Discrete Sound Cards; Is there really a difference?

[Arnotts]

I hear a big difference between onboard sound and my Xonar Essence STX. I hear a difference again between my STX and my Titanium HD - but they're both very comparable, and I'm not sure if I can say for sure that one is better than the other for music.

Onboard sound seems congested, less dynamic and less clear compared to the STX/Titanium HD. I also noticed that on some songs, there's audible distortion with my onboard sound (I've got a $200 motherboard btw - Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4) and my Ultrasone Pro 750's. Switching to one of the sound cards, the distortion is gone.

 

[astro]

I don't hear a difference between my onboard Intel HD audio and the Auzentech Prelude 7.1
This is with my Etymotic ER4P.
 
Heh I had my audiophile neighbor over to see if he could tell the difference. I first had it hooked up to the onboard. Then I pretended to switch it to the auzentech, but really just plugged it back to the onboard. He said there was a glaring difference. The soundstage was wider, the highs were more defined, etc.... placebo is a powerful effect

 

[LauZaIM]

Quote:

I don't hear a difference between my onboard Intel HD audio and the Auzentech Prelude 7.1
This is with my Etymotic ER4P.
 
Heh I had my audiophile neighbor over to see if he could tell the difference. I first had it hooked up to the onboard. Then I pretended to switch it to the auzentech, but really just plugged it back to the onboard. He said there was a glaring difference. The soundstage was wider, the highs were more defined, etc.... placebo is a powerful effect

I've noticed in the audio world people tend to exaggerate, a lot. It's funny reading old reviews of sound cards and looking at people describe them as god-like pieces of equipment, yet today they are regarded as crap.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

I've noticed in the audio world people tend to exaggerate, a lot. It's funny reading old reviews of sound cards and looking at people describe them as god-like pieces of equipment, yet today they are regarded as crap.

This applies to every piece of audio equipment. You make it sound as though it's just the sound cards that are crap. I hope you don't mean that.
 
Cheap digital audio has improved by leaps and bounds. Motherboard audio today would have been considered god-like back then.

 

[TheGomdoRi]

The STX was one my best buys (but I also got it at a very good price) - it eliminates all audible noise in my PC, the amp works great just by itself, has a bunch of nifty functions, and it sounds great. My motherboard's onboard vs. STX, there is no competition I can ABX it but it is more perceivable using lower bit rates for some reason - I don't think it's just noise from the motherboard but my PSU and video card as well? (Not too sure but it can't just be my motherboard)

Overall in my experience, the card is great. For you? I wouldn't know. But I didn't get burned in any way lol.

 

[Satellite_6]

If you were disappointed with the difference between a $30 headphone and a $300 headphone, you won't hear any difference at all between sources and you should probably not bother with this hobby. 

 

[Bojamijams]

all placebo: http://www.head-fi.org/t/557183/alc889-vs-asus-xonar-essence-stx-is-it-worth-it-to-upgrade
"I made the exact same upgrade you want to make. There was no difference."
"there is no difference between the latest onboards and sound cards like the STX. I'm about to pack my Titanium HD up and sell it."

People with **** ears and **** audio equipment really shouldn't be allowed to make posts.

All placebo :s

Hah.. I feel sorry for you if you think an STX sounds the same as onboard.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

People with **** ears and **** audio equipment really shouldn't be allowed to make posts.
All placebo :s
Hah.. I feel sorry for you if you think an STX sounds the same as onboard.

It might if the headphones are easy to drive and there's no terribly offensive noise in the computer itself. I expect motherboard chips would have relatively low distortion, it's just noise that would be the problem.

 

[Bojamijams]

Okay yes if you have crappy headphones with 128kbps MP3's with overly compressed music genres then yes, onboard does sound pretty much the same as an STX. But if any of those are in your arsenal, then please don't confuse yourself thinking you're an audiophile or in any way connected to anything that can be considered hi-fi.

For people like thatm audio fidelity is at the very bottom of their list of priorities and they might as well save themselves the money and enjoy their realtek sound.

 

[LauZaIM]

Quote:

If you were disappointed with the difference between a $30 headphone and a $300 headphone, you won't hear any difference at all between sources and you should probably not bother with this hobby. 

That's just lulz worthy. I almost think you are trolling me. Have you even heard the PX100's? They are $100 now too by the way. And no, the HD650's are absolutely NOT that much better. I'm not even going to sit here and try and lie about it or justifty the expense I dropped in buying the HD650's. They aren't even comfortable either. The Denon's on the other hand are great, although I have to baby them. I've been in the audio market for a while now, just not with the computer.
 
None of my music is compressed either, I spend hours trying to find at least FLAC. (MFSL, DCC, or the like if available).
 
If folks are just going to come in here and offend me by making assumptions, then I'm more inclined to believe you're just being defensive because you KNOW it wasn't worth it to buy a $150 sound card. Trust me, I got defensive too when I handed my HD650's to someone else and they said it didn't really sound all that much better then PX100's. But the truth of the matter is after spending several hours sitting there listening to vinyl rips and 24-bit/96khz original masters of various albums, they sounded WAY too close to justify that expense and I ended up just sending the things back and eating the cost of the amp. I did eventually get D2000's to replace them though.

 

[Bojamijams]

You and people like you fail to understand one monumentally important aspect.... just because YOU cannot hear a difference between PX100 and HD650 does NOT mean there ISN'T one.
 
Not all ears are created equal.
 
Not all brains are trained enough to discern differences in sound and pitch.
 
Not everyone knows to match impedance of sources and use clean power to ensure they have proper synergy. 
 
If a cymbal gets hit and one of the source doesn't pass it, does it exist? 
 
Quote:

That's just lulz worthy. I almost think you are trolling me. Have you even heard the PX100's? They are $100 now too by the way. And no, the HD650's are absolutely NOT that much better. I'm not even going to sit here and try and lie about it or justifty the expense I dropped in buying the HD650's. They aren't even comfortable either. The Denon's on the other hand are great, although I have to baby them. I've been in the audio market for a while now, just not with the computer.
 
None of my music is compressed either, I spend hours trying to find at least FLAC. (MFSL, DCC, or the like if available).
 
If folks are just going to come in here and offend me by making assumptions, then I'm more inclined to believe you're just being defensive because you KNOW it wasn't worth it to buy a $150 sound card. Trust me, I got defensive too when I handed my HD650's to someone else and they said it didn't really sound all that much better then PX100's. But the truth of the matter is after spending several hours sitting there listening to vinyl rips and 24-bit/96khz original masters of various albums, they sounded WAY too close to justify that expense and I ended up just sending the things back and eating the cost of the amp. I did eventually get D2000's to replace them though.

 

 

[holden4th]

My PC came equipped with a Realtek HD sound chip as standard. However, running a direct digital stream straight into a DAC/Amp combo made a huge difference in SQ. The combo cost me $250 (this puts it on the budget end of the market) and I consider it money well spent.

 

[bcasey25raptor]

In terms of audio cards considering dacs i have one thing to say. When i bought my Fiio E7 everyone said it would improve on my on board sound card. Well it didn't there is no difference other then the Fiio E7 makes a lot of noise on higher volumes.

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

If a cymbal gets hit and one of the source doesn't pass it, does it exist? 

Wow, if you've got a source that's not passing cymbal crashes, it's seriously faulty.

 

[LauZaIM]

Quote:

You and people like you fail to understand one monumentally important aspect.... just because YOU cannot hear a difference between PX100 and HD650 does NOT mean there ISN'T one.
 
Not all ears are created equal.
 
Not all brains are trained enough to discern differences in sound and pitch.
 
Not everyone knows to match impedance of sources and use clean power to ensure they have proper synergy. 
 
If a cymbal gets hit and one of the source doesn't pass it, does it exist? 
 
 

That's fantastic that you realize that. But it's just offensive that you probably haven't even AB'ed them with a proper source and amp and sat and listened for several hours like I have. Offending me by telling me my ears are **** and I'm not trained enough to discern a difference just makes me think you are trolling. I am extremely aware of things if they aren't perfect, and I spent days, weeks, even tuning my real stereo system. Do you think I ran my HD650's through my Realtek onboard to do the AB? Because I didn't. (Well I did, but I used several other sources first)
 
Still, I'm not convinced that something like an Essence STX is significantly better then something like a Realtek chip or a Xonar DG if you already have a separate amp. That's another thing I'm worried about when reading reviews on these things. People are probably comparing an un-amped sound card to one that has an amp and they are blown away because it gets loud now, so they write a review praising the sound card on how it completely changed their life and they worship the sound card daily.