with a proper 3D sound engine provide better positional audio for playing games over a simple DAC/AMP? Every Time

You used an audio interface, which prime duty is for recording. Not really a good choice for your test, as it isn't a DAC.

I have one of those, and they are kinda meh on playback. They are great for playback, with low latency, but you get a rather bland output. Great for recording on the go, not so great for listening to Metallica.