Quote:
Originally Posted by
kiteki 
Why are internal cards better? External units have more freedom of space for one.
USB connections with high-end audio aren't ideal, but that is mostly solved with ASIO, or even Kernelstreaming.
There's a lot of high-end USB DAC/Amp's out there, how about Musiland Monitor 03? You can find it on ebay.
They may be bigger, but in the lower priced range (lets say, under $500, and more fairly, under $1000 in many cases) they fall short due to the economics. They have to provide an enclosure, power supply, jacks and knobs, and all of that hoopla just to get going. Internal cards just rely on the existing computer for power, enclosure, and so on. It brings the BOM down. Internal boards are also mass produced. Also remember, just because there's about 50,000 different "manufacturers" out there, they're still drawing water from one of a few wells - there isn't any secret sauce to be had. What I mean is, the ICs going into a lot of these outboard lifestyle products are usually similar or worse than what goes into your PC. That doesn't mean they're bad - there isn't a whole lot of difference between DACs or ADCs as a general rule (I mean the actual IC, not an entire design) - but it doesn't justify big retail mark-up. Having expensive linear power supplies, over-built chassis, and other features also doesn't justify that mark-up. Again, I'm not saying external devices are bad, I said internal devices may be better.
One place this falls apart is external devices which also provide amplification - I can think of a few devices from CEC, Grace, Benchmark, and so on that provide exceptional amplifiers and happen to take a USB input as well. There is no internal solution that can compete with this, and this is where that extra space and not being limited to a 12VDC (no matter how high the current) line helps out. These devices are all substantially more expensive than I think most people are willing to spend though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
NamelessPFG The only reason I can see internal cards being better than external DACs applies strictly to gaming.
For years, PC games had hardware-accelerated audio, so you naturally needed the correct hardware to make it sound "right", as the developers intended. There's no getting EAX or A3D or so forth any other way. Then, in recent years, they've largely moved to software audio engines, likely because it's easier to have cross-platform ports with consoles that way, but also likely because they just don't care about an actual 3D soundstage in games, thinking software-mixed 7.1 and no binaural is enough.
And this isn't even going back to the days of DOS, where to get every possible game to sound its best, you'd need a small collection of sound cards because everything was synthesized back then, instead of pre-recorded with DSP effects applied. An AWE32 with the CSP/ASP for QSound effects in one game and a genuine Yamaha OPL3 FM synth, a Gravis Ultrasound, and a Roland MT-32/CM-32L/LAPC-I seems like the minimum.
In all other mediums, though, everything is pre-recorded, at which point it's just a matter of the usual specs like SNR, THD, and so forth. Things in which external DACs can apparently have a massive advantage, if you're willing to pay $500+ for one.
I would agree and disagree. I agree with the transition, I disagree that developers don't "care" - audio in games has become important in the last few years as sales of premium and luxury audio devices have gone up. Headphones are at the forefront of that (they're showing huge growth in a down economy) - we'll see some big changes in the future as well. Regarding the quality argument; there are plenty of internal devices that can measure and spec just as well as external components (and better than some/many of them) - it all depends on the budget, application, and so on. Again, I'm not married to one solution or another (if you find my old posts, I would generally advocate internal hardware; with recent transitions in how games are developed and how audio is handled within a PC though, all of those arguments are irrelevant - if it can output audio and not muck it up, it's "good enough").
I entirely like the modular nature of devices - have one device that acts as a transport or source, and an amplifier downstream - you can change things out when needed or desired with minimal trouble.
