Is there a point of sound cards?

WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
edited June 2003 in Hardware
Ive noticed more and more motherboards come out with 6 channel sound... It really makes me wonder...have creative and other companies taken a big hit due to this trend. Also, do u think this trend will make sound cards obselete in the near future

Comments

  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited June 2003
    On board motherboard sound has dramatically improved within the last year and now we are on the verge of seeing motherboards with the ENVY chip for sound.

    The ENVY chip is used in higher end PCI based sound cards.

    You got to divide the market into two parts to get a better understanding of where the impact will be. The "off the shelf" or DELL buyers represent a very large segment of the marketplace....extremely large. THey are buying on price point and options. Most just know how to turn a PC on and that's it. So the impact is less as the consumer just doesn't know the difference.

    OEM buyers like us are picky. We do recognize that on-board sound has really improved. But it still isn't as good as PCI based solutions...so at this slice in time...no...there isn't much impact but there still is a bit nonetheless.

    This, however, may change once the ENVY onboard chip comes out. That does bring the promise of PCI based audio card quality onboard. :)

    Which may have the impact of brining even higher end, more expensive sound cards down in price.
  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited June 2003
    and the onboard stuff doesn't have the wide range of uses that say an audigy 2 platinum has. with the optical in/out and all those other inputs, its useful for settingi up home audio systems, taking ps2 sound clips... all sorts of things that tech-savvy people like us know how to do
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited June 2003
    Ah...but remember...optical or digital out for games is EAX sound converted to 5.1.

    There are pros and cons.

    Home Theatre PC: Audio.
  • LawnMMLawnMM Colorado
    edited June 2003
    MediaMan said
    Ah...but remember...optical or digital out for games is EAX sound converted to 5.1.

    There are pros and cons.

    Home Theatre PC: Audio.

    I couldn't tell the difference in Ghost Recon.

    Be that as it may...I'm planning on a GTXP 7.1 for my next soundcard, run a couple of nice gold plated RCA plugs from the breakout box to the 7.1 inputs on my receiver. Should be bangin' for DVDs and as good as possible for games.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    What we need is tests of actual sound quality. I don't belive that Standard sound cards offer any better quality than mobo sound. Unless I see some s/n, distortion, and such details I won't believe.
  • MarkTAWMarkTAW Brooklyn, NY
    edited June 2003
    So why don't we conduct a test of our sound cards?

    http://audio.rightmark.org/ has a tool that lets you measure these numbers. All you need to do is take a short trip to radioshack to get the right cable to make the round trip from the output to the input of your card.

    These numbers aren't totally accurate - to get that you need a reference sound card so you can test A/D and D/A seperately, but this is good enough to measure one sound card against another... Though most will have crappier line ins because nobody ever uses those and they can skimp on that.

    But with those caveats, we can measure our sound cards. You can find some sample reports here: http://www.marktaw.com/recording/HomeStudio/Digi001/MeasuringtheDigi001.html

    Re: 5.1 sound cards making traditional stereo sound cards obsolete... For hardcore gamers and people who watch DVD's on their computers (a small minority probably) they'll buy their computer around these factors picking and choosing components.

    But most people don't care. I mean, mp3's aren't in 5.1 and that's the most audio most people get out of their computers.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited June 2003
    Right, but with the way things are going, with more and more Home Theatre PC's being built and sold, this is gonna be the next big thing as far as enthusiasts go, IMHO.. We haven't seen such interest in computer sound cards since the original soundblaster came out in the early 90's...
  • MarkTAWMarkTAW Brooklyn, NY
    edited June 2003
    Hmmm... Makes sense. Better and better sound cards are getting cheaper and cheaper so more and more people want to get the best quality possible.

    Plus, computer software (and hardware) makers are focusing more and more on media, so more and more computer users are using their computers for media.
  • maxanonmaxanon Montreal
    edited June 2003
    Yeah,

    But a few years ago a lot of systems came with PCI sound cards. Now that they're embedded, the companies must be feeling the pinch. They lost all those "dell" customers in OEM sales.

    The enthusiasts make up a small portion of the market segment. Also, there's an upper limit to the sound quality (other than for sig use), so at a point in the near future I think these sound card companies are going to shrink and only be used for niche markets.

    No matter how great your sound card is (in specs) your output will matter. And even if you buy 400$ PC speakers, you're going to start wasting your money by trying to pursue that ultimate card.
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited June 2003
    The concern I have with Rightmark is that it is a loop test. That is the output is looped to the input and the average is taken. If your sound card has an incrediblly good output but really crappy input then the card will score less...people may think it is a poor quality card.

    But that is the price you pay for a free tool.

    The best way to test a sound card is with a third party professional audio analyzer...which of course none of us have the spare thousands of dollars kicking around for that. :)

    Personally....motherobard sound has increased quite a bit but it still isn't at the level of good quality PCI based sound cards such as the Revolution or Terratec.
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