"onboard" or soundcard as source for dac/amp?

[oldson]

hi
i am planning to ad a dac and amp to my pc (mainly listening to music, games on odd occasion).
i only currently have the onboard sound (ac'97) which has an optical out connector.
would i see much benefit in upgrading to a soundcard (prelude for eg) if i am going to add amp/dac anyway?
or would the mobo optical out be as good?
many thanks

[mADmAN]

my experience as i stated over in the ZERO thread.....

Originally Posted by mADmAN

im not sold on the idea of a USB -> SPDIF converter either. a forumer i know (in another forum) had a bad experience with his with jitters etc and in the end he bought a Maya44 and uses coaxial out and it has been running without problems til now.

as for built in SPDIF vs soundcard SPDIF...

i have a low end MSI LGA775 mobo with a VIA chipset.... i managed to get the digital SPDIF out PCI bracket and plugged it into the mobo and used that with my Zero at first. used it for music and also playing CS Source. no problems watsoever and even had decent volume.

soundcard SPDIF (im using ESI Maya44)...no difference in terms of sound quality to me..but the volume for the ESI is significantly lower (knob at same level). i also tend to get jitters in sound with CS Source. thought not that often but it still happens....no idea why though.

and just to round it off....in terms of coaxial vs optical (both on the ESI Maya44)... no difference... ive tried plugging them both in at the same time and switching inputs via the front switch of the Zero. no difference

[Onkyo]

oldson,

You will notice a difference with prelude, it's not going to be earth and sky though. If you want truly good sound quality then computer is not the way to go.

[oldson]

Originally Posted by Onkyo

oldson,

You will notice a difference with prelude, it's not going to be earth and sky though. If you want truly good sound quality then computer is not the way to go.

thanks for the replies.
dont forget i will be adding dac/amp whether i go for prelude or not. just wanted to know if the digital output,on the prelude(for eg), would be any better than the optical from my motherboard?!?!

thanks

[nor_spoon]

Tried the Zero through digital out on a friends computer. He has a Asus P5-B motherboard. Constantly small pops/jitter. Could be the output settings in Winamp or something though. Didn't mess anymore with it. Maybe the optical out would have worked better.