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Motherboard Audio Comes Of Age
darth_silliarse writes "ExtremeTech have thankfully confirmed that I am not completely deaf - onboard m/b sound is not as bad as it sounds. Is onboard sound for the poor, needy or completely bone idle? What are other peoples opinions of m/b sound? If nothing else, it frees up a PCI or ISA slot... ;o)"
BTW, how many slots do we really need? With so many USB peripherals, PCI and especially ISA slots aren't the important resources they once were.
In times like these, it is helpful to remember that there have always been times like these. - Paul Harvey
As far as I'm concerned, it makes no odds these days whether you have the latest soundblaster or some cheapo onboard beast. Unless you have high quality speakers (which I imagine the average computer user doesn't) the difference is neglibile.
:-)
Of course, I can't tell the difference between a 128 and a 160 mp3, so who am I to speak?
Not only can you save a pci card, it is also cheaper and less of a hassle a lot of times. Some motherboards have excellent on board audio, such as the P4S8X I think it really depends on if you think its worth it. I can do fine with just the bios speaker going beep beep beep.
I'll bite
That isn't true at all. They sound identical. I don't know what kind of eqiptment equipment you're using or at what settings but in iTunes with Sound Check, Sound Enhancer and EQs all off they sound perfectly identical coming from my Quicksilver of straight from my Receiver (which is hooked up to Edirol Monitors).
As an additional note it also sounds the same as if I port it through the UA-700 or if I play the MP3's through Peak instead of iTunes.
One of the biggest things I like about modern PC's is that they're just like lego. You can buy the motherboard, CPU, sound card, video card, etc... you want, stick them all together, and hey presto! It works! And more importantly it gives me choice.
Motherboards should have nothing on them except lots of slots. I like my computers modular.
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat, Never drive a car when you're dead
for quite some time now and I mean I've sure found the same thing. I can't seem to hear the difference between audio out and the rest of the hardware plugged into my stereo. Seems like 5.1 onboard is coming of age being analog^W digital and all ... erm ...
... nevermind
*thud*
**AA: a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes
I would check your cable if I were you, its possible your using some crappy 50p one and running it alongside your powercable.
*THAT* would explain the difference more than anything.
liqbase
I think onboard sound is adequate because most people plug in cheap speakers that aren't able to take advantage of any recent technilogical advances in audio
Audio has reached a point where cheap is good enough for most people. (sorry for bad grammer or bad spelling but it's 7:49 am, I haven't slept yet, and I'm quite drunk)
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Squirrel
So let me see, I save on not buying a sound card... save again on a network card... save again on not buying a separate AGP video card... sling in an onboard modem riser and now all I need to do is spend $300 more on my CPU to get the same performance - wonderful! Why didn't I do this sooner!
Plus if I do want to upgrade my board/my board develops problems, I need to think about replacing it with another all-in-one, reinstalling drivers etc. etc.
In all seriousness, we've all read the stats. With onboard peripherals stealing as much as 3-5% up to 20% of your CPU usage. Is a mobo with the lot really all it's cracked up to be?
What happens if I want to build a system WITHOUT said items? I'm gonna find myself short a PCI slot or two, even if I can free up the resources in the BIOS.
Sure there is a better choice of onboard chipsets and the audio quality suits MOST applications. Yes - the drivers actually install now, but you can't replace a PCI sound card/modular solution for overall practicality.
At the very least we need to keep the option of VGA-less, sound-less boards going so there is a choice.
If your not getting noise from the CPU or other devices, then onboard is fine for listening to music.
If you are are a musician doing recordings, spend some dough and get a high quality external sound D/A converter.
There really is not difference between pci sound cards and onboard sound. External sound is where the real difference is made.
Call me paranoid, but isn't this just part of a really bad trend? That is, moving more and more functionality onto the "motherboard", until the motherboard _is_ the computer, it will come with a cheap plastic _sealed_ case around it, because there's no point in opening it up - no user servicable parts inside...
The reason that your example sounds better when burned to a CD is due to electrical noise. The inside of a computer case is an incredibly noisy environment (in both acoustic and EM specra). Converting the digital signal to analogue inside the case is going to sound bad. If you want decent sound from a computer then keep the signal 100% digital until after it has left the case. Keep the amplifier away from sources of EM noise (like, for example a computer).
The question of whether onboard audio is adequate is quite stupid. There is no difference in quality between (for example) a SB PCI128 in a PCI slot, or one soldered onto the motherboard. They are both in the case, on the PCI side of the south-bridge. I consider onboard sound to be adequate for going 'pling', game sound effect, and music that I'm not really listening to. For anything else there is far too much noise, and this can only really be solved by using an external DAC, either in the form of a SPDIF output from a computer or a USB/FireWire external card. And ideally putting the computer in the next room, so you don't hear the fan noise.
By the way, my onboard audio chip on a 2 year old motherboard has a perfectly acceptable digital output...
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Try the following:
1) play mp3 through decent stereo straight from (Quicksilver) Mac.
2) Burn same Mp3 to CD and play through same stereo.
Now try the above but have a friend randomly switch sound sources while you look the other way. No trolling, but can you still sense the difference?
There is a _lot_ of psychology in sound systems; oftentimes even the true audiophiles fail blind tests between pieces of equipment of which they have very different opinions.
Tor
I tend to (dis)like anything onboard as much as the next slashdotter, but I've tried many soundcards, on and offboard (PC only, dunno about Macs), and the sound difference I feel is tiny enough to say that 90% of all regular PC users wouldn't even know the difference.
I would say that the big difference to sound quality lies on the amplifiers, and of course, on the speakers.
Myself, I use a Delta44 into an Alesis RA-100 which provides very low noise, and JBL speakers. Sound is as close to perfect as I would wish, meaning that it would only get better if I built new walls around here.
That is what I think makes the difference. There is no way a decent amplifier and good speakers can compare to the crappy $5 PC "amplified speakers".
There is one last difference: Impedance. But then again the crappy speakers wouldn't work with good cards.
But for Joe 16bit, onboard sound and SBLive! are just the same. (and yes, I own both of those too).
Back in the 60s and 70s most people couldn't not
differentiate the quality between ceramic and
magnetic cartridge turntable. You would have
people listen to different systems and they would
for the most part not be able to say which one
sounded the best.
The sound quality is so different that you'd have
to be partly deaf or a complete moron to think
that either one sounded just as good.
When it comes to MP3 vs CDs, in many cases it is
virtually impossible to be able to differentiate,
even with people with good hears.
But, if what you listen to ressembles more noise
than music. If all you want is some stuff that
compares more with subway noise or crashing frying
pans than music (like most modern so called rock
music) then there might not be really noticeable
or important differences. Rap recordings would
also be hard to differenciate either way.