Does anyone here use a pci-e sound card ?

[linuxyogi]

Hi,

I personally use onboard Nvidia HDA audio. My mobo has only 1 pci-e slot. I had a Nvidia 9500GT connected to it. It worked for 3 years then it went bad. I mentioned that coz if I am in a position to choose I will choose a graphics card coz the onboard audio sounds quite decent to my ears.

I keep on watching these videos about high end pci-e sound cards.

Do they really improve audio quality ? Are you using one ? Please share your experience.

Another thing, how does those things perform under opensource platforms like Linux and BSD ?

[arsenic23]

Ten years ago I would have said, 'Yes, definitely. A good sound card is always better then onboard.'
But you know, now onboard sound has improved a lot and I'm even driving my main stereo off of an onboard chipset. If you are already happy with what you have I wouldn't concern yourself with it.

[ajgreeny]

Ten years ago I would have said, 'Yes, definitely. A good sound card is always better then onboard.'
But you know, now onboard sound has improved a lot and I'm even driving my main stereo off of an onboard chipset. If you are already happy with what you have I wouldn't concern yourself with it.
+1

I do the same as arsenic23, and as long as your sound files are of a good quality, ie not greatly compressed mp3s but perhaps flac instead, they should sound great from most modern onboard sound cards.

I pipe mine through my NAD amplifier (old but still great) and Mordaunt-Short speakers, and it all sounds fabulous, even though it's coming from the 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller onboard card of my ASUS motherboard.

[mattlach]

Ten years ago I would have said, 'Yes, definitely. A good sound card is always better then onboard.'
But you know, now onboard sound has improved a lot and I'm even driving my main stereo off of an onboard chipset. If you are already happy with what you have I wouldn't concern yourself with it.

I mostly agree.

Unless you are an audiophile, with high end equipment attached to your computer, you likely won't notice the difference, and if you are, you are probably better off with a good USB DAC anyway.

I have a Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD hooked up to my external headphone amp, and it does produce better sound than the onboard audio, but the margin has shrunk significantly over the years. On my HTPC, I didn't even bother, I use the onboard audio.

A side benefit is that dedicated sound cards tend to reduce CPU load during audio playback, but this is something you likely won't even notice, unless you are playing rather demanding games on a relatively low end CPU.

So for anal audiophiles and a subset of gamers it may make sense, but for most people, on board is just fine.