Sound card + external DAC for gaming?

[May90]

I have a slick sound setup: Sennheiser HD 600 headphones + Schiit Stack (AMP Magni + DAC Modi). However, I connect my DAC with SPDIF to my on-board audio (motherboard ASUS Z97 PRO), and as such I am using Realtek drivers in Windows. The customization of sound with these drivers is basically non-existent, there is only equalizer and very poorly executed Loudness Equalization. Also, there is no virtual surround of any kind, such as Dolby Headphone or CMSS-3D, which is a very big problem for me, since I'm used to gaming with a "true" 5.1 headset for a few years, and the positioning of the sound in games with my configuration is lacking.

Would I really benefit from buying a good internal audio card, such as ASUS Xonar STX? I doubt the sound quality will be much better, since it is already amazing with Schiit Stack + HD600, but the software customization and Dolby Headphone should improve my gaming experience, right?

Also, how exactly would the bridge sound card -> DAC work? Would the sound first be processed by the sound card internal DAC and then processed again by Schiit Modi? Would the Modi even make any difference in this scenario?

Last, I've heard of a lot of problems with drivers for sound cards on Windows systems - are these problems overblown, or should they be considered seriously when choosing a card?

Thanks!

 

[esco_sid]

SPDIF uses raw bit audio data your onboard sound does not process sound your DAC does another sound card would not do anything.

 

[May90]

But I thought that it was the sound card that "prepared" the initial digital signal, and DAC only converted it into analog. Otherwise, how does DAC "know" what signal to process? It doesn't have any direct interface to interact with Windows...

 

[esco_sid]

But I thought that it was the sound card that "prepared" the initial digital signal, and DAC only converted it into analog. Otherwise, how does DAC "know" what signal to process? It doesn't have any direct interface to interact with Windows...

only thing a sound card will give you is some manipulation to the digital signal sent to the DAC however IT WILL not improve sound quality as DAC is the determining factor of the quality you get. SO you could do all the digital minipulation on the software level trough different programs you dont need to buy a new sound card just to use its software.

 

[May90]

That's what I thought, I didn't really expect any quality difference. However, all the enhancements, such as Dolby Headphones and Volume Normalization settings, would work, right?
The problem with enabling these enhancements through third party software is that... well, they do not work that well. For virtual surround, I've tried Razer Surround Software and, while it worked, the sound would become very muddy and unclear. For decent Volume Normalization (important in some games that do not have a very good sound calibration), there is pretty much nothing out there. So, unless I am missing some outstanding software, getting a dedicated sound card seems to be the best option. 😉

 

[esco_sid]

your headphones are stereo and spdif only supports stereo all the surround sound stuff is just software emulation if it was true surround it would actually have like 5 inputs for analog side of things and i am only aware of one true 5.1 surround wich i believe razer made but its not really that good.

 

[May90]

I am aware of that. So do you think a dedicated sound card's emulation would not be much better than a "purely software" emulation, such as Razer Surround?

 

[esco_sid]

I am aware of that. So do you think a dedicated sound card's emulation would not be much better than the Razer one?

not really generally you dont want to manipulate sound it will only lose quality
i have $350 dac and creative z sound card and its collecting dust in my drawer as it doesnt really bring anything to the table over onboard as i dont use internal DAC from onboard sound card or creative z

 

[May90]

Alright, suppose I do want to manipulate sound to get the virtual surround emulation. Do I understand it right that a dedicated sound card would work for that?

 

[esco_sid]

Alright, suppose I do want to manipulate sound to get the virtual surround emulation. Do I understand it right that a dedicated sound card would work for that?

honestly i think you would be wasting your money as sound card would not really use any of its hardware but i suppose you could just get creative z sound card to test out its software.

 

[May90]

I see. Thank you for your insight, I will consider testing it.