Low quality onboard sound ?

Fif23 · Dec 18, 2015

Hey guys !
I have a little problem with my sound setup on the PC.
I just purchased new speakers, creative T40 II.

Through the IPHONE they are very very nice and clear, mids are sweet and a joy to use.
But, hooking up to the onboard card of a Gigabyte 990X AMD board, or a turtle beach USB card cheapo, the mids disappear no matter what I do in EQ, and the songs go to hell.

What is the cheapest external card that will give me 2.0 Iphone performance ?
I do not care for games, 5.1, etc.
I can get that ASUS XONAR one, is it better than most onboard ?

Thanks !

Jetster · Dec 18, 2015

I would try ASUS Xonar DG or DGX. Great proformance for the price. Just use the unified drivers

MilkyWay · Dec 18, 2015

Uni Xonar Drivers, i use an ASUS Xonar Essence STX PCI card for my headphones as it has a headphone amp and the Uni drivers are a must.

Could go with a cheap ASUS or Creative card but could also get a USB DAC or something instead.

Fif23 · Dec 19, 2015

Thanks for replies fellas !
I indeed can get 2 cards at my local shop, where I prefer to buy.
The DXG Xonar, and the Creative Sound Blaster Z for a little more, but still not a bank buster.

Is the Z worth the money when talking clean blues/country/jazz music ? It also comes with a microphone, maybe I can play CS with it... lol

Frick · Dec 19, 2015

You can look for used Creative cards as well, if you're looking to save some cash. The SB0460 was an OEM version of the X-Fi Titanium, are usually cheap and it made an unbelievable difference with my set of Logitech Z523 speakers which are worse than yours. Dunno how it compares to the cards you're looking at, the Sound Blaster Z is probably better still.

Blue-Knight · Dec 19, 2015

Fif23 said:
I can get that ASUS XONAR one, is it better than most onboard ?

Definitely.

RejZoR · Dec 20, 2015

Get Sound Blaster Z. Cheap and very capable soundcards that are all around great but they also excel at games. I'd avoid ASUS just because their driver support is even worse than the one provided by Creative.

I wonder why no one makes Realtek ALC1150 based stand alone soundcards with high end components. Then we'd never ever have driver problems because Realtek, despite being this shite generic vendor used by everyone for onboard soundcards, they at least update drivers very regularly. And ALC1150 is a very capable audio processor. Oh well, one day I guess.

Fif23 · Dec 21, 2015

Hey guys, busy couple of days,.
So here are my options, one is to get the SBZ for 110$ Shipped (outside the US) or a Titanium-HD, used, from local 2nd hand board, for 85$ .

Which is the smarter purchase ?
I am on Windows 10.

Jetster · Dec 21, 2015

The Xonar DGX for $40 If you going to spend anymore just get a AVR

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Low quality onboard sound ?

Fishfaced Nincompoop