Hello all. I decided to look into my sound card settings today, and saw this under my integrated laptop sound card. Apparently my Realtek has a 24/192 DAC. Is this a trick? If not, how does this apply to my headphone jack? Please help a highly confused person. Thanks.
Which sound chip is in your PC? I have 2 PCs, they have integrated Realtek ALC888 and ALC889 audio chip. And both of them can do 24bit 192k.
Here is specs of ALC888:
http://www.realtek.com/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=28&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdID=135
"Ten DAC channels support 16/20/24-bit. All DACs supports 44.1k/48k/96k/192kHz sample rate"
"16/20/24-bit S/PDIF-OUT supports 44.1k/48k/96k/192kHz sample rate"
The published bit depth and sample rate are useless in most cases. It doesn't make your onboard sound automatically good.
Bit depth only affects maximum SNR of the audio before quantization noise shows up. Your onboard sound probably has a SNR of ~90 dB on its own, which is equivalent to 15 bits. So it probably doesn't even achieve the full potential of regular 16 bit audio, let alone 24 bit audio. No DAC can achieve true 24 bit resolution, nor do they need to. 16 bits (96 dB SNR), even the ~90 dB of onboard sound, is plenty. This is before taking into account any interference from other components in your computer though, which will introduce noise.
Sampling rate only affects maximum frequency. Since we can only hear up to around 20 kHz, and the maximum frequency is given as sampling rate / 2, 44.1 kHz like CD audio is plenty.
Chances are most or all of your music is in 16/44.1 or 16/48 resolution anyway. You should set your sampling rate to whatever your files use, to avoid resampling. You should set your bit depth to 24 bits. It doesn't hurt, and it allows you to mess around with digital volume without reducing SNR to an audible level.
"Your onboard sound probably has a SNR of ~90 dB on its own, which is equivalent to 15 bits. So it probably doesn't even achieve the full potential of regular 16 bit audio, let alone 24 bit audio. No DAC can achieve true 24 bit resolution, nor do they need to. 16 bits (96 dB SNR), even the ~90 dB of onboard sound, is plenty."
Thanks, that make sense, the spec of RealTek ALC888 says "DACs with 97dB SNR", plus more noise from the analog circuit after the DAC, so it won't even achieve the full potential of 16bit audio.
http://www.realtek.com/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=28&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdID=135
Thanks for the replies. My sound card is the 663. My real question is whether or not the 24 bit FLAC files are fine directly from the laptop's headphone jack, or whether the shown frequency only applies to an optical output.
If the DAC is able to process 24 bit files, it will work for the headphone jack. However, the noise of the sound card will ultimately reduce effective SNR to 16 bits or below. Whatever external DAC you send an optical signal to will do the same, but it might manage 20 bits worth of SNR instead.
If the DAC is able to process 24 bit files, it will work for the headphone jack. However, the noise of the sound card will ultimately reduce effective SNR to 16 bits or below. Whatever external DAC you send an optical signal to will do the same, but it might manage 20 bits worth of SNR instead.
Intel HD Audio delivers significant improvements over previous generation integrated audio and sound cards. Intel HD Audio hardware is capable of delivering the support and sound quality for up to eight channels at 192 kHz/32-bit quality...
The STAC9204 CODEC onboard my 5 years old Dell Vostro laptop has specifications showing capabilities of 24 bits and 192khz with an impressive 103db SNR. In practice though, this is impossible inside a computer. There is too much noise on the power rails to allow such a SNR. The background noise gets very fatiguing. It ruins the fun of music with high dynamic range and quiet passages. Makes you actually enjoy the Loudness War.
So yes, your on-board card can probably decode your high quality audio, but don't expect this quality to come out of the headphone jack. If anything, the simple fact of using a dedicated power supply for your audio gear (i.g. a dac/amp unit that doesn't rely on USB power), will greatly improve the sound quality by lowering the noise floor.
The STAC9204 CODEC onboard my 5 years old Dell Vostro laptop has specifications showing capabilities of 24 bits and 192khz with an impressive 103db SNR. In practice though, this is impossible inside a computer. There is too much noise on the power rails to allow such a SNR. The background noise gets very fatiguing. It ruins the fun of music with high dynamic range and quiet passages. Makes you actually enjoy the Loudness War.
So yes, your on-board card can probably decode your high quality audio, but don't expect this quality to come out of the headphone jack. If anything, the simple fact of using a dedicated power supply for your audio gear (i.g. a dac/amp unit that doesn't rely on USB power), will greatly improve the sound quality by lowering the noise floor.
Thanks for this! I noticed something very curious. There's usually a lot of hiss/noise coming from my laptop's HO out. However, when I plug in a usb DAC, the HO goes dead silent and no hiss or noise is heard from the laptop. If I unplug the usb dac, the noise returns. Do you know why this happens?
No it doesn't. I mean when I plug in the dac, the onboard audio signal becomes much cleaner. There's not trace of the hiss that's present when the dac is unplugged.
No it doesn't. I mean when I plug in the dac, the onboard audio signal becomes much cleaner. There's not trace of the hiss that's present when the dac is unplugged.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
