Question How good is motherboard sound? (Asus H97-PRO none gamer motherboard)

[nofacemonster]

I have been going through numerous articles and videos on YouTube, different folks explaining why I should use a DAC to listen to music apart from using the onboard sound.

Well, I thought I should speak with the Tomshwardre folks to see what their thoughts are about. I am currently running my main system which is consist of a pair of "meadowlark speakers" and a Yamaha AX-397 stereo amplifier with a SMSL M100 MK2 DAC. My source is the PC and the DAC is connected externally. I do have an onboard soundcard too, the mother board is Asus H97-PRO (non gamer board) which I believe has the ALC892 to soundchip.

My question is, how good Asus has implemented their soundchips to the board? Are they bad or better than other motherboard makers?. Soon I might have to remove my DAC and run the system with just onboard sound because the DAC belongs elsewhere.

What I Do is, listen to music, and watch movies, Youtube videos etc. I play all my favorite albums on lossless digitally. (CD quality 44.1 / 16 bit nearly 90% of the time). Will ALC892 can do the justice to my old connected sound system or I seriously should buy another DAC to it?.

 

[Lutfij]

TheALC892 is an audio chip used on boards that are entry level(or bottom of the barrel at the very least), since you are coming from a DAC, what you'll hear is a downgrade in audio quality.

how good Asus has implemented their soundchips to the board? Are they bad or better than other motherboard makers?. Soon I might have to remove my DAC and run the system with just onboard sound because the DAC belongs elsewhere.
For a decade old motherboard's audio, it was good back then, not today.

The chip used on your DAC is the ESS Sabre 9018Q2C;

SMSL M100 MKII Review

The SMSL M100 MKII is a second-generation entry-level desktop DAC with an ES9018Q2C chipset supporting up to PCM768k/DSD512. It is priced at $93.99 Disclaimer: The SMSL M100 MKII sent to us for this review is

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