[tolks]

I'm planning on building a m-itx form factor pc as my entertainment unit at home using a Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe motherboard. I'm not sure what the on-board sound card will be like as I couldn't find much info about it but I'm guessing not great.
 
Problem with m-itx is the lack of expansion slots so I can't get an internal sound card. Does anyone have recommendation for what to do? Would an external usb sound card be better?
 
I'm going to be using this unit for games as well as music and movies, so it would be nice if options support surround sound but not necessary. I also use headphones frequently.

 

[cel4145]

I'm not a fan of using DSP to artificially introduce surround into 2 channel audio, so I would recommend looking at the ODAC if it is within your budget. Very small footprint for a USB DAC. Then pick a headphone amp with line outputs to go with it. For example, if you want to go with tube sound, look at the Little Dot amps. Some of them have pre-amp outs.

For a cheaper solution that does it all, you might look at the Audioengine D1. There are other options as well. Best to specify a budget.

 

[tolks]

Hey cheers for the advice but I don't quite follow. How would the DSP in a sound card introduce surround into 2 channel audio? Surely the number of channels would be dependant on what the computer supplies to the card. Which on a digital connection could be x channel surround sound signal?

 

[Anarion]

Realtek claims that the chip has 110dB SNR but that is just wishful thinking at best and doesn't tell the whole story anyway. Something like Sound Blaster X-Fi HD would probably do the job (though... it probably can't seem to do 44.1 khz without upsampling).