[Sycho]

I have a few questions about sound cards, and making it work with my audio ports on the front panel on my custom built PC. My computer case is the HAF 922, and my mobo is the P67A-GD65 (integrated with Realtek® ALC892).
 
1. Will the discrete sound card connect with the audio ports, or is it not possible to do so?
 
2. How can I connect them together (assuming there is more than simply putting in the sound card in the PCI/PCIe)?
 
3. Will the card act as a headphone amp?
 
4. Assuming my integrated audio is garbage, which sound card would you recommend to me? (budget of up to ~$150, I listen to everything, though prefer cleaner quality and good bass, speakers are X-540 with some speakers seemingly dysfunctional, getting the ATH-M50)
 
Thank you

 

[tmars78]

Depending on which card you get, it should connect to the front ports. I have the Essence STX and have it hooked to my front audio ports. In fact I use the front headphone jack. 

 

[NamelessPFG]

1. In most cases, discrete sound cards have front-panel audio headers wired to the HD Audio spec, or in some cases, the older AC'97 spec.
 
2. It's just like connecting the LEDs, power, and reset buttons to the motherboard, along with USB port headers. You just slide the front-panel audio header over the exposed pins, making sure it's aligned properly.
 
3. All sound cards and other audio equipment have amplified analog outputs, so it's mostly a question of how well its amplification circuit is suited toward your particular headphones.
 
4. That depends on what you plan on doing with your computer. If you plan on gaming, X-Fi cards (except XtremeAudio ones) are more suited to that, but the Linux driver situation is pretty abysmal if you have the wrong card, to the point where you'd be better off with one of the numerous C-Media cards.
 
Since your X-540 speaker system requires extra analog outputs, cards like the X-Fi Titanium HD and Xonar Essence STX are right out since they only output two channels in analog.
 
The X-Fi Forte might be a good bet overall, provided that you make sure to get a newer card that comes with a heatsink on the DSP. If it doesn't, it may be from an older batch that's more prone to grounding issues and other nastiness.
 
If you would rather keep it cheap, there's the $30 Xonar DG. There's better cards out there, but in terms of bang for the buck, it's hard to beat, and it offers the extra analog outputs that most top-tier cards don't (save for the Xonar Essence ST, the PCI version of the STX that has an optional 7.1 extension card that isn't compatible with the STX for some reason).
 
I do have one warning regarding the front-panel audio jacks on most computer cases, though: most of them are rather cheap and introduce a lot of undesirable noise you're bound to notice with decent headphones like the M50.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Asus Xonar DG (PCI)

 

[Sycho]

I see. Can I assume any of the sound cards that are listed will be an improvement over the integrated audio I have?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I see. Can I assume any of the sound cards that are listed will be an improvement over the integrated audio I have?

Grasshopper, you are growing in wisdom.
 
 
 

 

[pmc64]

my front panel headphone jack sounds noticably worse than when i plug the headphones directly to the sound card.

 

[stv014]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NamelessPFG /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
If you would rather keep it cheap, there's the $30 Xonar DG. There's better cards out there, but in terms of bang for the buck, it's hard to beat, and it offers the extra analog outputs that most top-tier cards don't (save for the Xonar Essence ST, the PCI version of the STX that has an optional 7.1 extension card that isn't compatible with the STX for some reason).

 
The Xonar D1/DX are still cheap, and have 7.1 outputs. For use with an external amplifier, these are a good choice. The D2/D2X have slightly better analog quality (the difference between DG and D1 is greater than between D1 and D2), the non-front outputs have the same specs as the front, and the cards are shielded (this may or may not be useful in a particular machine), but are not much cheaper than the ST/STX.
Edit: the D2 and D2X also have an S/PDIF (coaxial and optical) input, so these can be used as a DAC for an external device that has a digital output.
 
Quote:

my front panel headphone jack sounds noticably worse than when i plug the headphones directly to the sound card.

The front panel connectors are indeed noisier in general, although it may or may not be audible depending on the PC and the sensitivity of the headphones. Here is a simple loopback test of the rear and front output of a Xonar D1, playing a 1 kHz sine wave at -126 dB, 192 kHz, and 24-bit resolution:
 

 

 

[NamelessPFG]

 
Quote:

The Xonar D1/DX are still cheap, and have 7.1 outputs. For use with an external amplifier, these are a good choice. The D2/D2X have slightly better analog quality (the difference between DG and D1 is greater than between D1 and D2), the non-front outputs have the same specs as the front, and the cards are shielded (this may or may not be useful in a particular machine), but are not much cheaper than the ST/STX.
Edit: the D2 and D2X also have an S/PDIF (coaxial and optical) input, so these can be used as a DAC for an external device that has a digital output.

To be honest, I haven't looked much into the Xonar offerings that aren't on the extremes of the price scale, but mostly because once they hit the $60 mark, they start facing competition from the X-Fi Titanium (for gaming features) and other C-Media-based cards (like the HT Omega offerings).
 
Still, good point on the S/PDIF input. I was shocked to learn that the Xonar Essence STX didn't have one, negating a possible idea I had for it...