Will the onboard SoundStorm on the Asus A7N8X Deluxe be as good/worse/better in terms of quality than a Hercules GameSurround Fortissimo II soundcard?
Thanks.
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Will the onboard SoundStorm on the Asus A7N8X Deluxe be as good/worse/better in terms of quality than a Hercules GameSurround Fortissimo II soundcard?
Thanks.
thru analog, worse
thru digital, mmm... :)
My mate is using his optical to coax digital converter for his speakers with the Hercules, so on the Soundstorm...? :)
Not sure how good that card is m8. I now the SoundStorm is better than the SB Audigy, but not quite as good as the Audigy 2.
Stick with your soundstrorm, as already stated it comparable to the Audigy series of cards, so its a good sound system. In terms of quality I doubt you would notice much difference so you may aswell save your money and buy something else with it, like a few jars down the pub.....:)
the thing about soundstorm is digital 5.1 via dolby, whihc you can't get on any other DSP on the market.
The cpu usage by Nvidia onchip sound is rock bottom - comparable to Audigy2.
But the main thing for non musician types is that soundstorm = 'free'. Where as PCI sound card = ££. Its another reason why an AMD chip and mobo can still be worth buying over an Intel these days.
Its not free, the motherboard is more expensive than one without Soundstorm in it. So your paying for it there.Quote:
Originally posted by Trickle
The cpu usage by Nvidia onchip sound is rock bottom - comparable to Audigy2.
But the main thing for non musician types is that soundstorm = 'free'. Where as PCI sound card = ££. Its another reason why an AMD chip and mobo can still be worth buying over an Intel these days.
I've heard this before that the analog on the SoundStorm is worse than a dedicated (decent) sound card but that the ditigal output is better. But I've never really seen a good explanation why.Quote:
Originally posted by directhex
thru analog, worse
thru digital, mmm... :)
What i heard was if you use analogue output, that the digital signal has to be converted to analogue and that motherboard manufacturer's use Realtek to convert the siganl(And there quality isnt the best) but if you use the digital output then it's a pure signal.
soundstorm has a dolby digital encoder in it, meaning it can create dolby 5.1 sound to be played back thru digital. no other card on the market can do this, they can only pass thru pre-created dolby data (e.g. a dvd sound track) or play stereo thru digital.
Audigys can do that...
Hence why I put it in inverted commas ;) Still, £5 is much better than £20+ or sticking with poorer intel platform onboard sound solutions.Quote:
Originally posted by sparky191
Its not free, the motherboard is more expensive than one without Soundstorm in it. So your paying for it there.
I think theres normally a bigger price difference than that m8. So far the nforce boards haven't been niggle either have they? So some might prefer a board with no onboard sound and a dedicated sound card. I don't see what Intel has to do with it you can get AMD boards without onboard sound. Bringing Intel into it is a whole different discussion. This is not a Intel Vs AMD discussion this is a SoundStorm vs Hercules GameSurround Fortissimo II discussion. No?Quote:
Originally posted by Trickle
Hence why I put it in inverted commas ;) Still, £5 is much better than £20+ or sticking with poorer intel platform onboard sound solutions.
No they cant :)Quote:
Originally posted by Howard
Audigys can do that...
They can only decode pre-created Dolby information, as Jo has allready mentioned :)
Edit: I stand corrected
:o
Dont understand your point here. I bought a non Deluxe A7N8X with what turned out to be shocking realtech onboard sound. I later bought an NF7s with the Nividia sound enabled.Quote:
I think theres normally a bigger price difference than that m8. So far the nforce boards haven't been niggle either have they? So some might prefer a board with no onboard sound and a dedicated sound card. I don't see what Intel has to do with it you can get AMD boards without onboard sound.
Manufacturers make different revisions of NF2 boards, but they tend to have more differences than just the realtech vs nvidia sound alone. My guestimate of £5 was my take on how much you pay extra for the better Nvidia sound enabled.Thats me going off topic, but what level of sound you want is something that every Intel purchaser has to decide, where as with AMD people the choice is alot clearer as high performance low cpu 5 channel gaming sound comes almost for free. Buy an NF2 board with the mcpt (sp?) sound and dont waste cash on the audigy unless you are an audiophile or musician. If you are a standard gamer with a standard sound system then you arnt going to be bothered about the minor difference in quality from the analogue input discussed above.Quote:
This is not a Intel Vs AMD discussion this is a SoundStorm vs Hercules GameSurround Fortissimo II discussion. No?
Well like you said generally when you buy a Soundforce board they come with a lot of other extras, like the onboard VGA etc. So the price difference can be €100 - £50 between a soundforce board and a plain (nothing onboard), board. But I doubt £5 is even the difference in cost of manufacturing, even when manufactured in great volume.
Having the onboard 5 digital channel gaming sounds great, but in practise how many users have a 5 speaker set up around their PC? Only the hardcore I reckon. For me personally I couldn't stand all the wires that are involved, and I simply don't have the space to position the speakers to do them justice. I have my own office aswell. Personally I use the analog a lot more than the digital, and I'd be more concerned with my audio than the sounds in my games. Then theres the fact that I use headphones a lot. (Can you get digital earphones?)
I have had lots of minor niggles with having lots of onboard stuff on a motherboard in the past. These days on PC's that I don't want to have to tweak and tweak to get working I go for plain jane components as I find they are pretty bullet proof stability wise. The Intel solutions are generally better in this regard, though I also have AMD rigs that have been very stable too.
But for a gamers rig and for one that you want a lot of integrated stuff on it, the AMD soundstorm can't be beat especially if you are price sensitive at all. For 90% of scenerios the audio of the SoundStorm is as good as you want or need for anything.
So in answer to the original question "Will the onboard SoundStorm on the Asus A7N8X Deluxe be as good/worse/better in terms of quality than a Hercules GameSurround Fortissimo II soundcard?" I'd say its as good if not better for most things. Unless you an audiophile with a lot of analog gear. Even then only a really top end Audio card would have any advantages and it would be rubbish at gaming them. If I was buying a new AMD motherboard now it would be one with SoundStorm definately.
For gaming / dvd / movie playback / etc. the soundstorm is better, and has a more "immersive" sound.
For working with the audio - i.e. recording/mixing/etc, the Hercules is better.
I've got both, and switch between the two, depending on what I'm doing.
S.
i have the a7n8x dlx and it seems to work pretty well, no complaints really...
Quote:
Originally posted by digitalis
For gaming / dvd / movie playback / etc. the soundstorm is better, and has a more "immersive" sound.
For working with the audio - i.e. recording/mixing/etc, the Hercules is better.
I've got both, and switch between the two, depending on what I'm doing.
S.
What speakers are you running them through?
Headphones. (just a standard Sony pair, if that makes any difference.)Quote:
What speakers are you running them through?
S.
Speaker and headphones make a huge difference to the subjective quality of the sound. I was just curious thats all. I see that you can get a pair of surround sound speakers now.Quote:
Originally posted by digitalis
Headphones. (just a standard Sony pair, if that makes any difference.)
S.
http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/ZM-RS6F.htm
That looks kinda interesting no? OcUK are selling them.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatal..._headsets.html
how can i take advantage of the digital sound.. my Abit nf7-s doesnt play when i have the digital option checked.. but it plays when i have analog checked
You need to have a Digital Reciever hooked up to the digital port on the sound card.Quote:
Originally posted by bluephi1914
how can i take advantage of the digital sound.. my Abit nf7-s doesnt play when i have the digital option checked.. but it plays when i have analog checked
NS
and how much do those revievers cost..
and wich one would you recomend.... i have never looked into using the dital option of my sound card... is the sound that much better... even with on board sound like my abit board ?
I've seen some nice speaker/receiver/amp packages around the £300 mark, it should be a fair bit cheaper than that over in the US though..
and they have to specify digital right ???
Lots of cheap digital speakers would work too right?Quote:
Originally posted by NightShade737
You need to have a Digital Reciever hooked up to the digital port on the sound card.
NS
Depends. If the speakers have a Digital Coaxial or Digital Optical (TOSLINK) input then yes, but cheap speakers normally don't have digital inputs.
NS
I want an optical to coax converter for my PC spekaers but I don't feel disposed to spend £20 on one :(
The VideoLogic DigiTheatre DTS system is a nice system with Analog, Digital and Optical Digital Inputs, and the Logitech Z680 system also has Digital and Digital Optical inputs, and it also has 6 analog inputs for 5.1 in games.
For normal purposes, especially on PC systems, digital would probably make no difference at all. The only reason it is actually ever NEEDed is if you want to use the speakers as a Dolby or DTS decoder for watching DVD's and such.
NS
If my PC was in the same room as my nice home cinema equipment, I'd use the optical for that. But you're right, you don't need it for 2.1.
Funny a lot of the cheaper ones I've seen later do! my mate has a set of Boston ones that only take a digitial signal.Quote:
Originally posted by NightShade737
Depends. If the speakers have a Digital Coaxial or Digital Optical (TOSLINK) input then yes, but cheap speakers normally don't have digital inputs.
NS
You said cheap. Cheap is £5 to £20. If you want a specific answer than be specific yourself. If you knew the answer then why did you ask me?Quote:
Originally posted by sparky191
Funny a lot of the cheaper ones I've seen later do! my mate has a set of Boston ones that only take a digitial signal.
And they only take a digital signal? That sounds rather strange...
NS
NF7-s ?Quote:
Originally posted by Howard
I want an optical to coax converter for my PC spekaers but I don't feel disposed to spend £20 on one :(
You can take a coax lead from the connections on the mobo, and have a coax digi out like that :)
I've never used a soundstorm so I've no idea what the output is like on them. I'm considering buying one soon though.Quote:
Originally posted by NightShade737
You said cheap. Cheap is £5 to £20. If you want a specific answer than be specific yourself. If you knew the answer then why did you ask me?
And they only take a digital signal? That sounds rather strange...
NS
My mate uses a SB128D PCI (for digital) with his speakers. Its all Gateway gear. The problem is that the SB128D driver keeps switching to analog which the speakers don't work with so you have to renstall the driver to get the digital output back. I tested the speakers with my Sonic Fury so that how I know about the speakers. Since the Sonic fury has a versa jack that can switch between digitial and analog output. Only problem is hes lost the drivers for the SB128D that I gave him and I can't find them again. The download on the Gateway site is broken. I'm fed up fixing that gateway so I've ignored him for a while in the hope he'll junk the SB128PCI and get a proper card that has decent drivers. I noticed that the digital boston though cheap have a much strong output than my analog speakers through the sonic fury.
@ Agent.. Where's the jumper? I got a PCI bracket thign with my speakers that has a coax output, and a little square connector...?
Ill try and find out the pin outs for you later on mate :)Quote:
Originally posted by Howard
@ Agent.. Where's the jumper? I got a PCI bracket thign with my speakers that has a coax output, and a little square connector...?
Thanks son :)