[jasontsay]

I'm currently in the process of populating the parts list for my next computer rig and was thinking about what parts I still needed. Obviously, the graphics card plays a large role in the performance of a computer if you're doing anything visually intensive but then I thought about the sound card. To my understanding, most of the audio processing is done on the CPU so here's my question - 
 
Do I even need a dedicated sound card if I'm going to be listening to music using my computer? How much of an impact will it make? 
 
If I do need a separate sound card, what do you guys suggest? I noticed that the Creative Sound Blasters seemed to be quite popular as well as some of the HT Omega cards...

 

[Mad Max]

A soundcard will give you much better sound quality.  If you think you can go for an external USB DAC (external "soundcard"), then you can just omit the soundcard altogether.  No need to even enable onboard sound in BIOS.
I'd recommend an external DAC if you can afford it.  To hell with all that electronic interference and dirty computer ground.

 

[lbj]

A lot of newer motherboards have a built-in optical or coax digital out.  Mine has both.  Skip the soundcard and go straight to an external dac, fed by usb, optical, or coax.
 

 

[Roller]

Depending on what you do, there are features that are only available through dedicated audio hardware, namely internal soundcards. This is related to advanced features for games and movies. Music is where external DACs shine.
 
What kind of gear are you using? Headphones, 2.0/2.1/5.1/7.1 speakers, what?

 

[Nova13]

The importance of an internal soundcard is primarily for gaming to be honest.  By being inside the computer it can utilize some pretty neat positioning software.  External DAC's are convenient because they are portable, but they typically cost more.  And in theory yes, the computer is an electronically noisy place, but to the untrained ear, who cares.  Sound cards are a fine place to start.
 
From my research (and my experience, I ended up buying one) the Xonar Essence STX sound card makes a very nice source.  Some threads here in talk about it sounding better than much more pricey external equipment.  There are also some that would rather die than agree with such things.  Personal bias and the amount spent on equipment unfortunately plays too large of a role, sometimes.  
 
So as to not be misunderstood - the STX is obviously not the end-all be-all of sound quality, its just really dang good for its price point.
 
 

 

[Mad Max]

Wrong theory, lol.
 
All that interference introduces additional noise to the signal, reducing fidelity and giving you a muddier, drier, and harsher sound.  Dirty ground is not part of the recipe for good sound either.
Grab a used Audio-gd Compass, DAC19, or NFB2/3, and you'll realize what I'm trying to say. 
Sometimes it is best to hear the difference for yourself.

 

[Nova13]

My point was missed, I am afriad.
 
A person new to this does not need to spend 500 USD on a dedicated DAC.  Sound cards are great to start.  For under 200 dollars you can get a nice DAC and amp in the Xonar Essence STX.  To the untrained ear this is going to be amazing.  You can't appreciate where you are at unless you can look back on where you have been.  
 
Yes, the 500 dollar DAC with a 200+ Little dot or a 120 dollar fiio would do better than a 200 dollar sound card/amp.  Triple your budget yet again and your DAC19 or Audio-gd will sound like relative crap, too.
 
The point is these new people come in asking for advice and just get slammed with "oh well if you just triple your budget then this will for sure sound amazing."  
 
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 
To the OP - in my experience when I made the switch from onboard to a dedicated soundcard it was like night and day.  I bought a Xonar Essence STX.  However, be aware that if you have your apple earbuds plugged into it, you won't be very happy.  The chain is only good as its weakest link, so if your headphones or speakers are really low quality, a great soundcard won't do you much good.  As Roller asked a few posts ago, we need to know what you are wanting to hook up to it before we can make any recommendations.  
 

 

[jasontsay]

This is the motherboard I'm looking at - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131702

 

[jasontsay]

Quote:

Depending on what you do, there are features that are only available through dedicated audio hardware, namely internal soundcards. This is related to advanced features for games and movies. Music is where external DACs shine.
 
What kind of gear are you using? Headphones, 2.0/2.1/5.1/7.1 speakers, what?

These are my current headphones 
 
Shure SRH240
Sennheiser HD201
Philips "The Stretch"
SteelSeries 7H (headset)
Razer Carcharias (headset)
Jabra Halo
Ultimate Ears 700
Sennheiser CX200
Sony PIIQ Qlasp
Sony MDR-EX35LP
Apple iPod earbuds
 
I use a set of Altec Lansing Octane 7 computer speakers (2.1)

 

[Roller]

Given that your gear is all stereo, just get a Creative X-Fi Titanium HD and be done with it. The SQ difference will be huge, it will have all the gaming features implemented properly, SQ on par with Essence STX for less money. Basically it's a soundcard that will last you plenty of time: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Titanium-Internal-SB1270/dp/B0041OUA38/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303094608&sr=8-1
 
You might want to get an entry level headphone amp, and along with that soundcard, you'll be all set.

 

[jasontsay]

Quote:

Given that your gear is all stereo, just get a Creative X-Fi Titanium HD and be done with it. The SQ difference will be huge, it will have all the gaming features implemented properly, SQ on par with Essence STX for less money. Basically it's a soundcard that will last you plenty of time: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Titanium-Internal-SB1270/dp/B0041OUA38/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303094608&sr=8-1
 
You might want to get an entry level headphone amp, and along with that soundcard, you'll be all set.

 
I am looking at Amazon's top selling sound cards right now and was wondering if there is a big difference between the Sound Blaster you linked to and the other cheaper ones from Creative?

 

[Roller]

Honestly, you could go with the step below and be blown by the difference from onboard audio: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-SB0886-Titanium-Fatal1ty-Professional/dp/B0018EFGTM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1303095334&sr=8-1
 
I just recommended the Titanium HD since it is indeed a step above. For the price difference, it is a better deal, but it's up to you and your budget. Both cards will satisfy you plenty.

 

[jasontsay]

Quote:

Honestly, you could go with the step below and be blown by the difference from onboard audio: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-SB0886-Titanium-Fatal1ty-Professional/dp/B0018EFGTM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1303095334&sr=8-1
 
I just recommended the Titanium HD since it is indeed a step above. For the price difference, it is a better deal, but it's up to you and your budget. Both cards will satisfy you plenty.

 
Thanks for the advice! I think I will start out my PC build without a dedicated sound card and add one of these later on just for the sake of comparison. 

 

[Roller]

Quote:

 
Thanks for the advice! I think I will start out my PC build without a dedicated sound card and add one of these later on just for the sake of comparison. 

I'm glad to help a fellow headfier be closer to his own personal audio nirvana

 
Do report back on how things go for you.

 

[germanium]

An internal soundcard like the Asus Xonar Essense STX cards or the  Creative X-Fi Titanium HD will give the best bang for buck over the onboard sound for 2 channel music reproduction. The Asus Xonar D2/PM is your least expensive quality route to multichannel music movie & gaming on computer. Actually cheaper than the other 2 cards mentioned but slightly lower performance overall. Not enough though to dampen you spirits though as it still creams most other soundcards in qualty & the STX only really betters it with minor modification to it's line out. The STX's headphone out is really good though may be bettered by more expensive DAC/Amp setups. The Xonar D2/PM cannot drive high impedance phones though that the STX can.
 
Going external with A DAC-Amp setup can get real expensive real quick without nessessarily any improvement is sound quality due to having to provide an inclosure+powersupply that an internal card does not require. For all the noise that runs arround inside the computer & the heavy & sudden demands for current by the proccessor & video card these cards are remarkably quiet. If you hear any noise with these cards from the back outputs it's because you have a ground loop somewhere, eliminate that & the noise goes away. I have measured through a loopback cable better than 118db S/N ratio. That is the limit of the input circuitry on the STX!
 
Note that the only way to eliminate any chance of computer noise from making it into the analog output is to use the optical output & that has it's own issues, namely with jitter. Toslink is notorious for it's high jitter. Fortunately most DACs nowdays can subdue most of that jitter providing it is not sufficient jitter to cause actual output level errors which a poor implimentation of Toslink can in rare cases cause due to excessive time constant in the DATA/Clock  recovery circuitry combined with some toslink circuitry being too low of bandwidth.