[leftshoe]

I'm going to be buying a new motherboard soon, and I would just like to know what onboard audio chipsets are the best?

I use ms-1 headphones most of the time, if that matters.

Is it worth spending more money to get something such as a audigy ZS to improve audio quality?

 

[THeX]

Usually I stay away from onboard sound, haven't found anything decent lately... but this reminds me of when Aopen used to make motherboards with a vacuum tube for the stereo output stage.

http://global.aopen.com.tw/tech/techinside/Tube.htm

 

[leftshoe]

I feel like I'm not getting the full sound out of my grado's......
They actually sound better playing through a cheapo 128mb mp3 player then they do through my computer.

Any suggestions for a decent sound card that will fix this?

 

[K2Grey]

Chaintech AV710 plus a cheap amp?

 

[leftshoe]

Its quite likely that I will build a cmoy over the next couple of weeks. I have more then enough skill with the soldering iron to build one.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

The most praise I've heard for an onboard audio chip is that for the "Karajan" module of some recent DFI mobos, including the NF4 Ultra and SLI. Doesn't hurt that they're some of the best overclocking and most stable boards around, I've been running a DFI NF3 for a year now, and I'm quite happy with it.

 

[Nandro]

I always heard NVidia soudstorm was pretty good although I think they stopped making it.

 

[Twombly]

Soundstorm is dead and has been with the discontinuation of the NForce2 chipset. Soundstorm was good because of DDLive capability, not neccessarily because of the NForce analog output. The worst thing you can do right now is buy a Socket A motherboard, so scratch Soundstorm from the equation.

 

[defjux]

I have an NForce2 chipset and use soundstorm...is there anything really wrong with it? Of course, i haven't been able to test it against another source, so i might not be able to tell how bad it is, but it gets me by.

 

[]|[ GorE]

good sound card = unmasks all that horrible noise resulting from usage of average bitrate(192kbps) lossy formats.

Onboard = mp3s sound good.

 

[Ikon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by leftshoe Is it worth spending more money to get something such as a audigy ZS to improve audio quality?

Concerning "pure" stereo output quality, there are better cards for the same or even less money than an Audigy would cost you.

Good cards are (sorted by price and roughly also by quality):

Chaintech AV-710 (hard to get in Europe)
Soundblaster Live! 24bit
Hercules Fortissimo IV
Terratec Aureon Sky/Space
M-Audio Revolution 5.1 (the 7.1 ist worse)
E-MU 0404

There are of course even better cards, but those will likely be over your budget. Nonetheless should any of the above mentioned cards be a substancial upgrade from onboard-sound.
Note that the analogue output quality between the various onboard sound solutions does not vary much, they are all more or less bad.

 

[dwc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twombly Soundstorm is dead and has been with the discontinuation of the NForce2 chipset. Soundstorm was good because of DDLive capability, not neccessarily because of the NForce analog output. The worst thing you can do right now is buy a Socket A motherboard, so scratch Soundstorm from the equation.

So is the digital out on an Nforce 4 board going to be not as good as the digital out on an NForce 2 board?

 

[leftshoe]

I can get the sound blaster live for around AU$75 in my area, which is alot cheaper then the ZS. Any comments on this card?

 

[incognitoedleon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ikon Soundblaster Live! 24bit

I think most people here would disagree with that. You'd be better off with a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz if you want an old dirt cheap soundcard.

 

[YngwieJMalmsteen]

Try to find a chaintech AV-710, much cheaper than the SB Live and much better than any on-board sound.