AMD’s B550 at the maximum: Gigabyte B550 Vision D review – a bit special, but also pleasantly different

1 - Unboxing, Functionality and Technical Data 2 - Teardown and Components 3 - Power Consumption 4 - Thermal Proof and Temperatures 5 - Performance and Benchmarks 6 - Audio Measuring 7 - Summary and Conclusion

Audio – measurement and evaluation

Finally, let’s move on to audio and an open question that could well be a concern for potential users. As we already know, the ALC1220 has three amplifier outputs, one of which, as a D-port, offers significantly higher output voltages. The rear audio connected to this special D-port of the ALC1220 then delivers a significantly higher voltage and thus a little more output power when using higher impedance headphones. However, it is generally the case that you connect the headset to the front of the housing and thus to the front audio and a possible amplifier in the back, because you don’t want to fiddle around all the time.

In this particular case, however, the amplifier would have a full 2 volts at 1 KOhm impedance, which is far too much. In the opposite case, the high-impedance headphones at the front would be completely undercharged with 6.2 mW in contrast to the more than 11 mW at the rear (per channel). However, 32-ohm devices also benefit from the ALC1220’s special D-port, as almost 14 mW per channel is available at the rear, while it’s not even 6 mW at the front, so if you know that, you should definitely connect the headset at the rear and leave the front audio unused. Unfortunately the manual does not provide any information on this.

Control measurements at the rear output

Control measurements at the font output (HD Audio)