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Thread: Audiophile quality soundcard or integrated plus a reasonably priced graphics card.

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    Audiophile quality soundcard or integrated plus a reasonably priced graphics card.

    Your thoughts please, I'll probably do a major upgrade in approx 2 years time, until then I'm looking at merely buying a reasonably priced graphics card, but please note that I don't do gaming, it would be purely for streaming films and sports. My main interest is music and I stream and download music all the time, tastes from classical/opera to Pink Floyd. So, do I stick with the onboard Creative Soundcore Audio, such as it is or can anybody suggest a separate sound card that will make a big difference to what I already have. Those are the only changes that I'm looking to do for the time being, the rest, is as I say for a complete revamp in approx 2 years.

    My system at the moment is as follows:-

    Mobo Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 7 Rev 1;
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    Monitor Dell U2715H;
    Case NZXT H440;
    Speakers Logitech Z623 2.1;
    Headphones Sennheiser HD598SE.

    My approximate budget is £500.00

    Thanks for your assistance, it's much appreciated.

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    Re: Audiophile quality soundcard or integrated plus a reasonably priced graphics card

    Are you currently happy with the sound? If so, why upgrade? :-)

    I personally don't feel any amp offers a "big" difference over decent onboard audio. Sure, there is a difference, but unless you're critically listening, you're probably not going to notice anything better than good enough.

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    Re: Audiophile quality soundcard or integrated plus a reasonably priced graphics card

    Given your speakers i doubt you'd notice much if any difference from onboard sound for music you've downloaded. Even if it's high end lossless (FLAC or similar,) which in the case of streaming it almost certainly isn't I'm not sure you'll get much from it.

    For me if you've really got £500 to spend on sound and you want to hear a difference you'd be better off spending it on some hi-fi speakers and an amp to run them and hooking them up to your pc. Doubly so if your onboard has an optical out so can just pass over all the processing to the hi-fi kit.

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    Re: Audiophile quality soundcard or integrated plus a reasonably priced graphics card

    Exactly my thoughts - aeven a cheap amp and hifi speakers will make a huge difference. Its onoy when you are playing 384kHz DSF fiules where you *really* need a much better sound card, like the new Nu https://forums.hexus.net/hexus-news/...udio-card.html
    Cheers, David



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    Re: Audiophile quality soundcard or integrated plus a reasonably priced graphics card

    Google Chromecast Audio into a proper HiFi amplifier and a decent set of speakers.

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    Re: Audiophile quality soundcard or integrated plus a reasonably priced graphics card

    Thanks for your thoughts everybody, I'll do some reading up on the EVGA Nu, even more so when the price in the UK is released. Will also have a look at upgrade to my speakers with separate amp via optical connection. The graphics card can go on the back burner until my last and final build in approx 2 years. What's important now is the audio. Thanks guys.

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    Re: Audiophile quality soundcard or integrated plus a reasonably priced graphics card

    Good upgrade for sound quality is typically an external DAC these days. Good particularly for headphones. You can also get some with either pre-amp or full on speaker amplification. Something like an SMSL AD18 would give you a good headphone out, bluetooth connectivity and room to upgrade your speakers.

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    Re: Audiophile quality soundcard or integrated plus a reasonably priced graphics card

    Quote Originally Posted by SamanthaCarter View Post
    Good upgrade for sound quality is typically an external DAC these days. Good particularly for headphones. You can also get some with either pre-amp or full on speaker amplification. Something like an SMSL AD18 would give you a good headphone out, bluetooth connectivity and room to upgrade your speakers.
    Agreed, although given your current setup the hd598 are only 50ohms and it would be a waste buying a dac/amp for them. You're better off getting a pair of HD 6XX massdrop and pairing them with a Fiio/FX Audio or even some tube amps.

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    Re: Audiophile quality soundcard or integrated plus a reasonably priced graphics card

    I have an X-Fi Elite Pro which is some years old. I will NEVER go back to integrated sound. I got it cheap, second hand.

    I can tell the difference using a decent pair of headphones or speakers. Whilst you really can only notice the difference with a decent pair of headphones (and I don't mean silly money, I'm talking like £100 ones) you can tell the difference. Or I can.

    There are definitely cons out there which work on the placebo effect which is why I'd never spend silly money or buy stupid cables, etc. That being said, unless you're buying a mobo which does have really good integrated sound, there is a difference.

    I know nothing about EVGA's offering. What I will say is that if you don't have a halfway decent set of speakers or headphones, I'd upgrade those first. It's like upgrading the engine on a car but having tyres that can't put the power down.

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    Re: Audiophile quality soundcard or integrated plus a reasonably priced graphics card

    How about hi-fi before audiophile. The top of the range SoundBlaster cards have things like replaceable opamps so you can tune the analogue output, but as others have observed, your speakers aren't even giving you hifi, and whilst good, your headphones won't warrant expensive kit.

    That said, if you do upgrade the rest of your kit, then you'll really want to switch to a dedicated sound card as you'll notice the difference then! It becomes a bit chicken and egg at that point.

    I have a SoundBlaster Z (basic version), and it's not audio-phile, but the dedicated headphone circuit makes a massive difference when using headphones. And the 6 channel analogue output works fantastically with a multichannel amp. It also has digital out, but I've always had sync problems when using that for games.

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