ALC887 ALC889 ALC1150

[Marty111]

Hi everyone, simple question : Is the ALC887 a downgrade coming from the ALC889 ?

Second simple question : Is the ALC887 noticeably inferior to the ALC1150 ?

I'm talking about sound quality.
Please don't post suggestions about other audio chips.

Thanks.

PS : Intended to be used at 24bit/48khz.

 

[Trell]

Have you looked at the chips specs from the manufacturer?

 

[Marty111]

Not really. I'm an asker, not a helper, aamof I usually don't even help myself. I count on the good people of this forum people for providing me with a comprehensible report of the difference between these chips.

 

[Trell]

You could try Google and come back with what you find.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Question #1 - yes. Both are the same age but the ALC887 was the budget model. Still OK for a plain line-level output but not a record-breaker.

ALC1150 front output channels are roughly on par with / possibly better than ALC889's, but the other channels are about on ALC887 level or a hair worse.

NB, implementation also matters a fair bit. The best chip isn't going to help if the grounding layout is screwed up.

 

[Marty111]

Thanks Steph!
I will only use the front channel for listening to stuff in stereo only.
For recording I'll plug my analog recording system to the line input. I will record my voice at 24bit 48khz for recording great songs I make, so the input and output on the computer will both be set to 24bit 48khz.
But most of the time I will be mainly listening to 16bit 44.1khz flac songs.

@Trell : I did but I didn't get much information.

"NB, implementation also matters a fair bit. The best chip isn't going to help if the grounding layout is screwed up."

My ALC889 motherboard had perfect and great sound, but I couldn't get rid of the noise.
So I'm looking for a new motherboard, one with a line drawn to suggest that the audio circuit is protected from noise. For various reasons in my case it comes down to a choice between ALC887 and ALC1150. But it would seem that new old stock motherboards with ALC1150 are harder to come by than budget motherboard with ALC887.

So I wonder if I should buy the new old stock ALC887 board now and build my whole system on it, or wait for a new old stock ALC1150 board. I'd hate it to discover too late that I should have built my pc on a ALC1150 basis, but on the other hand I want to get started, so I don't know.

 

[Trell]

There is also the option to use an USB interface if your search for a new motherboard does not pan out.

 

[Marty111]

There is also the option to use an USB interface if your search for a new motherboard does not pan out.

Please don't post suggestions about other audio chips.

 

[Doodski]

@Marty111 What make and model of motherboard(s) are you looking at? Pics of the audio circuitry would be ace. Do they include shielding for the audio circuitry and pathways?

 

[Trell]

Why are you so fixated on these chips when you can’t find any information about them?

Focus on what you want to achieve and be open minded to various solutions.

This is why I suggested that if you failed to find a motherboard you could look for an audio interface.

 

[Marty111]

I understand, and you're excused of course, but no digression please.

@Doodski : Read post #6.

 

[AnalogSteph]

My ALC889 motherboard had perfect and great sound, but I couldn't get rid of the noise.

What kind of noise? This is likely to indicate that you had an issue with a ground loop either in the whole audio setup (please describe), inside the PC (unplugging front audio helps sometimes) or - worst-case - on the board itself. These things unfortunately are a little complex and even a seemingly innocuous part like the PC case may play a role.

 

[ZolaIII]

There is lots of wrong with most on MB solutions. For one you will have 1.1 to 1.4 V output on 96% of them. Difference between Realtek codecs on paper is less significant than the implementation of it and while it can actually perform it won't compensate for a deficite of desired power (2~2.3 V for PCM and up to twice as much for DSD [depending on vendor implementation] for the unbalanced line out).
The vendors driver's are horrible to the extent that the ASIO4All comes as blessings.
Today self stand DAC's at 100~130$ can compensate the price (with basic generic MB) of the higher tier gaming MB (and 90% of things there compared to the base model are either gimmick or something you will probably never need in the first place).

 

[Marty111]

simply put : Will I hear a difference on the short run or on the long run between ALC887 and ALC1150 when listening to stereo 16bit 44.1khz ? That's all I'm asking.

 

[Trell]

simply put : Will I hear a difference on the short run or on the long run between ALC887 and ALC1150 when listening to stereo 16bit 44.1khz ? That's all I'm asking.

Perhaps you’ll find your answer in this thread. It would take some time to read.

Serious Question: How can DAC's have a SOUND SIGNATURE if they measure as transparent? Are that many confused?

I know there are people out there that think cables affect sound, which is much worse, but there really is no response to something like that, but just to smile and nod. But what about people who talk about DACS as if they were headphone drivers or speakers, and talk about the SOUNDSTAGE...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[Marty111]

It won't. I want the answer from someone who used (not only tested) both.

 

[Trell]

It won't. I want the answer from someone who used (not only tested) both.

My latest reply to you was tongue-in-cheek with the expected answer based on your previous posts.

I enjoy helping people, like so many other members on this forum, but not the lazy and entitled ones.

You can guess which category I place you in.

 

[ZolaIII]

simply put : Will I hear a difference on the short run or on the long run between ALC887 and ALC1150 when listening to stereo 16bit 44.1khz ? That's all I'm asking.

No you won't (if they are properly implemented).

 

[Marty111]

Thanks zola! I just bought a gigabyte motherboard, a new one for 45 euros.
GA-970A-DS3P (rev. 2.1)

GA-970A-DS3P (rev. 2.x) Généralités | Carte Mère - GIGABYTE France

Une qualité durable par GIGABYTE. Les cartes mères GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ associent innovations, performances et technologies dédiées à la conception de PC...

www.gigabyte.com

That's all I can find for now. I would have preferred a 990 chipset rather than a 970, with a ALC1150 rather than a ALC887, but I don't know if I will ever find one that is new.

 

[Marty111]

My apologies to you Trell. I was tying to get a efficient answer. The debate on your link was interesting, but I'm old school, back in my time you asked something in the forum on a product and you got a straight and detailed answer. With today's young people it's harder because they are taught to give a general advice on anything even if they don't have an answer, so I either got evasive answers a bit like yours, only worse (at least linked to an interesting debate ), or answers like "just buy that product everybody has it". I actually had the bad idea to follow the suggestions and thanks to this forum I got myself two 150€ useless chinese turds that don't even have signed drivers for windows 7, the cosmos adc and the topping e30.