Sound motherboard vs. sound card

[QVENGADOR]

I'm looking at a configuration and I see that I can't put my sound card. Well, it has no place to be put.


The thing is that I've noticed this motherboard and it has no place to put it, at least that's what I think.


I would ask you to check it.
Also I wonder if the sound of a motherboard can be as good as that sound card

[Sylver]

@qvengador Buenas,

If it's a PCI-Express x1 connector, you can put it in a large PCI-Express without any problems, there shouldn't be any issue.

The sound of that card is better than that of an integrated one from practically any motherboard, except for Macs. But in the end the final performance depends on what sound equipment you have, as it will be responsible for reproducing more or fewer frequencies and for keeping them "flat" or altering them slightly according to its design.

Saludos

[QVENGADOR]

@sylver Muchas gracias.

[defaultuser]

And if for some other reason you can't physically place it in the slot, you can use a cable raiser to move it.

[Clipper]

The question would be, what use do you need?
If it's something for a professional level, it may even fall short.
If it's for another use, the integrated one may suffice, obviously it's better,
a dedicated one like the one you have compared to an integrated one, but it will depend on the speakers, microphone.
It all depends on the use, which you don't mention.
Regards

[QVENGADOR]

@clipper Man, I'd like to reuse it because I already have it. And the use would be mainly for gaming, watching movies and listening to music. I have it connected to a home cinema and, although it's old, it works well.

[Sylver]

@qvengador Sure, you'll need it to be able to connect all the home cinema speakers. In the Z690 integrated, I imagine you'll be missing some output.

Best regards

[Clipper]

@qvengador personally, I prefer headphones for gaming and I had a pair of Creative 5.1 that cost a fortune and there is no comparison, more than once they shot me in the back for not hearing the footsteps and that was with it configured as front / side / rear + subwoofer.
You'll have to comment on how the change is.
Regards

[QVENGADOR]

@clipper Good when I play quake, bf or warzone, competitive type, with headphones. But if I play Control, Cyberpunky others like that I like to hear them at home. It depends on the game.
And what you say about headphones and footsteps, you're right, it's fundamental. But for the others I like to hear them in the environment.

[defaultuser]

@sylver The integrated ones usually come with compatibility with 5.1 as a minimum, in most cases 7.1, and the quality of the circuits is no longer bad, saving the differences between models.

As for the quality of signal processing, I think one of the fundamental things is the SNR value, that is, signal/noise ratio, and secondly the fidelity of the output signal with respect to the signal of the file itself.
However, in most processing-amplification-speaker combinations, it is the latter (speaker) that is poor and responsible for the "shortcomings" that some people appreciate directly by ear.
As for speakers, if they are not three-way, I think it is not worth looking for high-quality audio since the speakers will not keep up.

generally the dedicated one will be better, but you would always have to check it, it could even be a dedicated one with a few years and an integrated one from a good board and the difference would have to be looked at closely..
If you don't want to get into checking data and doing "ear" tests, just put the dedicated one and that's it.

[Sylver]

@defaultuser Yeah, and in theory the Z690 that it proposes supports up to 7.1, although the Xonar has dedicated outputs for the whole home cinema. I imagine that in the integrated one of the Z690 you would have to configure it one by one, and I understand that in that sense it is more practical to keep the Xonar.

Much of what you comment on falls on the D/A converter of the sound card, which is the element that is of most interest to be of higher quality. In the Xonar Phoebus it distances itself in certain parameters from the integrated one of the Z690, such as for example in the mentioned SNR value in input and output or in the total range of frequencies that it is capable of reproducing. As I was saying before, Apple is one of the few manufacturers (if not the only one) that mounts as standard in its equipment a very high performance D/A converter, and that is why it is usually the first option for sound technicians and musicians in general.

In effect, the ultimate responsible for turning into "reality" what a better or worse sound card processes is the sound equipment itself, in this case the speakers.
If that home cinema is a brand, without a doubt it will reproduce many more frequencies than a cheap one, and you will really notice the difference in games with a very elaborate sound section or when you listen to high quality music.

Unless a dedicated sound card is very old as you were saying, I am always in favor of using it over an integrated one, but it also goes hand in hand with having a sound equipment up to the task. Whoever has some brand white speakers of 3W RMS can already spend 1500€ on an external Apollo that is still going to sound like a rusty can

Greetings!

[defaultuser]

@sylver When you say sound system, some people might get confused.
Mainly this: processing circuitry, digital/analog converter, pre-amplification (if any) and emitters (speakers).
The SNR also falls on the pre-amplification in addition to the DAC

@sylver said in Sound motherboard versus sound card:

they will continue to sound like rusted tin

Haha I've had that, a long time ago my first PC speakers and first tower, I thought the sound system was terrible and it wasn't bad, what were so extremely bad those speakers for office work that indeed sounded like tin, horrible.