Hardware Sound Support / Drivers ?

[VooDoo]

So [Valve] can we expect fully integrated Hardware Sound in SteamOS?
Are Creative and other Companies gonna support SteamOS with Drivers?

[pghammer21]

If you are referring to the Recon3D or Sound Blaster Z- they ARE detected by SteamOS (or even by Debian wheezy) - I have a Recon3D in my BYO SteamMachine, and it's picked up as snd_hda_intel (Intel HDA Sound) using lspci -v in a terminal in desktop mode. That is, in fact, the way they should be picked up - Windows 7 (or 8.x) picks them up the same way. The issue is due to PulseAudio (the default audio stack in SteamOS, and in most Linux distributions) - in SteamOS, PulseAudio defaults to HDMI. Unlike Windows (or even a typical Linux distribution), SteamOS is NOT currently permitting anything other than HDMI outside of desktop mode. Hopefully, this can be fixed via downstream patches, for those of us unable to use HDMI (in my case, my GTX550Ti has a mini-HDMI port, not a full-sized one; I'd need either a mini-HDMI/HDMI dongle or a DVI/HDMI dongle).

[pghammer21]

Followup - it has been confirmed (by Valve, no less), that HDMI is indeed the deliberate default for SteamOS. I don't blame Valve - after all, the focus is hte couch, NOT the desktop PC market. Further, HDMI-out is the default for a LOT of even desktop PCs (it was the default for mine before I changed GPUs). The issue is that some GPUs (even some nVidia GPUs) have non-standard HDMI-out (such as mini-HDMI in my own case, for example), which, without a dongle, renders it unusable. Hence the need for other audio options.

[UnkendTech]

they said they're working on sound settings in BPM

[istvan_v]

Jamie の投稿を引用：

Actually there isnt really any.... Most onboard sound can do 24 bit 192khz audio same as the soundblaster card.. .There is for the most part depening on your manufacture there own software to add 3d sound support back to older games....

Many/most analog onboard audio outputs are too noisy to provide even 16 bit sound cleanly, and are often prone to interference from high power components (GPU, etc.) in the PC. So, a dedicated sound card can still be useful, at least in a desktop PC (Steam Machines are mainly intended for use with digital audio outputs), for the improved sound quality. But this is not always the case, if you are lucky, the onboard audio might be good enough already. Sound cards also often have better headphone outputs, in case you intend to use headphones mainly.

It is true that there is no support for proprietary surround/3D audio related technologies (EAX, CMSS, SBX, Dolby Headphone, etc.) on Linux, so those features of the cards - sometimes implemented in software on Windows - are indeed wasted. But basic high quality audio playback and recording, including multichannel output, does work, and for ASUS Xonar cards, for example, even more reliably than on Windows.

[Zer0]

Valve want's easy one cable connection between the "Steam Machine and the TV" so no surprise then that only the HDMI is supported.

[powerarmour]

istvan_v の投稿を引用：

Many/most analog onboard audio outputs are too noisy to provide even 16 bit sound cleanly, and are often prone to interference from high power components (GPU, etc.) in the PC

I wouldn't agree with 'Many/most', especially on a modern motherboard with HD audio. Noise is often simply down to poor internal cable routing to a front case jack, if you use a rear jack it generally solves that issue.

Onboard audio is better than many people think quality wise, dedicated cards are generally snake oil these days, and if you think I'm talking rubbish, watch this first :-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1rXcJuEsy0

[VooDoo]

Look at some Battlefield Sound Comparisons on Youtube.

[powerarmour]

VooDoo!You.are.my.high @ DayZ?!? の投稿を引用：

Look at some Battlefield Sound Comparisons on Youtube.

And?, for the same reasons mentioned in the video I posted, there is a lot of artificial effects added by certain dedicated audio software that some people think sound 'better', when in reality it's just loud with a lack of overall frequency range.

[VooDoo]

Do you have a Soundcard, good Soundsystem and a good Headset? or you just
listening to some other people... :-/

If you dont have a Soundcard then dont talk about it like its a useless piece of Hardware.

Im using it now many Years and its the best thing for Music. I wont describe
the Performance of a Soundcard because you have to listen it to yourself.

Its fun to hear every tiny Detail out of your Sound System but u cant understand
that if you dont have a Soundcard.

Its the same like with 120 hz Monitors. Once you playing one of these you will never go back to 60 hz. Its just a small Difference in Quality but you get used to it very quickly
and at the end there is a big Difference between 120 hz vs 60 / Onboard sound vs X-fi.

You have to get used to it THEN you will see/hear the Difference.

[powerarmour]

VooDoo!You.are.my.high @ DayZ?!? の投稿を引用：

Do you have a Soundcard, good Soundsystem and a good Headset? or you just
listening to some other people... :-/

If you dont have a Soundcard then dont talk about it like its a useless piece of Hardware.

I've had many over the years (I'm 39 years old btw), and since the first true HD audio codecs arrived they've all gone to landfill. I'm also a qualified electrical engineer, and I have a physics BSc, so I'd like to think that I trust my own judgement.

But by all means, keep kidding yourself that they sound better with that equalization software and noise filtration. I've rather spend the money on a great pair of quality headphones.

[VooDoo]

You really saying that there is no Difference in Sound Quality?... :-/
Like i said you need a good Soundsystem and the Soundcard will do its Job better
than a Onboard.

Sound will get much more depth and im not lying to myself. I mean if u dont see
a good point of buying it then its ok... But its wrong to say that
these Cards dont make any Difference..

[powerarmour]

VooDoo!You.are.my.high @ DayZ?!? の投稿を引用：

But its wrong to say that
these Cards dont make any Difference..

I'm not saying they don't make a difference, they do, but it's a difference that's based on noise cancellation, volume and equalization, which may sound 'better' to many people, but when you thoroughly analyze what is happening to the sound, there is generally often a lack of overall range, and especially bass frequency.

Lack of dynamic range is unfortunately a problem with a lot of modern music also, but that's another story.

[istvan_v]

powerarmour の投稿を引用：

I wouldn't agree with 'Many/most', especially on a modern motherboard with HD audio. Noise is often simply down to poor internal cable routing to a front case jack, if you use a rear jack it generally solves that issue.

OK, I cannot give a reliable statistical estimate on the percentage of motherboards that have noise problems, since that would require a large enough sample size, but I can confirm that the HD audio codec in my desktop PC does have audible interference even when using the rear jack. The sound card installed in the same machine outputs no audible noise at all, in addition to having a better headphone output (the onboard jack has very high output impedance, is AC coupled with too small capacitors, and has limited power output into high impedance and/or inefficient headphones). I also get interference sometimes on my laptop ("HD audio" as well) with sensitive headphones. Judging from reports by other people on various forums, the problem does not seem to be uncommon.

In any case, I already acknowledged that onboard audio can be good enough, especially if it is only used as a line output. My original point that neither extreme view ("onboard is useless and must always be upgraded" vs. "sound cards are snake oil, you never need more than onboard") is universally true still stands.

[ThE_MarD]

Jamie F の投稿を引用：

Windows has not benified from diffrent sound cards in games sense direct x 9 when they removed the hardware interface from direct x and all audio is done now in direct x sound software.

even windows default sound backend is just done software side.

Heyyo, haha... you sir are funny. YES. Direct Sound hardware acceleration was disabled... BUT, Xaudio and OpenAL still do hardware accelerated sound perfectly fine. If you look at many modern games and run Process explorer or Process Hacker 2? none of them use directsound.dll. Older games from around the beginning of vista period? Yes they use directsound.dll... most games nowadays use FMOD, which offers systems like FMODex which can easily be setup to take advantage of hardware accelerated sound. I definitely do love this Sound Blaster Recon3D card I bought... and despite slander? It's definitely the best driver support I've seen from Creative. Everything works. I'm not getting any popping sounds or anything like I did on my ol' X-Fi back in the day. I do wish though I would have just kept my Asus Xonar DX because it worked perfectly fine in Linux... the only poop part is how they advertised GDSX so heavily... yet it was terribly unstable. That's what drove me nuts before.

[Nomad]

HDMI by default is fine. Drivers are included in the kernel for most cards/chipsets. The main issue with audio is getting pulse configured properly. That's the biggest stumbling block for most people. Valve needs to make the pulse configuration easier for those of us that either can't or don't want to use HDMI. I have mine run through the on-board optical (gave up on SB after x-fi, though it worked fine) to a logitech 5.1 thx surround system.

Edit to add: I gave up the SB X-Fi (and it's premium price tag) and now stick to on-board because it sounds just as good, and yes, I'm a huge audiophile. I spent hours on end swapping between devices and configurations. On-board audio is fine these days. Anyone wanting to buy a dedicated card, by all means, it's your money. Personally, I'll keep that money and put it towards a new video card/PSU/RAM/whatever.