[lh0628]

Simple question but I've heard different answers.

I'm wondering if I want to pass signals through S/PDIF to an external DAC, is there a difference between using the onboard card v.s. a dedicated sound card?

What about when re-sampling is required?

Thank you.

 

[leeperry]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/us...ml#post6063226

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/usb...5/#post6077155

 

[lh0628]

Thanks for the link, but they are comparisons of USB to SPDIF. But I'm just wondering about straight SPDIF out from the onboard soundcard to an external DAC.

 

[mark2410]

no, it should make no difference

 

[lh0628]

Thank you.

Any reason why people still get sound cards when they run external DACs? Aside from extra features, more connection options, and such.

 

[leeperry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lh0628 /img/forum/go_quote.gif they are comparisons of USB to SPDIF.

nope, plain S/PDIF

 

[Zaubertuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lh0628 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Simple question but I've heard different answers. I'm wondering if I want to pass signals through S/PDIF to an external DAC, is there a difference between using the onboard card v.s. a dedicated sound card? What about when re-sampling is required? Thank you.

Well, generally speaking, there *shouldn't* be a difference.

Quote:

Any reason why people still get sound cards when they run external DACs? Aside from extra features, more connection options, and such.

Paging FallenAngel? He could probably answer this one way better than I can.

I suppose there *can* be poor S/PDIF implementations on cheap motherboards. I originally bought a motherboard with S/PDIF out so I could use an external DAC later. I seem to remember hearing someplace that a higher-end card might be desirable if you're running a comparatively high-end DAC.

I happen to have a decent sound card, and just for kicks, I'm planning on holding on to it as an S/PDIF transport when I eventually do get an external DAC (which will be a while out). Note that it's more of a gut-thing with me than anything else.

I'd go ahead and get the DAC you want, and see how it works out of your on-board S/PDIF. If it doesn't work well (and I don't see why it wouldn't), you could always add a sound card for S/PDIF after-the-fact.

Incidentally, S/PDIF is just a digital transport format to get raw digital data to the DAC. Any necessary re-sampling would be done in your DAC.

 

[regal]

There is a difference some onboard spdif is tampered with (ie not bit perfect) and some soundcards it is impossible to get bit perfect spdif, so it has been altered in a negative way. There is also something called jitter, google it.

 

[FallenAngel]

Yep, most onboard S/PDIF implementations are internally reclocked, thus not bit-perfect, and likely poorly timed (definitely not transformer coupled coax) resulting in jitter (yes, that big bad word of the 1990's). Most decent sound cards on the other hand, are bit-perfect and not internally reclocked, as well as offering decent timings on the signal (quality oscillators close to chip).

 

[punk_guy182]

My onboard audio controler is the Realtek ALC889A and it is bit perfect capable. I previously owned the Auzentech Prelude which is considered a very good soundcard and I couldn't get more SQ out of it.

If my DAC didn't have some jitter removal feature I would have gotten the M2Tech HiFace with BNC output. The only thing is that you should upgrade your drivers with onboard audio. I have noticed some quite interesting and satisfying increases in SQ when upgrading my Realtek drivers.

 

[pumbaa32]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lh0628 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks for the link, but they are comparisons of USB to SPDIF. But I'm just wondering about straight SPDIF out from the onboard soundcard to an external DAC.

I dont know how does it work with SPDIF but with optical, there is a huge difference of final sound quality when using optical outputs of my XFI Fatality and my Asus STX. With the same optical cable, the sound i get from my Asus soundcard is noticebly clearer and liveness than what i have from the X-Fi card. Hard to describe sound with words, but the difference is like night and day just after some seconds of listening.

My setup:

PC->Asus STX -> little dot DAC1 ->little dot MK VII -> balanced HD800
I ended up using the USB connection to connect my DAC to my PCn with that signal path i acheive the best sound quality.

 

[maarek99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pumbaa32 /img/forum/go_quote.gif With the same optical cable, the sound i get from my Asus soundcard is noticebly clearer and liveness than what i have from the X-Fi card. Hard to describe sound with words, but the difference is like night and day just after some seconds of listening.

There's absolutely no difference between my x-fi and my essence stx with spdif. Are you sure you don't have cmss-3d or something switched on with the x-fi?

 

[lh0628]

Like I said, I've heard different answers and you guys proved my point

Seriously though, thanks for the replies

Looking for more advice too.

 

[leeperry]

it's hard to fake jitter measurements...and many poorly coded sound drivers will resample everything at a fixed sample rate anyway.

 

[lh0628]

leeperry, I scaned through the link you posted, and it clearly said the comparison is for USB->SPDIF. Am I missing something?