How many people still use sound cards?

[FireFox]

I have never used one, always Onboard

 

[yogurt_21]

what no turtle beach peeps? seem to have some nice looking headsets now, but back in the day I used to love their sound cards.

it seems like most of us just settled rather than onboard actually being sufficient. Granted I'd still run a mixing board even when I did have a nice sound card.

But the past 2 rigs I swear I got lazy and just went with onboard without even testing the difference.

 

[eidairaman1]

ZxR here

 

[AlienIsGOD]

Xonar DSX here w/ Modded Uni drivers

 

[Apocalypsee]

I have a couple of soundcard, Xonar HDAV1.3 (not the slim one) and XFi Titanium HD but I'm not using it. What I use currently is an USB Digidesign MBox. Surprisingly it worked well on Win10 Fall Update, this thing is nearly 15 years old. I never use an onboard sound, always have a soundcard since socket 7.

 

[EarthDog]

I would have to wonder how a 15 y.o sound card compares to ALC1220...

 

[xorbe]

toslink to external dac, to avoid video card hum on the audio output

 

[THE_EGG]

I used to use an Asus Essence ST and frankly the headphone out on that was GLORIOUS buttttt, the driver experience was not and would frequently BSOD in certain games too. Then PCI slots went extinct so I went to a Creative SB-Z (back in 2013 or 2014 I think) and I've been quite satisfied. Better in-game sound than the Asus and more stable however the sound quality of FLAC files and some movies just aren't what they used to be when I had the Essence ST. I tried the on-board sound on my mobo but I wasn't pleased.

 

[INSTG8R]

SB ZX pretty much always had a soundcard since I went 5.1 years ago. Audigy, Audigy 2 ZS, X-Fi Fatality and now my ZX. I finally got “The Daddy” Logi Z906 5.1 so I’m a pretty happy chappy.

 

[EarthDog]

Wish this had a poll.....

It would probably be nice to see statistics to answer the question in the OP.

 

[RejZoR]

I used to use an Asus Essence ST and frankly the headphone out on that was GLORIOUS buttttt, the driver experience was not and would frequently BSOD in certain games too. Then PCI slots went extinct so I went to a Creative SB-Z (back in 2013 or 2014 I think) and I've been quite satisfied. Better in-game sound than the Asus and more stable however the sound quality of FLAC files and some movies just aren't what they used to be when I had the Essence ST. I tried the on-board sound on my mobo but I wasn't pleased.

Go with AE-5 then. Better drivers (though control panels are a bit funky) and at worst, same audio quality as Xonar ST/STX.

 

[dirtyferret]

When disconnected, the sounds are all still there, just not as "full." So I continue to use one for gaming.

I definitely notice the "full" sound especially along the mid range and a lower base frequency with more punch. I have the klipsch promedia 2.1 speaker set up and they do a good job.

I also noticed the fuller range with my old creative blaster sound card as well but I found that had issues in certain games due to drivers so I switched over to on-board sound with my last two builds until this recent purchase. The creative sound card got demoted to my wife's PC which uses cheap cambridge sound works speakers; aka two glorified tin cans strung together by a string.

Wish this had a poll.....

It would probably be nice to see statistics to answer the question in the OP.

I don't see in the option in the edit feature. I'll check with one of the mods.

 

[f22a4bandit]

I'm running a Creative Sound Blaster Z right now. It's actually my first soundcard as I'd used onboard previously. I'm able to pick up game sounds much sooner than some of my friends which is nice. Plus the audio experience is richer when doing other things like listening to music or watching shows.

 

[EarthDog]

I don't see in the option in the edit feature. I'll check with one of the mods.

Thank you. I am pretty curious to see how many in the enthusiast segment actually do this.

 

[R00kie]

Xonar DSX here with a custom OP-AMP, onboard sounds too stale and crackly for my tastes.

 

[Slizzo]

I know the sound card is going the way of the Dodo for PC gamers (still viable for audiophiles) but earlier in the year I purchased an Asrock Z270 mobo. Board works great outside of the audio and I got it for under $100 but I did noticed little issues during some games. For example when a dragon would flap its wings you would hear a "cracking" sound in the animation audio. It's not a major deal but I personally did find it annoying and unsurprising as I knew the audio was lacking before purchase.

The two motherboard that we are testing today are worlds apart in terms of audio performance. MSI’s new Realtek ALC1220 codec delivers excellent performance figures, with the dynamic range reaching above 102 dB(A) and THD + Noise hitting -88 dB(A). On the other hand, the performance of the ALC892 codec on the ASRock Z270 Killer SLI is poor, even when compared to older boards that feature the same chipset. Even though it is lacking an optical SPDIF out port, the MSI Z270 SLI Plus is much superior than the ASRock Z270 Killer SLI in terms of audio performance.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/11284/msi-asrock-z270-sli-140-bucks/7

While I have an old creative lab sound card it needed an PCI slot that the new mobo lacks. I picked up an Asus Xonar DGX PCI-E for $20 and the problem was solved.

So I'm curios, anyone still rocking a sound card?

I too have a DGX, pushing my Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1s. Never been a fan of headphones overall. Also can't really wear them as I need to have the audio only baby monitor with me when I am downstairs on the computer at night.

 

[dirtyferret]

Thank you. I am pretty curious to see how many in the enthusiast segment actually do this.

I don't have the option to do it in my OP but talked to a mod and he is looking into it. My bad for not originally doing it but I did not think it would be two pages of comments

Also can't really wear them as I need to have the audio only baby monitor with me when I am downstairs on the computer at night.

Been there done that

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Soundcard for me

im using it to play this.....sounds ace

 

[Mindweaver]

X-Fi Extreme Gamer, here. I thought about upgrading it but it still works well with my HD 518 headphones.

 

[dirtyferret]

props to Kursah and Sneekypeet for giving us a poll

 

[Red_Machine]

I started using sound cards when I got some old Sound Blaster Audigys for free from work in around 2010/11, which I used for a while until we scrapped an Alienware PC that had an X-Fi PCIe card in it. That had an annoying glitch where once every few months the audio would get a nasty hiss that could only be fixed by cleaning out the drivers and reinstalling them, so I instead bought an Audigy Rx that I used for a few years until they stopped releasing new drivers for it. Then I replaced it with a Sound Blaster Z, which, frustratingly, seems to have been abandoned now that Creative have released their new AE-5 line. The only reason I replaced the Rx was because I didn't want to be using unsupported hardware with obsolete drivers. I feel cheated.

 

[rtwjunkie]

frustratingly, seems to have been abandoned now that Creative have released their new AE-5 line

The Z keeps getting new drivers. I have the latest set from April, I think. I just reinstalled after Fall Creator's update and they work as well as they did before.

They have been putting new ones out at a twice a year pace, trying to keep up with MS who think they need a new OS every 6 months now.

 

[INSTG8R]

The Z keeps getting new drivers. I have the latest set from April, I think. I just reinstalled after Fall Creator's update and they work as well as they did before.

They have been putting new ones out at a twice a year pace, trying to keep up with MS who think they need a new OS every 6 months now.

Yeah Creators broke my centre channel. Reinstalled all good again.

 

[Aquinus]

For speakers, I'll use on-board because the differences in quality are less apparent however, when I'm using headphones, I now use a portable USB DAC + headphone amp.

 

[EarthDog]

jebus... 3 out of 4 still use one... wow.............

I cannot believe it is that high, honestly.