hi guys,
i'm joining this forum just to answer this typical question, as requested by my dear friend Chanster.
i may not know much about audio, but atleast i know the basics, but i think i can answer this matter technically.
and i have been helping out on other audio forum as well for quite some time.
what makes a soundcard so different from onboard?
a soundcard is a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), its task is to convert digital data from media source (such as CD, MP3, FLAC, APE, etc etc) into analog signal to be later converted into sound by a speaker.
while onboard and add-on soundcard has similar task, those soundcards have different ways and tools to convert those data into signal.
and while onboard depends on CPU and RAM to process those, an add-on soundcard has its own processor and ram to do that.
if we're talking about greatness of those CPU and RAM, ofcourse technically a core2duo or core2quad is greater, but please do keep in mind that those processor need to process other task than just an audio....
in gaming a CPU and RAM on PC has to manage perform tasks from the game software to produce complicated and stressful calculations and graphics.
while on the other hand, using a dedicated soundcard will release the burden of those tasks from your CPU and RAM and not to mention those add-on soundcard has above normal priority set for doing audio processing.
so by having add-on soundcards, atleast there will be no more choppy and screechy or any other distracting/interfering sound
now we move on to sound quality.
ever wonder what makes audiophile CD player is so damn expensive(such as Denon CD Player)?
basically a CD player is a DAC (or soundcard itself) becos its task is to read from digital data(CD) and convert it to analog signal through RCA cables (Red and White plug cables)
those expensive CD Player has top notch components such as audio grade capacitors, Operational Amplifiers, and DAC Chip, so there for they produce far superior sound quality compared to other CD/DVD player you can find on the market(toshiba/or any other china brand)
you could test it yourself using the same speaker and you will notice it immediately.
now a soundcard is just the same as those audiophile CD Player minus the CD reader.
it processes those audio task dedicatedly, and using components made solely for that purpose.
this is not a snake oil, if you can demo/hear it for yourself, you should pinpoint the exact difference between generic DAC such as onboard soundcard which depends heavily on PC CPU/RAM with a great dedicated DAC soundcard.
), that your benchmarking is flowed (told you that already..and you did correct it...BRAVO) and that you gave prominence to the CPU utilization over the audio quality (first post! Quite dumb I would say, 'cos people (at first glance...) might think you are paying USD200-400 to lower the CPU utilization instead of buying a new CPU which would give you much more practical results)
& If EK had strict rules like some geeky sites you'd be warned couple of times for flaming other members & starting fights/wars.
