would a dedicated sound card improve my audio?

[zornyan]

hi everyone, just wondering if a dedicated sound card would be a worthwhile investment for my setup?

90% gaming use on my pc (some music) but I play games like rainbow six siege and cs go, where audio ques are vital.

currently using the on-board audio of my asus z270 maximum code, its s realtek alc1220 chip, which is apparently modified for the ROG boards, using an ESS sabre ES9023P dac.

I was eyeing up the creative z,zxr or one of the asus sound cards as a possible upgrade?

i don't want an external setup as my desk space is limited at the minute, so an internal upgrade is the only real option.

anyone had a similar change/setup? would it improve the audio quality etc by much?

using a pair of sennheiser hd 598s.

thanks in advance !

 

[ProtegeManiac]

90% gaming use on my pc (some music) but I play games like rainbow six siege and cs go, where audio ques are vital.

Normally you get a soundcard to get positional cues more accurately since Virtual Surround reprocesses 8ch audio into 2ch audio that has proper positional cues to simulate speakers positioned around you.

Those games however have headphone-specific audio that does it all in software already embedded into the game's audio program, without the need for a separate DSP chip - whether on the soundcard or motherboard - to start with 8ch audio and then process it into a 2ch signal with positional cues.

So check all the games you have. If the ones you play competitively all have headphone-specific audio, then no need to get a soundcard. If some games don't have it, then weigh how much you need positional audio simulation on those games. Remember that if you're playing games with virtual surround already included in them you need to disable virtual surround on the soundcard's DSP (or set the game to 8ch and have the soundcard do it - either way, have only one of them running).