Someone Somewhere :
Agree totally with this. It always annoys me when people say they're spending over $100 on a sound card, especially when it turns out that they're using Optical out, and the whole thing is basically moot.I now have a nice source to link to.
The optical out DOES matter if you're trying to get 5.1 audio on games. Relatively few onboard audio chips support Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect. So if you've got 5.1 speakers, or want simulated 5.1 on headphones, you will likely need that add-on card unless you've got multi-channel 3.5mm connectors. But for people that just plug in basic stereo headphones for their games, yeah, little to no point getting the add-on board.
BrightCandle :
Can we get game surround sound audio tested as well? A lot of the reviews recently are focussing on sound quality differences in music but as you have determined there really isn't any difference there. But there is a clear difference I can hear in the comparative videos of battlefield with cmss, sbx pro, razor and realtek on youtube videos and the different surround sound effects really do seem to change positioning quality. This remains the only reason I think a sound card is worth it over realtek but it would be good to get to the bottom of whether its just EQ or its genuine quality differences related to the HRTF or something else.
Very, VERY difficult to objectively test this. Everyone hears sound differently and not everyone can be fooled by the same audio tricks to simulate surround sound. The best way I could think of this is to take the audio output from a simulated surround and compare it to what a stereo mic captures from a true 5.1 speaker system. But this introduces problems because the speakers won't replicate the audio the as the headphones so you've still got variances.
Traum :
*facepalm*Inexcusably, this has to be one of the poorest (if not THE poorest) article I have ever read on Tom's Hardware. I applaud Filippo (the author)'s effort in putting the tests together, and I appreciate his open admission that he is not an audio enthusiast in any way. But to dismiss the medium and high end audio gear as little better than the $2 onboard stuff is just absurd. In some ways, it is akin to having grandma saying how her base model Corolla is no different than Porsche 911 since she drives them to the supermarket just the same.
Feeling a little angsty, are we? I think you missed two main points of this article. First, they were using headphones and not full-range speakers. They even said themselves ( as well as myself and many others here, ) that they wished they could have used speakers for this because the result would likely be different.
Second, this is from the perspective of people who really like good audio, but aren't 20 year audio professionals that have finely tuned senses. And for the average driver, a Corolla
is just as good as a Porsch if you're just trying to get to the store ( probably better since the average driver isn't used to that much extra power and torque, and you have more space to stow groceries. ) Point is, there are many market segments. Some people just want audio as cheap as they can get it. Some want to spend a little extra on good audio, but have a tight budget. Some want to hit the "prosumer" segment and are willing to spend a pretty penny on the fancier stuff. And then there's actual audio professionals. The take away here is that people in the first two, maybe even three, segments have a very hard time differentiating between budget and premium parts when they've been properly configured and calibrated. ( Again, this is based on headphones, I'm pretty sure people in the third segment can recognize and appreciate fine full-range speakers. )
Look, you may be an audio professional. I don't know. What I do know is that most people consider themselves to be a little better than average ( thinking they can hear a little better, or see a little better, ) which is a mathematical impossibility. I also know most people don't like to admit they're wrong. I don't doubt you think your expensive equipment sounds better. But you aren't doing yourself any favors by blanket bashing the article without providing a shred of supporting evidence to your claims.
And for the record, I'm not sure how you interpreted the article as saying Filippo isn't an "audio enthusiast." The guy regularly uses $1500 headphones. That's more expensive than most people's full computer rig on this forum. If regularly using over $3000 in audio equipment ( or $60,000+ in the case of the other tester, ) isn't enough to qualify for "enthusiast" in your book, I guess those ranks are reserved only for studio engineers. He only said he wasn't an audio professional, someone who's very livelihood is based on his ability to detect the smallest variance in an audio feed.
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