Is it worth getting a sound card?

Question

I recently bought a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M35s and heard that a dedicated sound card can drastically improve audio fidelity. I've never used one before and am not willing to spend much on one so I was looking at getting an ASUS Xonar DG. Would this setup be noticeably better than my on-board audio?

Answer 1

First, i have to admit that I don't have sophisticated ear.



Here some quoted opinion:

"Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Xonar DG is how well it did in our listening tests. Most of the time, the majority of our blind listeners thought it sounded better than the more expensive Xense."

http://techreport.com/articles.x/19997



That should answer your question.

Answer 2

Even better than an internal sound card is an external one. I just bought an FiiO USB DAC Headphone Amplifier E10. This brings the audio signal out in digital form and uses an expensive, low-distortion D/A chip to provide the analog signal for the headphones. Your computer provides enough power via the USB that no external power supply is needed. The internal audio circuitry is the last thing the motherboard designers buy, and therefore is the cheapest thing they can find. In other words, lots of distortion. I have a pair of Sony MDR-7506 Monitor Headphones, which are merciless at revealing problems in the audio. The internal audio was simply unlistenable with music. With the little FiiO device, it's like being in the concert hall. I got mine from Amazon. You'll be amazed.

Answer 3

no, not necessarily. In fact , a download of a dfx type audio enhancer, would prolly do the exact same job for you....i'm ol skool, and way back when, audio technica was cheap stuff, or so we thought, when comparing the specs to what we DID buy back then: Marantz, Pioneer, Kenwood; and for me, only Sennheiser headphones.

your on board audio is stereo, or should be; and that sound card offers no specs for signal/noise ratio, or total harmonic distortion..

also you listen to lossless format music. sounds impressive, but what device to you listen to it from...most of what is out there is a tin box- ipod, mp3 player, pc, docking, ..and it sounds tinny...



when was the last time you ....i'm sorry....have you ever heard high fidelity before.

the closest you'll come in this tin age is with an mp3/ mp4 player from COWON. i BS you not.

Answer 4

Any discrete sound card would sound incredibly better than your on board sound. Buy the sound card and you'll hear the difference, it's gonna be a lot better especially when your listening to lossless audio.