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And the winner is…
…the external sound card, digitally connected (USB, SPDIF) with built-in DAC. Only an electrically (analog signal branch) and spatially separated sound solution is truly and fully satisfactory. We had to see that even built-in plug-in cards still suffer under the graphics card as a sound solution. This is not really audible, but you never know what Nvidia and AMD, and probably Intel in the future, will come up with.
We had to listen and watch how the motherboard’s built-in sound solution additionally failed grandiosely at the dynamic range of good single players. So there are two very good, completely independent reasons to think about an external and usable sound solution. An advantage of the separate solution is also its durability. Many things work via Plug & Play, so that you can use these external sound cards over several computer generations.
If you don’t like artificial surround and digital sound gimmicks, you’ll even find what you’re looking for outside of gaming gear in the hi-fi sector, and you’ll really be happy. You can get good sound solutions starting at about 100 Euros and you already notice that an equally expensive motherboard can never offer something like that for economic reasons. And anyone who buys expensive headphones but fails to deliver adequate content really can’t be helped.
Summary and conclusion
What do I take away for myself from these insightful tests? Actually, I just wanted to experiment how to add some value to motherboard tests in terms of content. After all, this also includes objectively judging their audio qualities. However, this cannot be done by laying hands or just staring. Here, you simply have to measure once to be able to judge objectively and not just hold anything rapturously into the camera.
In addition, I will try to measure field strengths once in a while to be able to test graphics cards in more detail. However, I need to get some technical and professional help for that. That’s why I’ll leave it at the motherboard tests with real audio measurements for now. That alone is a lot of work, but it should be worth it.
The reader has learned two things today, if he didn’t know it already anyway. On the one hand, only what you put in before comes out of the headphones. Without the corresponding output power or voltage at the respective impedances, the most expensive headphones are simply amputated. So you punish yourself, so to speak. And on the other hand, if you want to rely on a potent graphic, you should act de-escalating when it comes to the topic of “irradiation” and simply retreat gallantly into a quiet corner with the audio. Because in the housing, you can really only lose the fight.
The manufacturers of motherboards can only be encouraged to finally use real shielding, especially on the way from the slot panel to the part of the board where the technology is located. Simple traces are cheap, but that’s how it sounds. No matter if you later install capacitors with gold or platinum and a really good DAC. Once something is ruined, even the best packaging can’t save it.
- 1 - Introduction and general Problems
- 2 - Description: Realtek ALC1220 vs. Realtek ALC1200
- 3 - Description: Realtek ALC4080 and ALC4082
- 4 - Datasheets: Realtek ALC1200, ALC 1220 und ALC 4080 / ALC4082
- 5 - RMS Voltage, Output Power and Sound Pressure Level
- 6 - Graphics cards and Intermodulation
- 7 - Conclusion and final Words
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