Step up from on board audio.


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Hi,

 

I may have asked this or a similar question before but I could not see any such post by me. I have been wondering this for months and decided to ask you about it.

 

I have the Asus Sabertooth Z77 MD and it has a Realtek ALC892 sound processor on it. Well quite frankly it's horrible. I have a great set of Logitech analog 5.1 surround speakers and on my last 2 builds, one had a Creative card and the other just a generic Siig I think, they sounded great and the control panels had many great features. With this Realtek it just the opposite. I am looking for a step up to a PCIE sound card and was just wondering if anyone has used another brand and what you think of it to help me in my search.

 

Thanks,

 

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Anything Creative is great. Just don't get the cheapest pos. I used mine, (PCI) back in the days when they didn't have onboard sound. Never had an issue.

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If you want to really invest in something worthwhile, get a 2nd hand 5.1+ HDMI A/V Receiver (Sony/Yamaha/Onkyo etc) & compatible speakers. I output everything to my Yamaha from my laptop via HDMI and it is glorious.

Single-handedly, it has eliminated any form of noise/crackle/EMI traditionally vomited out via analogue output.

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Anything Creative is great.

Stopped there.

Creative has a nasty habit of dropping driver support for products that have at 1 or 2 years in them. Do not get them, I learned the hard way.

Ive heard a lot about Asus' Xonar line. Might wanna take a look.

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Stopped there.

Creative has a nasty habit of dropping driver support for products that have at 1 or 2 years in them. Do not get them, I learned the hard way.

Ive heard a lot about Asus' Xonar line. Might wanna take a look.

 

You haven't used them lately, have you? I have not seen that. Care to give reference on that?

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Stopped there.Creative has a nasty habit of dropping driver support for products that have at 1 or 2 years in them. Do not get them, I learned the hard way.Ive heard a lot about Asus' Xonar line. Might wanna take a look.

The funny thing is Creative changed and now has excellent driver support, Asus meanwhile who stepped up as the savior and was supposed to be the one to rescue all us poor souls suffering from no drivers from creative... Well they've become worse than creative ever was with driver support. They drop support faster than they can release the damn things, functionally the drivers are terrible and buggy and they never get new features in drivers.

So I have my Xonar on the shelf, and wouldn't buy another at this point and would buy a creative if I needed one again, but most of my sound card needs today are digital hdmi so...

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I have the Asus Sabertooth Z77 MD and it has a Realtek ALC892 sound processor on it. Well quite frankly it's horrible.

Could you describe how? If you're having interference issues, I'd recommend an external sound card.

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I have the Asus Xonar Essence STX, quite possibly the best audio card in the world.  I have it running to my AV Amp since all my music is on my computer.  The sound is phenomenal.  Go to Asus' website to read up on it.  I heard this past week that they've come out with a newer version, so you could likely find the original for a good price.  But FYI, it costs about $180.

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I'm using onboard sound on my PC, using digital out to my Logitech 5.1 system and it sound great, no problem at all.

 

Before that, I had a Creative X-Fi and... I can't tell the difference.  Mostly playing iTune music, movies and games.

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Anything Creative is great. Just don't get the cheapest pos. I used mine, (PCI) back in the days when they didn't have onboard sound. Never had an issue.

Define the "cheapest POS".  I have the X-Fi XtremeGamer sitting on a shelf (due to being replaced with a refurb Recon3D Fata1ity Pro in PCI Express x1).  The reason it's shelfware is due to a hardware bug in the X-Fi DSP at the 4 GB hardware address.  I have 4 GB of RAM, while Mom has 5 GB - that's why it's on a shelf, not in her PC.  The Recon3D does everything the XtremeGamer did, and in every OS the XtremeGamer did.  I would avoid the X-Fi XtremeAudio - but that is due to the software DSP - not hardware DSP like either the XtremeMusic/Gamer or Recon3D I have today.

 

Further, the SoundCore DSP has a non-Creative-software option that is actually the default - it works as an Intel HD Audio device (in either Windows or Linux) and can use the same support as any other Intel HD Audio device.  So even the Creative-driver fanatics have nothing to complain about with the Recon3D.

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You haven't used them lately, have you? I have not seen that. Care to give reference on that?

The entire Audigy family was a mess (2001 to around 2013). Just horrible, unsupported, buggy, etc. drivers. A lot of people lost a lot of trust in them despite them being great cards.

 

 

The funny thing is Creative changed and now has excellent driver support, they've become worse than creative ever was with driver support.

Well, I hope you are right. I still have my Audigy cad and man it still sounds awesome. I tried on board since people always said there is no difference nowadays and wow, they were completely wrong.
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Define the "cheapest POS".  I have the X-Fi XtremeGamer sitting on a shelf (due to being replaced with a refurb Recon3D Fata1ity Pro in PCI Express x1).  The reason it's shelfware is due to a hardware bug in the X-Fi DSP at the 4 GB hardware address.  I have 4 GB of RAM, while Mom has 5 GB - that's why it's on a shelf, not in her PC.  The Recon3D does everything the XtremeGamer did, and in every OS the XtremeGamer did.  I would avoid the X-Fi XtremeAudio - but that is due to the software DSP - not hardware DSP like either the XtremeMusic/Gamer or Recon3D I have today.

 

Further, the SoundCore DSP has a non-Creative-software option that is actually the default - it works as an Intel HD Audio device (in either Windows or Linux) and can use the same support as any other Intel HD Audio device.  So even the Creative-driver fanatics have nothing to complain about with the Recon3D.

 

POS, meaning the chespest crap. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102012

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Is Analog Devices part of the Creative 'family'

My M2N SLI deluxe uses that,(well, the drivers I meant) and I think it's great, for an on board sound device

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Well, I hope you are right. I still have my Audigy cad and man it still sounds awesome. I tried on board since people always said there is no difference nowadays and wow, they were completely wrong.

If you use sound out on hdmi or optical or another digital way there is no difference. For analog sound out, yes there's is a difference or can be depending on the motherboard. In that case and external DAC is best anyway since the real issue is internal noise from the CPU and buses. But externals usually only come in stereo.

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My M2N SLI deluxe uses that,(well, the drivers I meant) and I think it's great, for an on board sound device

Yup, a MSI board I saw another day had a Audigy branding on the audio processor.

 

 

If you use sound out on hdmi or optical or another digital way there is no difference. For analog sound out, yes there's is a difference or can be depending on the motherboard. In that case and external DAC is best anyway since the real issue is internal noise from the CPU and buses. But externals usually only come in stereo.

I believe you would be correct. Digitally there is (should be) no difference. But noone does audio and video together unless they dont really care.
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Yup, a MSI board I saw another day had a Audigy branding on the audio processor.

 

 

I believe you would be correct. Digitally there is (should be) no difference. But noone does audio and video together unless they dont really care.

 

Huh ? audio and video together ?

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Huh ? audio and video together ?

I ment that noone does it thru just one interface. Extreme media enthusiast with a large budget dedicate equipment to each form of media, video and audio, by seperate means.

When Im talking about noone Im talking about peopel with budget and/or no desire to go to the next level. Which is most of us :p

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I ment that noone does it thru just one interface. Extreme media enthusiast with a large budget dedicate equipment to each form of media, video and audio, by seperate means.

When Im talking about noone Im talking about peopel with budget and/or no desire to go to the next level. Which is most of us :p

Well, with a modern HTPC it is one interface that is the best option. Since your sending digital it doesn't matter quality wise, so you use the video cards hdmi audio. Which goes to your high end surround receiver. For a HTPC/home cinema this is the best option.

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Well, with a modern HTPC it is one interface that is the best option. Since your sending digital it doesn't matter quality wise, so you use the video cards hdmi audio. Which goes to your high end surround receiver. For a HTPC/home cinema this is the best option.

I was talking a home high end theater. Its perfectly fine and normal to do with a HTPC HDMI and thats it. Easier, faster, more budget friendly and less complicated.
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It's also the only way to get the highest end audio today ;)

Optical can't do the best audio formats and analog is... Well analog, and there you introduce all the internal PC electronic noise issues again.

The only option where a separate audio device is preferable today is in a pure music high end stereo. Most purists would dream of connecting a PC to one of these or even have one of those noise generators in the same room. Bt if they where to connect a PC to one, it would through a external USB DAC, or optical since it would only be in stereo anyway.

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Are you upgrading your speaker/hifi setup too? I often wonder why go to the trouble of having a fantastic audio interface to put through bad speakers, and I've seen it quite alot too. 

 

Edit: More or less poking at what you've already got, being nosey  :rofl:

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