Sound card improve quality?

[labrie]

I have a Razer Kraken
http://www.razerzone.com/ca-en/store/razer-kraken

z87-a mobo (Realtek® ALC892 8-channel high definition audio CODEC)
http://www.ncix.com/detail/asus-z87-a-atx-lga1150-z87-26-84500.htm

2.0 speakers
http://www.amazon.com/Satechi%C2%AE-Speaker-Channel-Computer-Speakers/dp/B00BZ7MALY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_pc_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1BX9F5KAEN7R9S9BM2V0

The sound is pretty good on both speakers and headset. However, would buying even a cheap sound card improve quality?

Thanks.

 

[Matthew Ma]

imo nope, one on ur mobo will do u just fine

 

[hunter315]

Good motherboards come with better sound chips than cheap sound cards do, so no, a cheap sound card won't improve quality.

The best sound quality you can get is limited by the lowest quality factor in the chain from the source file to sound card to speakers to your ears, if the source file or speakers are cheap you won't get any difference, if your ears are the limiting factor you won't notice any difference.

Unless you know you're an audiofile a sound card isn't worth it.

 

[labrie]

Good motherboards come with better sound chips than cheap sound cards do, so no, a cheap sound card won't improve quality.

The best sound quality you can get is limited by the lowest quality factor in the chain from the source file to sound card to speakers to your ears, if the source file or speakers are cheap you won't get any difference, if your ears are the limiting factor you won't notice any difference.

Unless you know you're an audiofile a sound card isn't worth it.

I read that most motherboards skim on the on board audio to save money.

So, would you consider my motherboard good?

Also, if I got a 5.1 or 7.1 Headset would I need one then?

Thanks

 

[hunter315]

Almost all of the ASUS boards fall into the "good" category, if you want a budget board you aren't going for an ASUS board, you go for ASRock, their little spinoff.

That board comes with a Realtek ALC892 which is pretty good, they only offer two tiers above that, the ALC898 and the ALC1150. You can take a look at its spec sheet to compare it to discrete cards, the important point is mostly just the 95 dBa for the output, it supports 16/20/24 bit and 44.1k/48k/96k/192kHz sample rates
http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=28&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdID=284