Steve, Motherboard sound chips will handle basic audio adequately but even though they may claim HD or "high def" audio, they are still mass produced to a price.
I suggest that you go to www.techbuy.com.au and do a search for Asus XONAR (that's spelled X O N A R). Asus has a variety of sound cards and one of them should meet your needs. The DG and D2 cards are worth a look. You should also do a search for Creative sound card. Creative still makes a wide variety of sound cards and, indeed, looking at them, one can't help wondering if some of them are not the one card with different labels attached to them. Also make sure you know what slot on the motherboard you are going to be using, that is to say, PCI or PCI Express. Note also that some of the cards are low profile cards intended for half height back plane slots on small form factor PCs. Bob Nelson -----Original Message----- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, 5 July 2014 10:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve.
