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Topic: Onboard audio or separate soundcard? (Read 11794 times) previous topic - next topic
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Onboard audio or separate soundcard?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently building myself a new PC and I'm wondering if I should go for:

- motherboard (Asus H270-Pro or Z270-P) + Soundcard
- or just the motherboard, like the Asus Z270-A which has some nice audio features and a Realtek ALC S1220A audio codec?

Price of both options is roughly the same if I have to by a new soundcard. First option is cheaper if I reuse my current soundcard (it's a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio, an old model but Creative have released drivers for Windows 10 so it looks like I could reuse it).

I digitize a lot of old vinyl records so quality matters. I actually don't care about other features (like 5.1, 7.1, surround, effects etc.) because I rarely watch movies on my PC. And I don't play video games.

I couldn't find much info about Realtek's codec so any advice that you could give is welcomed :)

Re: Onboard audio or separate soundcard?

Reply #1 –
Quote from: Psychotic Unicorn on
Hi everyone,

I'm currently building myself a new PC and I'm wondering if I should go for:

- motherboard (Asus H270-Pro or Z270-P) + Soundcard
- or just the motherboard, like the Asus Z270-A which has some nice audio features and a Realtek ALC S1220A audio codec?



I couldn't find much info about Realtek's codec so any advice that you could give is welcomed :)

There's a review here of a motherboard that appears to have the ALC S1220 chip. I can read it using Google Translate. The Rightmark results that I can infer from it are not too wonderful. OK, but nothing to write home about.

https://www.techtesters.eu/asus-prime-x370-pro-review/

Re: Onboard audio or separate soundcard?

Reply #2 –
There is very likely no difference as concerns sound quality.  If you've been happy with the performance of your Creative card, why not keep using it?

See this thread started just a few days ago:
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,114420/topicseen.html

Re: Onboard audio or separate soundcard?

Reply #3 –
Quote from: Psychotic Unicorn on
I digitize a lot of old vinyl records so quality matters.
ADCs of Realtek codecs are usually somewhat inferior to typical Creative soundcards. If you have an X-Fi for free why don't just use it?

Re: Onboard audio or separate soundcard?

Reply #4 –
Quote from: Apesbrain on
There is very likely no difference as concerns sound quality.  If you've been happy with the performance of your Creative card, why not keep using it?

See this thread started just a few days ago:
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,114420/topicseen.html
I think I will do that. My current soundcard has all the features that I need, and I've been using it for many years without any trouble, so there'll be no surprise there. I'm not too keen on spending money on a MB just to test its audio features. I was just wondering if anyone knew something about the Realtek codec.

Re: Onboard audio or separate soundcard?

Reply #5 –
Quote
I was just wondering if anyone knew something about the Realtek codec.
You can't over-generalize.   There's more than one Realtek chip and different motherboard/soundcard manufacturers may change/tweak the circuit.  And, the biggest potential issue is noise and that can be affected by noise on the power supply, board layout, and the proximity of other circuitry inside the computer case.

The line-inputs (and line outputs) on a regular soundcard or motherboard soundchip, are often adequate, but it can be hit-or miss.  ....The mic inputs are generally worthless for quality recording because they don't work with studio/stage mics (low-impedance balanced connections) and they are often noisy.

Even some USB soundcards/audio interfaces can be affected by noise on the USB power line (if they don't have their own separate power supply).

And, a USB audio interface with line-inputs is another option  (if you wanted to get something new).     Or, you can get an interface with phono inputs, but I don't know how it would compare the phono-preamp you're now using.

Re: Onboard audio or separate soundcard?

Reply #6 –
Quote from: Arnold B. Krueger on
Quote from: Psychotic Unicorn on
Hi everyone,

I'm currently building myself a new PC and I'm wondering if I should go for:

- motherboard (Asus H270-Pro or Z270-P) + Soundcard
- or just the motherboard, like the Asus Z270-A which has some nice audio features and a Realtek ALC S1220A audio codec?



I couldn't find much info about Realtek's codec so any advice that you could give is welcomed :)

There's a review here of a motherboard that appears to have the ALC S1220 chip. I can read it using Google Translate. The Rightmark results that I can infer from it are not too wonderful. OK, but nothing to write home about.

https://www.techtesters.eu/asus-prime-x370-pro-review/

Just wanted to share this, ALC1150: http://reference-audio-analyzer.pro/en/report/dac/realtek-alc-1150.php

Re: Onboard audio or separate soundcard?

Reply #7 –
When building a new computer, I just took the dedicated sound card from my old system and installed it in the newer build.

Quote from: bennetng on
ADCs of Realtek codecs are usually somewhat inferior to typical Creative soundcards. If you have an X-Fi for free why don't just use it?
I did compare the ADC of my onboard sound (which ironically is a Realtek) to that of my older dedicated sound card (which is an ASUS), the dedicated sound card out performed onboard.  The biggest thing was the noise floor was a lot worse for the onboard with the line in than the dedicated card's line in.  The mic in on both of them does suck though.