Is a sound card worth it in 2024? YES

[@aelonath]

The Soundblaster crossed out in your thumbnail is also a soundcard - just an external one. I use it to share my sound card/setup across 4 different systems (KVM) - really nice. And you dont have the card in the bad electromagnetic environment that is your PC.

[@bobab.]

Titles pretty misleading. You obviously have a specific use case. Anybody else would be just fine with a USB dac like the schitt modi

[@dragonsystems5973]

@@bobab. @the12gaugeshotty clearly you did not watch the video, I very clearly explained my reasoning

[@bobab.]

​@@dragonsystems5973 Could you provide a timestamp, its not very clear. Seems like you want want retro support, toslink, and 3.5 output? Is that not a specific use case?

[@dragonsystems5973]

@bobab. I already rewatched this video once for someone else a d can say I was pretty damn clear on why I recommended this and the conditions under which I did so. Seriously, you people act I'm telling everyone their computer isn't complete without a 4090.. broham, I clearly stated I did not believe the brand new options at something like 199 and up where a good value... I clearly stated I only recommended this at the $50 used ebay price. Stop acting like I'm trying to tell people they need an expensive niche item. Does this have some niche uses? Yes. Many of those niche uses are things you won't know you have a use for until you have a use for them, like optical input for example. This can also do all the mainstream stuff. At $50, I standby my recommendation regardless of how many of you tell me you don't like it

[@HellFire107]

Every PC I use on a regular basis has a soundcard. I use high impedance wired headphones with my computers and speakers which connect via RCA to my Soundblaster ZXR. My HTPC takes advantage of Dolby/DTS encoders to get surround sound audio to work using a Soundblaster Z. The PC in my office uses a Logitech 5.1 speaker setup which is quite dated. The Sound Blaster Audigy Fx V2 allows the center and rear speakers to get output audio on stereo music tracks. The motherboards we own have capable audio solutions built in, yet they don't hold up to sound cards which are built exclusively for audio. My iMac is the exception. The headphone jack on it is capable enough to power my high impedance headphones and its internal speakers are quite serviceable. I don't find myself needing an external soundcard solution with it.

[@audie-cashstack-uk4881]

Use external share it with tv consoles phones tablets soundblaster g6 I use with phone pc switch tv set tablet k11 also . Soundblaster g8 even supports hdmi and dual usb. Wireless docks also now support multi input. HDMI optical usb

[@rstebnicki]

Ultimate Soundblaster will be 64 Gold or 32 AWE PnP (retro wise).

[@kylemueller]

I just use a standalone desktop DAC with a separate headphone amp/stereo preamp and a stereo speaker amplifier for my speakers. Although, I probably don't even need a dedicated DAC anymore because my X670E Taichi has an ESS Sabre DAC 🤷‍♂️

[@the12gaugeshotty]

No thanks to anything from Creative. Just get a Schiit Magni Unity. Has USB-C input and enough power for almost any headphone. Has an excellent DAC and doesn't need any drivers or software. Cannot say the same for any Creative product.

[@dragonsystems5973]

@the12gaugeshotty clearly you did not watch the video, I very clearly explained my reasoning

[@josephdias5859]

creative makes usb c dacs just like that soundblaster x G6

[@dragonsystems5973]

@josephdias5859 he sounds like a Linux user, i can scent them from a mile away now, the obsession with proprietary is a dead give away

[@Violet-ui]

External DAC > Sound card USB > optical S/PDIF

[@momanddadmeetworld]

Soundblaster... holy moly, I haven't used a sound blaster in years.

[@dragonsystems5973]

These are the newer style ones

[@the12gaugeshotty]

Because Creative sound cards are garbage.

[@MK-jo1gi]

The 5.1 requirement is one of the reasons I also put a discrete soundcard in my brand-new 870 motherboard. The board should be able to do 5.1 - but it uses one of the front-side 3.5mm connectors. Which is ridiculous and half the time it doesn't work properly. The SB Audigy Fx just works and sounds better anyway. Many of the recent consumer grade boards no longer feature 5.1 output in dedicated 3.5mm plugs on the back. Alternatives could be an USB soundcard, but those rarely support 5.1. The only other way would be to go fully HDMI, but that brings other problems - like needing an amp that actually has HDMI in. I just want to keep using my perfectly fine amp, thanks. :)

[@ro0140]

I also have an external DAC/Amp with Topping D50s for pure audio. I really try to avoid internal soundcards in my computer. For gaming I just use a wireless Audeze Maxwell Headset.

[@voiceofreason9238]

Nice setup with the Topping amp. I've looked at that for a long time. Upon reading reading the many replies here, no matter what DAC I get with an internal sound card, the Sony 7.1 DAC is going to produce the final sound anyway.

[@superuser13]

I haven't used a sound card in at least ten years.

[@ScruffyMisguidedAndBlue]

Over 20 for me, last one I had was an Aureal 3D which was great back in the day. Now I just use a Focusrite Scarlett Solo with good headphones.

[@superuser13]

@ScruffyMisguidedAndBlue I use a Scarlett 6i6 at my design work station and a Scarlett 18i20 in my rack driven by Crown K into two EV 15s

[@Kcii-99]

yeah, they arent needed at all unless youre running something with high impediance without an amp, otherwise its useless and just another failure point and actually can add more sound than to clean it up

[@danixsc]

A sound card like that? It isn't. A good sound card like a Focusrite? It's worth it, as long as you invest in your headphones or speakers. If you don't invest in good enough equipment, it makes absolutely no sense to buy a sound card. And if you do, you won't buy a Creative sound card, there are good options out there costing the same but delivering more than double.

[@Crisom_Thull]

I use a GTX 1660 Super for sound output with my HTPC. My HDMI plugs directly into the E-ARC input of my sound bar, and I purchased the Dolby Atmos for PC plugin, it works great.

[@Lord_Dillinger]

#1 reason to use a dedicated sound card vs onboard.....the add in card doesn't use as much of your CPU. Plus Sound Blaster gives you audio capture "what you hear" so recording things is way easier!

[@WorldFamousUnfluencer]

0:06 "That generally people have decided is not needed anymore" Not sure where you got that from? Like literally almost everyone I know use some sort of soundcard or external audio interface. I use a focusrite scarlett myself.

[@Megasteel32]

the general public? you're an anamoly

[@Megasteel32]

the soundcard built into my motherboard wipes the floor with that esoteric piece of tech you're holding. I think I saw microcenter selling them 10 years ago

[@dragonsystems5973]

@Megasteel32 you have no idea what you are talking about. But have fun with the rage comments, the more the merrier.. keep em coming. I've built many many many thousands of computers... I'm sure what you have come up with in the machines you build every couple years is far more extensive than my experience but whatever

[@Megasteel32]

@@dragonsystems5973 I love how you keep stating conclusions but no premises. no where did I mention expertise and it's funny you assume you have more than me ;)

[@dragonsystems5973]

@Megasteel32 my expertise IS the veracity for my opinion... expertise matters. You are the one who made a contentious comment trying to discredit the foundation of the video. If you can't accept that the creator of a video might respond to your comments backing up his video, maybe you should stay out of the discussion

[@Megasteel32]

@@dragonsystems5973 lots of yap and little evidence. expertise =/= knowledge

[@oftensalty]

@@dragonsystems5973Appeal to Authority is literally a logical fallacy. If you want facts, present actual data to support your argument because experts in just about every field will not recommend Soundblaster cards for anything.

[@HadTooMuchToDream]

Depends on many factors. My use case is external box with MIDI, 2 channel XLR/line in and balanced L+R line out, along with a with low latency ASIO driver. if ya gaming, on-board vs dedicated sound card quality is for the most part, determined by the speakers/headset.

[@WarrenGarabrandt]

Nearly every consumer motherboard made in the last 20 years has audio built in, and the vast majority of them are capable of 24 bit 48khz audio with extremely low distortion, and every single one ever made can at least do 16 bit 44.1khz (cd quality). The vast majority of desktop computers are using cheap computer speakers that cost less than $200, or their speakers are built into the monitor or plug into USB and therefore don't even use the onboard audio. Anyone who needs good sound quality and actually understands what that means is likely going to be using an expensive headset that has its own DAC and amplifier built in, thus totally negating any need for even built-in audio. And for the remaining single-digit percentage of people who are 1) using their build-in audio, 2) using some kind of speaker, 3) need extremely high quality audio, 4) actually understand what that means, and 5) need advise form the internet for how to achieve this, they are going to be much better off taking any money they would spend on a sound card and instead add that money to the budget for better speakers. Nice, high quality speakers plugged into build-in audio is going to say WAY better than any cheap speaker plugged into the world's best audio card. Audio input and output is basically a solved problem, and has been for more than a decade now. There's no need to 99.99% of computer users to ever worry about buying a dedicated sound card.

[@DyceFreak]

I opted for a Schiit USB DAC since all my PC's are Mini-ITX. I have an old pair of Sennheiser HD595's that absolutely NEED a decent amp to drive. Onboard sounds like muffled ass. I do have my old 2010 PC with an Audigy in it though. Once you hear the awesomeness of SoundCards, you cannot unhear it. That said, my girlfriend is entirely happy with onboard and some cheap Edifier monitors and I agree, sounds great for youtube videos/MP3s.

[@Igor369]

I had SoundBlaster G1 which is REALLY CHEAP for like 9 years and used it on 2 different mobos, the difference between a mid range mobo sound and dedicated sound card sound is fucking night and day, it also fixed the issue of laptop microphone being dogshit because i could just plug my mic to it after getting a jack splitter. I am now on SBlaster G6 and I will never go back to stock mobo sound chip again.

[@samiraperi467]

Why would I buy a discrete soundcard when I only use optical out? Galvanic separation and bits are bits, they don't care as long as the values don't get fuzzy, and mine only have about 1 meter to go before they hit my preamp that does DTS, TrueHD and whatnot. I see no need to have analog circuitry in the PC where it's subjected to all kinds of disturbances.

[@dragonsystems5973]

@samiraperi467 well then I have an X58 based build I'm using optical output on with all kinds of audio issues coming out of the optical that I'd like to introduce you to. Bottom line is, this is how I build my systems, I feel this is a worthwhile product for $50, and I won't be backing off my opinion because some people disagree

[@oftensalty]

@@dragonsystems5973Why not just use your HDMI out, though?

[@Weissman111]

Used to use a SB X-Fi ZxR but it suffers from annoying buzzing noise in games so I don't use it now - I use an external DAC

[@dragonsystems5973]

@@Weissman111 ive found i generally see more issues with USB than a properly configured pci e internal

[@captmaverickable]

Dedicated sound cards are still useful in that they provide virtual surround sound to any headphone. Sometimes you want to use your favorite headphones to game. USB has always had issues with latency sensitive applications which audio usually is. My current motherboard has a high end chipset installed and separates it from the rest of the board as well as having separate PCB layers for the left and right channels. It does a pretty good job but if you were using a lower end board with a budget audio chipset this would be a great upgrade.

[@oftensalty]

You can do that in your PC with Dolby Atmos for headphones. All a dedicated sound card does is move the processing off your CPU.

[@geofff.3343]

THEY STILL SELL THEM?

[@Zeratoxx_]

I'd rather use an external soundcard using USB, there are less probabilities for interferences between PC parts

[@josephdias5859]

i use a soundcard because i often get interference on my onboard audio since im running a bunch of wireless adapters i slapped an soundblaster AE7 in and now i get none of that. i would get an external dac but i dont want extra crap on my desk

[@SabzAndMasenko-TheKitchen]

What about a cheap audio interface instead? I feel like they could be similarly priced second hand but be much newer. A lot of these internal cards are really old. You said they're reliable but all hardware will fail at some point. I have been using a 4 channel presonus interface that cost next to nothing.

[@dragonsystems5973]

@SabzAndMasenko-TheKitchen the ones I recommend are not really old, they are still selling a brand new version of the z, the soundblaster Z SE... plus, in 20 years I have never actually had a soundblaster fail

[@foxalitee]

He clearly likes it!

[@Mystic_Chizu]

I personally use a FiiO DAC-Amp. As a general rule I'd say having this or a dedicated soundcard is worth it if the headphones you're using cost you like 100usd or more.

[@speedybaby]

I use my fiio k9 pro

[@dustycarrier4413]

Using optical for anything less than multichannel is stupid. Also why are you piping audio over analog copper at all? You're already sending a video signal, presumably. Every single modern video signal ALSO carries with it an audio signal...there are also perfectly good 5.1 preamps (which can do the optical/hdmi/whatever to 3.5mm conversion). It's just a solution in search of a problem.

[@audie-cashstack-uk4881]

External for headphones is a MUST hdmi to tv monitor not at all, External is best then share it with tv phone games console

[@dragonsystems5973]

@@audie-cashstack-uk4881 i explained my problem with external in the video, and my external is nicer than most, not shitty.

[@dragonsystems5973]

I dont know where all yall are getting this anti internal angst from, but ive been building hundreds of computers a year for multiple decades now, and I have never seen a class of device available in both usb and pci-e that performs better in usb form than pci e

[@oftensalty]

Sound cards like this have such a narrow use case. They make zero sense of you’re using a wireless headset or a USB headset. They make zero sense if you’re using a soundbar or home theater system that supports audio over the HDMI cable (HDMI can carry more data than optical audio outs on these cards which is why you’re told to use eARC for the best audio in home theater systems). They make zero sense if your goal is audio recording because your professional audio interface would just handle input and output better. They make little sense if you just want to use high quality headphones because a audio DAC/headphone amp would give you better results if you’re an audiophile. For everyone else, onboard audio has improved so much from the days when dedicated sound cards were popular that most people are perfectly fine with it. Even for content creation, you’re generally capturing audio in the box on a single PC streaming setup or through the HDMI cable via your capture card. The reason people stopped buying these for their systems is because there are just very few people that these products make sense for these days. Yours is a seriously niche use case that probably doesn’t represent 99.99% of the population if it does make sense for you. Just to be clear, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with these. It’s just that they’re so niche that is hard to recommend them widely.

[@dragonsystems5973]

@oftensalty you know, all you negative commenter's are acting like I'm telling people their PC isn't complete without an RTX 4090. I get that for whatever reason YOU have decided you have no use for it, but I explicitly said in the video, I do t think it's worth a lot of money, but I do think it's worth $50, im not saying go out and buy a brand new AE9 for $300, of coarse at that price it is incredibly niche, i do, however, stand by my recommendation for a $50 soundblaster Z, and i think at $50 it has some capabilities that you don't otherwise get

[@oftensalty]

@ I mean… you’re pushing back against all of the criticism, but not actually addressing any of the specific arguments. You can say that $50 isn’t a lot of money, but that’s money that someone might be able to save if they’re not going to meaningfully benefit from buying a sound card so why wouldn’t you go out of your way to specify who exactly it makes sense for and who it doesn’t make sense for rather than titling your video in a manner to suggest that it’s a blanket recommendation? What makes this better than just using the digital audio signal already being sent over your HDMI cable if you have a home theater system or sound bar? If it’s not better, then why spend $50 you don’t need to? What makes this better than something like a Focusrite Scarlett or similar audio interface if your goal is content creation? If it’s not better, then why spend your limited money on it? How is this useful if you’re just a regular gamer using a wireless or USB headset? If it’s not, why spend $50 for it? I’ve watched your entire video and I don’t really understand the use case for this outside of when you’re dealing with some seriously old or obsolete hardware that’s two decades old. Nobody that’s an expert in the content creation space recommends a Soundblaster. Nobody in the AV or home theater space recommends a Soundblaster. Nobody in the audio engineering or recording space recommends a Soundblaster. Nobody in the audiophile space recommends a Soundblaster. Nobody in the gaming space recommends a Soundblaster. Yet here you are, recommending for people to go spend their hard earned money on a Soundblaster and assuming that people who are reacting negatively to it must either not know what they’re talking about or simply haven’t watched the video. We’ve watched the video and we are posting the counterpoints so that people can avoid wasting their money if they don’t actually need this largely because you’ve failed to do it in your own video. Also, if you’re going to post things publicly then you’re going to invite criticism. This is even more true when you’re positioning yourself as some sort of authority on the matter which you clearly are both from your video and your replies to various comments. This is normal.

[@dragonsystems5973]

@oftensalty you're being lazy. I clearly explained my reasoning in the video, I just rewatched it to be sure. I was very clear and explained item by item

[@oftensalty]

@ So where in your video does it explain why optical makes more sense than the audio going over your HDMI signal? Are you using video cards with DVI outputs or something? HDMI is capable of higher quality audio output than optical audio and it comes built into your computer without spending $50.

[@dragonsystems5973]

@oftensalty ok, now i get what this is about. Your right, it wasn't exhaustive. As I said, I clearly stated MY CASE. You are obviously SALTY over me suggesting an audio card is a good idea... I get it, you are team no sound card, we will never agree. I'm done with this conversation, thanks for participating

[@ericshutter5305]

NOPE ... I always use an external Pro USB device like Steinberg UR44 ... for all other things I just use the on-board audio device.

[@dragonsystems5973]

@ericshutter5305 i mean that's certainly your opinion, I've tried external and had issues with it, as I described in the video as I held an external in my hand. Also, I am not talking about an external headphone amp, im talking about a full multi channel audio output device with 7.1 analog out, plus analog in and optical in/out, i would not build a computer without this

[@voiceofreason9238]

I'm looking for high quality sound for the Mancave PC, no gaming. I would be connecting the PC to a decent Sony AVR which has its own DAC. Would the DAC in the sound card be enabled over the AVR, or does the AVR have the last word? A have a newer MSI Tomahawk MB for an AMD 5 setup. I bought this board specifically for the SPDIF output and higher quality sound but it doesn't sound higher quality to me. Can anybody comment, or steer me to a forum which would help me educate myself?

[@dragonsystems5973]

@@voiceofreason9238 i dont have answers on that, sorry

[@VandepoelM]

Use hdmi. No need for anything else.

[@dragonsystems5973]

@VandepoelM this is aimed toward people who are using pcs as pcs, or as HTPCs, this is not really aimed at people who either have a home theater with a receiver(though optical is great for that) or people who are just gonna use their tvs built in speakers

[@VandepoelM]

optical is great, but it is limited to 5.1. There is no benefit to using optical over HDMI.

[@dazealex]

Use HDMI, or USB-C if your speakers support that -- like the sound bars (SoundBlaster Katana V2X), I just bought one to retire the old Z680 or whatever it was from the mid 2000's. My motherboard has Optical which works if you boot with it and use it immediately, but dies if it idles.

[@NickArcade]

Wish i had an internal sound card instead of having to use external USB DACs. And Realtek makes the worst onboard audio lol.

[@dragonsystems5973]

@@NickArcade this video has gotten surprisingly contentious... everything from this to people telling me I'm clueless

[@NickArcade]

@@dragonsystems5973 lol may as well be comedy video. On another note, I love hardware based spatial audio. I can use bitstream audio via optical. It's odd that there's no bitstream for USB, and HDMI has audio jitter. For TOSLINK you should check out the iFi SPDIF iPurifier 2 as it helps reclock the signal to eliminate jitter. I can also get 192 KHz audio with it.

[@sneg__]

this guy doesn't know what he's talking about

[@dragonsystems5973]

@@sneg__ @the12gaugeshotty clearly you did not watch the video, I very clearly explained my reasoning

[@roo1538]

i would advise against it.. you would just be duplicating your motherboard audio which already is powerful, low latency and has analog and digital (provided you don't have the cheapest entry level board) i had a sound card fry my motherboard so i'm even more inclined to advise against it. pcs are quite fragile due to how they have to work with any kind of hardware and how modern platforms demand ever increasing precision a single fault can make the machine imprecise and it snowballs from there. it’s best to avoid complexity. use dedicated hardware for the task when possible.

[@dragonsystems5973]

@roo1538 @the12gaugeshotty clearly you did not watch the video, I very clearly explained my reasoning

[@JeanLeite-d1e]

Funny, people make claims using their opinion and zero data. It's not hard to represent the frequencies of a Sound Card VS Onboard to see the real world numbers. Until I see data, this is bunk.

[@GregFirehawk]

Spoken like someone who doesn't appreciate what it actually takes to do what they're saying. You go ahead and scientifically record and measure all those signals and then collate it into presentable data, and then tell me how super easy it is lol. You go through that much effort everytime you want to share an opinion or observation? You've also presented a claim, so I'll eagerly await your dataset. Like come on dude, be real. That's not even mentioning that his point wasn't about audio quality, but simply I/O features, and he says so right from the beginning