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Older sound card vs new onboard sound

Harry Baules

Harry Baules

New Member
I'm getting ready to put my new pc build together. I have an older sound card that has worked great for me. But I'm wondering if the onboard sound from newer motherboards might be the same or better. My sound card is SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium SB0880 and my new motherboard is Asus Prime A320 M-K.

Here are the specs on the card:
https://primelec.com/products/creat...i-titanium-24-bit-pci-e-sound-card-493346-001

This is all the info I got for the onboard audio: Realtek® ALC 887-VD2 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODECS.

Is it worth installing the sound card? I like that it has multiple outs including optical. And by the way, my current amp is just a Kinter Tripath K2020+ but I plan to upgrade to SMSL AD18 in 6 months.
 
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It depends on what you want to do with your computer regarding sound. If you just want reproduction of computer sounds it doesn't matter. If you want to use your PC for recording music or high quality audio streaming then you want an aftermarket sound card.

Most onboard sound chips now do 7.1 audio with multiple outs. My outboard interface is a Yamaha/Steinberg with multiple (6) inputs and outputs and able to do 24 bit up to 192 k. I never really go beyond 24 bit 48K. I haven't used an X-FI card in about 20 years.
 
Analog audio outputs on motherboards rarely deliver clean audio, and I don't see a digital audio output. If you're not going to use audio over HDMI, I'd use the soundcard and its optical output.
 
JohnT123 said:
It depends on what you want to do with your computer regarding sound. If you just want reproduction of computer sounds it doesn't matter. If you want to use your PC for recording music or high quality audio streaming then you want an aftermarket sound card.

Most onboard sound chips now do 7.1 audio with multiple outs. My outboard interface is a Yamaha/Steinberg with multiple (6) inputs and outputs and able to do 24 bit up to 192 k. I never really go beyond 24 bit 48K. I haven't used an X-FI card in about 20 years.
Click to expand...

Oh it's only for music listening while I work.
 
swechsler said:
Analog audio outputs on motherboards rarely deliver clean audio, and I don't see a digital audio output. If you're not going to use audio over HDMI, I'd use the soundcard and its optical output.
Click to expand...

My monitor is connected via directlink. Not hdmi. How do you use audio over hdmi?
 
I have a ZxR,
6 years old,
every win update upsets the drivers and knocks out the daughter board.
pita.
other than that, sound is great.
 
The biggest issue is going to be background noise / interference from other components. Motherboard audio is generally the most susceptible to this. Some higher end boards will have shielding around the audio components, but yours doesn't. Sound cards are also very susceptible to background noise / interference, since they are still located inside the case. Whether you will have problems with this is mainly dependent on the other components in your system.

I ran an X-Fi Titanium HD in my gaming computer for a long time. Always had a bit of background noise that I couldn't get rid of. My gaming computer with a powerful overlocked CPU and high-end GPU is a very electrically noisy environment. I moved the X-Fi Titanium HD into a dedicated bare-bones computer that I use as the main source for my stereo. This computer for my stereo just uses integrated video and there are no significant components inside located anywhere near the sound card. I get no background noise when using the X-Fi Titanium HD in that computer. For my gaming computer, after I took the X-Fi Titanium HD out, I put in a regular X-Fi Titanium (same card that you have) and now run optical output to an external DAC. That eliminated the background noise since electrical interference cannot travel over the optical cable. I could potentially skip the soundcard and just hook the external DAC directly to the computer using USB, but I actually get a bit of electrical interference when using USB as the USB cable is conductive and creates an electrical path between the computer and the DAC. Optical is really great in this respect.

You could just try both and see which if any gives you a cleaner sound (less background noise). All else being equal, I would go with the X-Fi Titanium. Despite their age they are still great cards. Creative has been good about providing new drivers for Windows 10 when needed. The DAC on the X-Fi Titanium is decent. Probably still better than your motherboard audio. The X-Fi Titanium HD was the card in that series that had the really good DAC. If you end up using optical to an external DAC then you wouldn't be using the DAC on the soundcard at that point obviously.
 
Chris Brown said:
The biggest issue is going to be background noise / interference from other components. Motherboard audio is generally the most susceptible to this. Some higher end boards will have shielding around the audio components, but yours doesn't. Sound cards are also very susceptible to background noise / interference, since they are still located inside the case. Whether you will have problems with this is mainly dependent on the other components in your system.

I ran an X-Fi Titanium HD in my gaming computer for a long time. Always had a bit of background noise that I couldn't get rid of. My gaming computer with a powerful overlocked CPU and high-end GPU is a very electrically noisy environment. I moved the X-Fi Titanium HD into a dedicated bare-bones computer that I use as the main source for my stereo. This computer for my stereo just uses integrated video and there are no significant components inside located anywhere near the sound card. I get no background noise when using the X-Fi Titanium HD in that computer. For my gaming computer, after I took the X-Fi Titanium HD out, I put in a regular X-Fi Titanium (same card that you have) and now run optical output to an external DAC. That eliminated the background noise since electrical interference cannot travel over the optical cable. I could potentially skip the soundcard and just hook the external DAC directly to the computer using USB, but I actually get a bit of electrical interference when using USB as the USB cable is conductive and creates an electrical path between the computer and the DAC. Optical is really great in this respect.

You could just try both and see which if any gives you a cleaner sound (less background noise). All else being equal, I would go with the X-Fi Titanium. Despite their age they are still great cards. Creative has been good about providing new drivers for Windows 10 when needed. The DAC on the X-Fi Titanium is decent. Probably still better than your motherboard audio. The X-Fi Titanium HD was the card in that series that had the really good DAC. If you end up using optical to an external DAC then you wouldn't be using the DAC on the soundcard at that point obviously.
Click to expand...

Great info, Chris. I'm running a video card in this setup so I'm guessing I will be having the same noise issues as you. How do you know when you have noise interference? Just by listening for it or is their a way to measure it? Anyhow, I will make sure to use my optical cable when I upgrade my mini amp. My Kinter only offers an RCA input. I do remember when I used to have this sound card (in my previous build) connected optically to a spare receiver the sound quality was a bit better.
 
Harry Baules said:
How do you know when you have noise interference? Just by listening for it or is their a way to measure it?
Click to expand...

When there is no music or other audio playing, everything should be dead silent. Usually when you hear electrical interference it will sound almost like static on an AM radio station. In my case it was obvious that it was coming from the computer as the pitch of the static/noise would change relative to what was being shown on the screen.

Harry Baules said:
My Kinter only offers an RCA input.
Click to expand...

You could try an adapter. I use several of these and they are simple and work well.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C1LNKGK
 
Last edited:
Harry Baules said:
I'm getting ready to put my new pc build together. I have an older sound card that has worked great for me. But I'm wondering if the onboard sound from newer motherboards might be the same or better. My sound card is SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium SB0880 and my new motherboard is Asus Prime A320 M-K.

Here are the specs on the card:
https://primelec.com/products/creat...i-titanium-24-bit-pci-e-sound-card-493346-001

This is all the info I got for the onboard audio: Realtek® ALC 887-VD2 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODECS.

Is it worth installing the sound card? I like that it has multiple outs including optical. And by the way, my current amp is just a Kinter Tripath K2020+ but I plan to upgrade to SMSL AD18 in 6 months.
Click to expand...

I have pretty much the same setup as you in my office and I found that using an outboard DAC like this:
https://www.amazon.com/XtremPro-X1-...=1&keywords=xtrempro+x1&qid=1618146066&sr=8-1

sounds much better than an output from the soundcard. I use a 1/8 inch to rca cable to the Kinter and the result is no noise and a more full and accurate sound.
 
Harry Baules said:
My monitor is connected via directlink. Not hdmi. How do you use audio over hdmi?
Click to expand...
I use a 4K TV as a monitor, then send the optical output from that to a receiver with an optical input. The monitor is recognized as an A/V device and Windows gives you the option to send audio there instead of the built-in audio output.

What exactly is directlink? I never heard of it, and neither did Google.
 
Harry: As Chris already wrote, the SB0880 still a prety decent model - and as you already have it at hand, you might as well try it. I'd the expect the onboard sound section of your Asus board not be bad either, though, and hence I wouldn't be surprised, if you wouldn't notice much of a difference in your application (playback). Whereas I'd deem it pretty likely, that the Creative card would do a good bit better on the recording side, as that often enough still is the weak spot of onboard sound.

Well, and in case you wouldn't want to rely on listening impressions alone, you could always make analogue loopback measurements with RMAA - but of course that might skew the results in favour of the Creative card, in case the recording side of the onboard sound would indeed be less good.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini
 
swechsler said:
I use a 4K TV as a monitor, then send the optical output from that to a receiver with an optical input. The monitor is recognized as an A/V device and Windows gives you the option to send audio there instead of the built-in audio output.

What exactly is directlink? I never heard of it, and neither did Google.
Click to expand...
Sorry my bad. I meant DisplayPort. It's supposedly an upgrade to HDMI so I went with that. Supposedly you can get audio through displayport also but my monitor doesn't have audio out.
 
So my pc is all set up. I left sound for last. Right now, without the sound card installed I'm getting noise interference (thanks Chris) but only at levels higher than my normal listening volume. Later today I'll install the card and report back.
 
Chris Brown said:
The biggest issue is going to be background noise / interference from other components. Motherboard audio is generally the most susceptible to this. Some higher end boards will have shielding around the audio components, but yours doesn't. Sound cards are also very susceptible to background noise / interference, since they are still located inside the case. Whether you will have problems with this is mainly dependent on the other components in your system.

I ran an X-Fi Titanium HD in my gaming computer for a long time. Always had a bit of background noise that I couldn't get rid of. My gaming computer with a powerful overlocked CPU and high-end GPU is a very electrically noisy environment. I moved the X-Fi Titanium HD into a dedicated bare-bones computer that I use as the main source for my stereo. This computer for my stereo just uses integrated video and there are no significant components inside located anywhere near the sound card. I get no background noise when using the X-Fi Titanium HD in that computer. For my gaming computer, after I took the X-Fi Titanium HD out, I put in a regular X-Fi Titanium (same card that you have) and now run optical output to an external DAC. That eliminated the background noise since electrical interference cannot travel over the optical cable. I could potentially skip the soundcard and just hook the external DAC directly to the computer using USB, but I actually get a bit of electrical interference when using USB as the USB cable is conductive and creates an electrical path between the computer and the DAC. Optical is really great in this respect.

You could just try both and see which if any gives you a cleaner sound (less background noise). All else being equal, I would go with the X-Fi Titanium. Despite their age they are still great cards. Creative has been good about providing new drivers for Windows 10 when needed. The DAC on the X-Fi Titanium is decent. Probably still better than your motherboard audio. The X-Fi Titanium HD was the card in that series that had the really good DAC. If you end up using optical to an external DAC then you wouldn't be using the DAC on the soundcard at that point obviously.
Click to expand...

I do not use SoundBlaster in a desktop PC. Why bother given what I do for a profession?. I use AudioScience cards, which for PC serves your needs well unless you must have very high res. SoundBlasters do not work with the OS I use, that PC does not play games, This machine is generally used for mainly audio creation and editing/playback. And does not have Windows installed.
 
Harry Baules said:
I'm getting ready to put my new pc build together. I have an older sound card that has worked great for me. But I'm wondering if the onboard sound from newer motherboards might be the same or better. My sound card is SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium SB0880 and my new motherboard is Asus Prime A320 M-K.

Here are the specs on the card:
https://primelec.com/products/creat...i-titanium-24-bit-pci-e-sound-card-493346-001

This is all the info I got for the onboard audio: Realtek® ALC 887-VD2 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODECS.

Is it worth installing the sound card? I like that it has multiple outs including optical. And by the way, my current amp is just a Kinter Tripath K2020+ but I plan to upgrade to SMSL AD18 in 6 months.
Click to expand...
ditch the soundblaster and get a usb dac. much MUCH better audio output.
trust me, I've got three or four M audio audiophile cards I've benched in favor of usb dacs.

Dead nuts silent, as using audio over usb eliminates most sources of noise.
 
USB DACs are superb for music playback. Some of us need ADC too when we're transferring our records and tapes also. But there's very good USB audio interfaces for that which work well.
 
Just keep in mind that there are good DACs and there are bad DACs, and that is true whether the DAC is located on the motherboard, on a sound card, or inside an external enclosure. Being located inside an external enclosure doesn't automatically tell you anything about the DAC, only that it's potentially less susceptible to interference from other devices.
 
I think the best solutions for getting the best audio out of a computer today are outboard DAC's. The inside of a computer is a very noisy place. All the power rails are generated by buck converters that make a bunch of noise and most of the caps you see in a computer are there primarily to filter that noise out of signal pathways. Getting the DAC out of the box is always preferable.
 
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