Question Onboard audio from ROG Crosshair VIII Hero -- vs. -- from Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro

[danytancou]

Hi all, I hope it's OK to post this here, as there is no sub-forum dedicated to sound cards.

The motherboard has the ESS ES9023P High Definition DAC built in (as per the manual). I can't find any info on the X-Fi's DAC, but "everything I've read points to one of pretty good quality"; is this DAC superior to the one on the motherboard?

I currently use the motherboard's onboard audio. I pulled the X-Fi out of an older system and am thinking of using it... but before I go through the trouble of uninstalling the Realtek driver, disabling onboard sound and then installing the sound card (hardware and software) can anyone tell me if I will notice a difference in sound quality with the X-Fi?


Thanks so much,

Dany


P.S. Some additional details, which may be irrelevant, but just in case they are not:

• The computer is connected to a Harman/Kardon AVR 130 via an optical cable. (The connection will change tomorrow, once my TRS to RCA adapters arrive, to the amp's 6-channel input. I only just found out that TosLink can't deliver 5.1 properly, hence this change.)
• The computer is used for gaming (currently Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Assassin's Creed: Mirage; and, continuously, ESO), video editing (typically 4K, using Adobe Premiere), playing MP3s (mostly CDs ripped with iTunes, but some purchased music from iTunes as well), and, on rare occasions, streaming from Prime.
• From what I've read, gaming performance won't be affected much at all, as a result of the 64MB of "X-RAM" on the sound card. Is this true? (My CPU is a 5900X, my video card is a 4070 Super, and I have no performance issues.)

 

[Lutfij]

Happy New Year!

can anyone tell me if I will notice a difference in sound quality with the X-Fi?
Sound is as subjective as design, so your mileage can and will vary. I would advise that you try both out, with a blind test, if possible having the Sound Blaster sound card on another system and you're testing both system's with your headsets/speakers before swapping sound cards over.

The problem I see with the Sound Blaster card is that it's drivers are from 2019;
https://support.creative.com/downlo...?nLanguageLocale=1033&filename=SB0880&nPage=3
and the story with Creative is usually that they don't try and develop drivers for latter platforms if the drivers seem to be working one day but then is borked after an OS update. If and when that does happen, you're suggested to uninstall and reinstall the audio drivers(which is often times what's also advised with Realtek audio drivers).

Moved thread from Motherboards section to Home Audio & Theater section.

 

[danytancou]

Thanks!

One last question. As I said, once the TRS to RCA adapters are delivered tomorrow, I'm planning to replace the optical connection with the (analog) 6-channel so I can get proper 5.1 sound.. would anyone happen to know how the SoundBlaster outputs the Centre and Sub signals... is Centre on the Ring and Sub on the Tip, or vice-versa?


Thanks once more,

Dany

 

[danytancou]

I actually found the answer to my previous question, and thought I'd post it here: for all SoundBlaster products, Center is output via the Tip of the [T]RS connector and Sub is output via the Ring of the T[R]S connector. Therefore, when using a standard/typical TRS to RCA adapter, Center will be on the Left (white or black) RCA connector and Sub will be on the Right (Red) RCA connector. (This came from https://arstechnica.com/civis/threa...s-which-on-a-soundcard.1493120/#post-42022662.)

Cheers,

Dany


P.S. I found some time to do the hardware swap , and I definitely like the sound from the X-Fi more than from the motherboard, so I'll keep this setup for now. Thanks for the tip regarding the driver reinstall, should an OS update mess things up in the future! (If the X-Fi ever completely stops working, I can always swap back to the onboard sound.)