Do sound cards affect speakers?

[ellman12]

Hello,

I have 2 questions about sound. 1 does the sound that comes from the motherboard or a sound card affect the sound that comes from speakers? The same for a wired/wireless headset. If I plug my wired headphones into a speaker will the sound card or my motherboards sound affect the sound in my headphones? I can include a picture of the speakers if you want. Thanks for any info.

Kind regards,

Elliott

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Are you referring to the actual sound quality?

 

[ellman12]

Yes. I mean the sound quality.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Then yes, different makes/models of sound-chips (ie soundcard or on-board) do affect sound quality, though to a much lesser degree than different makes/models of speakers or headphones.

 

[Jester Maroc]

It depends on the quality of the speakers/headphones more than the soundcard/motherboard.

If you have good quality headphones then getting a sound card is a good idea, with an external DAC being an ideal setup if you are an audiophile.

Sound quality is affected by interference inside the PC case, a sound card mitigates this a little bit, an external DAC removes the interference from you PC.

What headphones/speakers do you have?

 

[grimfox]

If everything is analog 3.5mm jacks, then yes the quality of the sound card or motherboard audio can affect the quality of the sound output. If the outputs are digital, USB or wireless, then the motherboard or sound card only act as filters allowing you to tune the audio but don't have much effect on the audio quality. In the digital case the quality of audio rests in the headphones. For more reading on the topic (as it is a broad and potentially very complex topic) Google how audio DACs (digital to analog converters) work.