Question Would buying an USB sound card for my current motherboard improve the sound quality?

[user123123]

I'm thinking of buying the Ugreen external 3.5mm USB ‎30724 external sound card and I currently have a motherboard named Erica6, which has the integrated sound card Realtek ALC3601-CG, would buying this external sound card provide any kind of improvement over the current sound quality? i'm going to use it with a generic in-ear headphone

 

[lvt]

What is your audio source?

 

[kanewolf]

I'm thinking of buying the Ugreen external 3.5mm USB ‎30724 external sound card and I currently have a motherboard named Erica6, which has the integrated sound card Realtek ALC3601-CG, would buying this external sound card provide any kind of improvement over the current sound quality? i'm going to use it with a generic in-ear headphone

"Generic in-ear headphones" is probably the first place you should change. Then a headphone amp to improve the bass response.

 

[user123123]

"Generic in-ear headphones" is probably the first place you should change. Then a headphone amp to improve the bass response.

its a jbl c100si to be exact, is it that bad or?

 

[hotaru.hino]

The USB dongle you're looking at won't likely improve the sound quality. At best, it may help with lowering the noise floor, but if you're not hearing noise when the volume level is set to a comfortable level, then that doesn't matter. It also doesn't help the manufacturer's site doesn't seem to provide any technical specs on the output, so for all I know it could be unicorn farts.

At this point I'm also convinced that most on-board audio has gained enough quality that unless you start pouring money into better headphones, speakers, etc. (like, in the $200+ range), there's not going to be much of an improvement in quality.

 

[DSzymborski]

You might get better audio somewhere from the integrated graphics, but I'd be surprised if it was from a cheap dongle. Certainly not a cheap dongle combined with the handicap already of using earbuds; while there are quality earbuds (that are also far more expensive), they almost always pale in comparison to a proper, quality set of larger headphones. Because of all these handicaps, it's not far from pondering the best snow tires for a ride-on lawnmower.

 

[user123123]

alright, time to save money for some good headphones i guess, thanks y'all

 

[hotaru.hino]

alright, time to save money for some good headphones i guess, thanks y'all

If you want a starting point, Sony's MDR series are relatively cheap (granted ~$100 may not be cheap, but when you see that the "high end" goes for like $300+, it certainly starts looking so) but are still used by the media industry.