Inboard sound card vs. external sound card

In what ways do the limitations of inboard sound cards present themselves (i.e. crackling, popping, overall sound quality, etc.)? I've started to notice the occasional crackle and sound fragment (if that's even a thing) during my listening (even with flac). It occurs randomly, but more often at louder volumes. It wouldn't have bothered me two months ago, but I'm getting pickier about quality.

If you guys suggest getting an external sound card, which ones are good? I want it exclusively for music. I don't care about gimmicks like 5.1, 7.1, or anything "gaming" oriented, but I will consider them if they produce a superior musical sound.

I don't really know what a reasonable price would be for a sound card, so could you suggest different pricing options as well?

I'm currently using a pair of AD700s.

Thanks for any input!

 

5.1 isn't a gimmick!

I have never used onboard sound ever. I've always had a Soundblaster. I just bought a USB Xfi 5.1, it seems to be pretty good and it has optical. I haven't been able to mess with it a ton but it was 40$. I had an Xfi Titanium in my desktop and it sounded awesome vs any onboard sound I heard on buddies computers.

 

I was using onboard before. It was alright, and I bought a dac/amp and didn't really notice too much of a difference with headphones, but on my speakers, the sound is a lot more solid than lazy sounding.

 

Click on my sig. This is what I use:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro.html

150-200$ Not that expensive for PURE sound quality.

Its for music production, and sound perfect for playback.

You could also get the not pro version, probably same processor just less inputs so sounds the same just cheaper. you should really have a look in home-studio shops if you just want a sound card for music listening. Just make sure you can have it replaced for another in case of problems, because i found that usb sound cards tend to be picky about what PC they work flawlessly on.

 

I understand what he means about 5.1 being gimmick if for him its all about music.

Rare is the music formated in 5.1, and I too would rather have a cristal clear amazing 2.1 sound, than a average 5.1.

 

I personally use a Echo AudioFire2 and its the best I have used. I've had many creatives, a few turtle beaches. I'd take the Echo over any of them but its firewire, so for notebooks and such then it may not work so well. (some notebooks have horrrible 1394 cards).

 

Yeah. Dolby 5.1 music sounds awesome though! But yeah, I knew what he meant. =)

 

I upgraded my sound card to an Audio Advantage Micro by Turtle Beach. My primary incentive for doing so was the 5.1 SPDIF passthrough over optical cable. My notebook only has digital 5.1 output via HDMI and my receiver doesn't process audio over HDMI. I was about to settle on analog output but I'd rather avoid the mess of three cables. One cable running to the receiver is enough.

I've got my computer hooked up to my home theater right now using the digital output. It does sound fantastic. It never really sounded bad when I used a stereo 3.5mm to RCA, though. I'm listening to some music off of YouTube and it still sounds crisp, clean, and clear.

The AA Micro goes for about $30, which is a great price, in my opinion. It's got the features that I wanted at a price that I was comfortable paying. It does pass 5.1 audio over SPDIF so you'd have options in the future.

 

What places would you suggest I visit?

 

I dont have the slightest idea, I am French and I dont think you want to come over here to buy a sound card (well maybe you do and cant )

Im sure plenty of people here know sites or local shops where you can go check for such products.

Hum, Where are you from as a matter fo fact?

 

Just a small footnote, the crackling and popping is more then likely caused by your graphics card.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=455125

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=157614

 

Or your ground, or your drivers, or the drivers for another sound device. There are so many things that can cause artifacts in your sound on a notebook.

 

I rarely ever hear any pops, and when I do, it's usually when the volume is up higher than normal. For me, what's bothersome are the small little hiccups I notice during playback. It's almost like a skip, but it's very brief (fraction of a second) and occurs randomly, regardless of the file, maybe once in twenty songs. 95% of the time everything sounds smashing (oh behave).

I live in Davis, California.

 

Yeah, sounds like driver issues to me.

 

It seems we have no audiophiles here.

Note that you'll be hard-pressed to hear any differences in sound using ty headphones when you take the jump from onboard to external. As note that you can't just buy any DAC and expect better results. Many are crap.

However, if you do have decent headphones (your AD700s are okay), you will hear a difference and the difference will be huge. I recommend getting a NuForce uDAC ( http://www.nuforce.com/hp/products/iconudac/index.php) for $99. It's tiny, requires no external power, and sounds absurdly good for the price.

Also note that crap in, is crap out. No headphones sound good with 128Kbps MP3s playing through them. High bit-rate files and lossless is the way to go.

 

That thing looks great!

I guess I'm not an audiophile but I try. At the least I just hate BAD sound. I hate when buddies show me some music on a 2.0 usb powered speaker system, or laptop speakers, etc. I have Seinnheiser in ears and they rock. All my music CDs are WMA Lossless or WMA 192 on my Zune.

Maybe I should get one of those original model PlayStations and join the audiophile club? haha

 

hun hun...warm welcome to the forums, I'm gonna like you very much...

Lol

 

I'd never intentionally call myself something like that. Sound much to similar to pedophile.

 

Would a good set of speakers give better sound with a standard sound card ? or would I need a sound card to give me the better sound.

I guess I want to know which one is the limiting factor.

- Buy good speakers, Standard sound card ?
- Buy good sound card, standard speakers ?

 

Both.
Standard sound card with good speakers - the speakers might sound light if it's just through the 'headphone jack'/speaker jack.
Good sound card with standard speakers, might sound interesting, but you might not even notice the difference.

What exactly do you mean by 'standard speakers' anyways?

 

Sorry should of explain more. I mean like ones out would get on your laptop, in my case the Clevo 8690. Just want to know should I invest in a sound card or the speakers. Or even both lol.

 

Add-on sound card can't be routed to laptop speakers.

 

Well that settles that then , external sound card + speakers.