Top 5 PC Sound Cards

[shiwankaswe]

Ammo Gamakata SOUNd Dunneheki

 

[samiram]

hehe that explains... well the thing is onboard sound maintains SNR of 85 or 95...SNR=Signal to Noise ratrio..the irritating sound you are hearing is the Noise...where if u take a dedicated sound card ex=X-Fi Xtreme music which maintains a SNR of 109 that is very less "noise" compared to the onboard.... So if your friend can afford a Z5500 he sure can afford a good sound card.....otherwise hooking up a Z5500 to onboard audio is a complete waste.....ull get DD n DTS cause Z5500 has built in decoders...thats the only thing ull get n thats because of the speakers....I suggest your friend gets a dedicated Audio card......

hmm...
does SNR matters in digital connections....?

 

[chanster]

Yup it does matter.....a standard (not a high end)sony DVD player has a SNR of 100.....which is quite good.....where the Asus Xonar D2 has a SNR of 118 across all channels n has more DVD features like DDL,DTS connect...so u will enjoy watching a movie with a Xonar than a standard dvd player...a standard DVD player (well most) has only DD n DTS that too is not built in u have to have a receiver ......

 

[chanster]

u see even if onboard has 100SNR it still lacks a processor n loads the processing on the CPU...the CPU is not meant for audio processing u have to have a dedicated audio processor to hear the true audio quality.....so without hardware capabilities onboard sound is crap...(compared to dedicated cards)......i can tell u a lot more if u want to compare onboard n dedicated....

 

[samiram]

Yup it does matter.....a standard (not a high end)sony DVD player has a SNR of 100.....which is quite good.....where the Asus Xonar D2 has a SNR of 118 across all channels n has more DVD features like DDL,DTS connect...so u will enjoy watching a movie with a Xonar than a standard dvd player...a standard DVD player (well most) has only DD n DTS that too is not built in u have to have a receiver ......

hmm..
i searched the web..
and found out that..
my onboard sound has a SNR of around 107..
but Z5500 has only 93.5....
i think thats the problem..
not with the sound card..


ref - http://www.analog.com/en/prod/0,2877,AD1988B,00.html
http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/z5500/index2.php

 

[sachithmax]

studio ekakata oka hari yanne naaaa......habai fun ekata nam top

 

[chanster]

U still don't get my point.....SNR is just a number in onboard n in terms of speakers SNR it is totally different..

 

[chanster]

Just think u have a onboad sound n your frend across your street has a Audigy.....

You play a game
Bang bang BOOM
Then u go to ur frens house n play the same game
Bang bang BOOM
U start to think why this has more clarity than my one....so u go to the store and get more expensive speakers
again u play the same game
Bang bang BOOM
u hear a noticeable differnce
Then you go to your frens plc n play the same game....
Bang bang BOOM....still ur frens set sound better.....u start to hate it n u curse your set.....

My friend it is not the speakers it is the Audio device.....i have tested almost most of the sound cards......i know what they can do.....n i know that Hooking up a set like Z5500 to a onboard sound device wont do u any good.......I have a cheap creative m5300 hooked to a Audigy 2 ZS...n the difference between my onboad n the Audigy is very well noticed.......

 

[elastefan]

Thanks 4 da info this could become useful

 

[kevin17peiris]

To...

Thanks. I neede this.

 

[Chinthakas]

..................

 

[samiram]

Just think u have a onboad sound n your frend across your street has a Audigy.....

You play a game
Bang bang BOOM
Then u go to ur frens house n play the same game
Bang bang BOOM
U start to think why this has more clarity than my one....so u go to the store and get more expensive speakers
again u play the same game
Bang bang BOOM
u hear a noticeable differnce
Then you go to your frens plc n play the same game....
Bang bang BOOM....still ur frens set sound better.....u start to hate it n u curse your set.....

My friend it is not the speakers it is the Audio device.....i have tested almost most of the sound cards......i know what they can do.....n i know that Hooking up a set like Z5500 to a onboard sound device wont do u any good.......I have a cheap creative m5300 hooked to a Audigy 2 ZS...n the difference between my onboad n the Audigy is very well noticed.......

hmm..
but to my knowledge..
if you use a digital out...
there is no need of a audio processing..
its a clean digital out strait from the audio source..
no SNR's because no need of DAC's....
so in my case it must be speakers..
BTW your example is little bit dumb..
you cant compare a $100 system with a $600 system..
because price definitely make a difference in sound...
if you want to feel it go to the Listening room or to the Yamaha music center..

 

[nadeeraroshan]

ela ela

 

[chanster]

hmm..
but to my knowledge..
if you use a digital out...
there is no need of a audio processing..
its a clean digital out strait from the audio source..
no SNR's because no need of DAC's....
so in my case it must be speakers..
BTW your example is little bit dumb..
you cant compare a $100 system with a $600 system..
because price definitely make a difference in sound...
if you want to feel it go to the Listening room or to the Yamaha music center..

Sorry i totally 4got that u are using optical .....

By using digital, it means your onboard soundcard is almost useless, since it passes through the sound digital data from the source to a receiver(which in this case is your z5500)
now
so, by having 107SNR (which doesn't have any effect on digital data) it would be totally useless.
SNR = Signal to Noise Ratio.......... digital is not signal
if you use analog connection, then it would have effect the sound
why?
becoz the soundcard will transform the digital data from the source to analog
analog signal that is
now why is it your z5500 sounds crappy?
simple
onboard uses cpu and ram to extract audio data from the source (mp3,wav,flac,ape,etc etc etc)
that means your whole PC is being hogged
and your Z5500 can only display what has been transfered to it....N i didnt say sound card waz better than AMP did i?
U cant compare em itz like it's like comparing a fish with a dog
Xonar is a DAC, while receiver is a thing that receive (either sound signal or digital data)

2 different thing
you can;t simply plug anything to a receiver
you will still need a soundcard
in your case... your onboard
if u want to compare, it's z5500 receiver with yamaha receiver
yes yamaha receiver is better.... maybe far better, but it's not relevant to your question..... your z5500 sounds crappy becoz of your onboard
If u dont believe me connect your Yamaha to your onboard.....see for yourself...hear n believe.....

N if u haven't noticed my example was about how a dedicated audio card is better than onboard....it never said anything about a receiver hehe......

 

[Anusha]

hmm..
but to my knowledge..
if you use a digital out...
there is no need of a audio processing..
its a clean digital out strait from the audio source..
no SNR's because no need of DAC's....
so in my case it must be speakers..
BTW your example is little bit dumb..
you cant compare a $100 system with a $600 system..
because price definitely make a difference in sound...
if you want to feel it go to the Listening room or to the Yamaha music center..

What? Analog or digital...SNR matters. More noise = more errors. More errors = autio quality gets crippled.

Just that in analog case, the signal is more susceptible to noise than digital signals.

 

[nabil]

have my priorities

 

[chanster]

What? Analog or digital...SNR matters. More noise = more errors. More errors = autio quality gets crippled.

Just that in analog case, the signal is more susceptible to noise than digital signals.

Rito! bt in digital SNR wont matter cause Signal is not Digital as mentioned above.....It goes straight to the receiver without any interference ..

 

[Anusha]

Rito! bt in digital SNR wont matter cause Signal is not Digital as mentioned above.....It goes straight to the receiver without any interference ..

True it is not SNR in digital signals, but Eb and Es (bit error and symbol error)

How can you say there won't be any interference? :S
It's a signal as in the case of analog, but only having two voltage levels, instead of being continuous. :S

 

[chanster]

Well its very little if there was interference.......In optical there is no resistance at all....cause the transmission media is light.....

 

[Anusha]

Well its very little if there was interference.......In optical there is no resistance at all....cause the transmission media is light.....

Not necessarily...but light it far more immune to interference than electrical signals.