Where to get a 320 kbps audio capable sound card?

[melikepie]

I'm trying to find a sound card capable of playing 320 kbps audio. The highest I've seen is 192 kbps, which my MOBO can do already. Not sure if I'm searching the wrong places, but I can't seem to find one. Are there are ones available from a reputable online store or something?

 

[Azn Cracker]

Im pretty sure your onboard can play 320 kbps. I mean my laptop can

 

[melikepie]

Im pretty sure your onboard can play 320 kbps. I mean my laptop can

I'm not saying I can't play it, but the specifications say it wont work past 192 kbps, so I doubt playing a higher rate will actually do anything different other then take up more space.

 

[Pinhedd]

I'm trying to find a sound card capable of playing 320 kbps audio. The highest I've seen is 192 kbps, which my MOBO can do already. Not sure if I'm searching the wrong places, but I can't seem to find one. Are there are ones available from a reputable online store or something?

Most sound cards are capable of converting sound from digital to analogue at a rate of 192Khz, or 192,000 samples per second, at a sample resolution of 24 bits per sample.

320Kbps is a common datarate for audio files encoded at a constant bitrate (as opposed to a constant compression ratio or constant quality). The datarate of uncompressed audio which is sent to the sound card's buffer is much higher. Raw 48Khz audio for two channels (stereo left/right) using 16 bits per sample requires:

<48,000 samples per second per channel> * <16 bits per sample> * <2 channels> = 1,536,000 bits per second uncompressed. Compressing this down to 320Kbps yields a mean compression ratio of just shy of 80%, quite impressive.

Another example, 96Khz, 24 bits per sample, 6 channels (5.1):

<96,000 samples per second per channel> * <24 bits per sample> * <6 channels> = 13,824,000 bits per second uncompressed, or 1.728 megabytes per second! Encoding methods such as Dolby Digital and DTS are needed to bring this down to a more manageable 640,000bps or 640Kbps.

 

[hannibal]

If you want to have good audio quality, go for external DAC with headphone amplifier and good headphones.