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Dell XPS 8930 RealTek HD Audio Interface Review

amirm

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This is a detailed measurement of the RealTek HD audio interface in my Dell XPS8930 Desktop system. The XPS 8930 retails for US $1,200 as of this writing so not a low-end desktop tower. Try as I might, I could not find the identity of the RealTek CODEC (ADC/DAC) used in it. Nothing shows up in device manager in Windows, nor can I find anything about it on Dell website.

I am using the Dell to create this review so all I could do for a picture is to use a stock image:

Dell XPS 8930 RealTek Onboard Audio Review.jpg

The panther is real though. :)

There are both front and rear connections. I tested both and performance is the same.

Note that I am focusing on output only. Did not test the microphone.

As an aside, overall I have been happy with the reliability and performance of this Dell machine. Crapware in the form of invasive McAfee anti-virus has been my only issue (it was dumping most of my emails in junk folder).

Motherboard DAC Audio Measurements
I set the system level to 100% and ran my dashboard (using ASIO4ALL):
Dell XPS 8930 RealTek Onboard Audio Measurements.png


Ouch. Even at anemic 1 volt output we are clipping badly. As such, it takes the dishonor of showing the worst distortion and noise rating of any DAC tested:
Best audio PC motherboard.png


Even without clipping, performance is poor:
Dell XPS 8930 RealTek Onboard IMD Audio Measurements.png


If you are going to use this output, best keep the levels below -2 dB. Then again that may cause the downstream amplifier to not be able to reach its full power.

Multitone shows the performance when not clipped:

Dell XPS 8930 RealTek Onboard Multitone Audio Measurements.png


Sad.

Jitter test shows spurious tones and high noise floor:

Dell XPS 8930 RealTek Onboard Jitter Audio Measurements.png


Linearity is better than one would predict:
Dell XPS 8930 RealTek Onboard Linearity Audio Measurements.png


Reason being that linearity test filters out distortion and noise so provides better results.

Dynamic range test shows the high noise floor/low output level:

Dell XPS 8930 RealTek Onboard SNR Audio Measurements.png


Headphone Power Measurements
Assuming you may be tempted to use the port just for headphone listening, I ran my usual power tests starting at 300 ohm:

Dell XPS 8930 RealTek Onboard Power into 300 Ohms Audio Measurements.png


Yuck! We can't even get one milliwatt of power before clipping? In a desktop with plenty of power?

Surely we can do better with 33 ohm load since that is not voltage hungry:
Dell XPS 8930 RealTek Onboard Power into 33 Ohms Audio Measurements.png


Are you kidding me? Once again it can't go beyond 1 milliwatt? What is going on here?

This is what is going on:
PC motherboard sound output impedance measurement.png


130 ohm output impedance! This internal impedance is eating power even with high impedance loads.

Conclusions
When I was at Microsoft my team was responsible for setting WHQL standards for PC OEMs. In a nutshell, if the PC OEM met those quality standards, they would get a discount on their Windows license. This was our way of enticing the PC OEMs to build better PCs. When I took on the program, the standards were so poor, you could do better with a cassette tape than a PC! So I asked that we raise this level. No sooner than we released the program that I heard cries from Dell/HP like you would not believe. They escalated up to CEO level I think. We stuck to our guns even though what we were asking them to achieve was still way less than what you can expect from 16 bit audio.

We see the results to driving costs down regardless of performance. A headphone amplifier that can't even produce 1 milliwatt of power. Yet Dell wastes money on crapware on effects and such for this interface. Shame on you guys for not spending another 50 cent interface to produce better audio.

Needless to say, you better use an external DAC/amp with these computers. If you don't, I will personally visit you so you do!

Total junk. Not remotely recommended.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

The sun is out today so forget what I said yesterday about lack of it and depression. I am now in party mood! And what is better for a party than Caviar with hard boiled eggs, diced onions and capers? The garnishes are cheap but now the good Caviar. So please donate to this good cause using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 

Koeitje

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Well not unexpected really...my HP Elitebook also is extremely noisy. Absolute garbage.
 

Azeia

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Wow, this is worse than I'd have imagined.

Would be nice to see a non-prebuilt, like those higher-end gaming motherboards that actually advertise themselves as having good audio output (from companies like Asus, MSI, Asrock, etc). A lot of people have said that while you needed a dedicated DAC+Amp for "older PCs" because they had bad audio, modern ones are supposed to be better, but it would seem this is definitely not the case with prebuilts, so it'd be interesting to see if high-end boards targetting the build-it-yourself crowd are any different.
 

Celty

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Another good reason not to buy the junky pre-built boxes - rolling your own is not hard, and you wind up with a far superior product. Heck even if you stick with the on motherboard audio, there are many choices that would put that Dell box to shame. Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, etc. all would be options.
I like knowing exactly what components are in my PC, from the power supply, memory, storage, motherboard, video card, CPU, cooling, etc... This is my current PC component list. Nothing special, but solid and quick.

CPU
Ryzen 9 3900X
Motherboard
Asus Crossfire VI Hero
GPU
ASUS GeForce GTX 970 STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5
RAM
G.SKILL TridentZ F4-3600C16D-16GTZSW
SSD
SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 500GB NVMe MZ-V6E500BW
Hard Drive
HGST Deskstar NAS 3.5" 4TB
Power Supply
EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G3, 80 Plus Gold 850W
Cooling
Corsair H110i GT with 2 x Noiseblocker NB-eLoop B14-PS
Sound Card
Asus Essence STX
Case
Phanteks Eclipse P400S PH-EC416PSTG
Operating System
Windows 10
Monitor
ASUS VE278
Keyboard
SteelSeries Apex 7 TKL with custom keys

I can always upgrade anything, so obsolescence is not an issue, I just switch out when something compelling comes out.
 
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amirm

amirm

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Would be nice to see a non-prebuilt, like those higher-end gaming motherboards that actually advertise themselves as having good audio output (from companies like Asus, MSI, Asrock, etc).
I tested my Gigabyte motherboard before. It was a lot better than this from what I recall. I am getting a new system and will test its onboard when I get it here and working.
 

jony_m

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I have an Asus Maximus VIII motherboard which boasts SUPREMEFX 2015. It was also a bit noisy, static would start around 1-2PM (testing with nothing playing) on my old O2 amp. I purchased a Grace SDAC and it is indeed much cleaner, I don't hear any noise at all when turning up the volume all the way up (with nothing playing).. that's all I ask for.
 

Ron Texas

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Typical of the low end of the Realtek line. Note the low output would preclude using it to directly drive most amplifiers.
 

NTomokawa

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On-board stuff would need some heavy shielding and board optimization in order to cut down on the noise level.

Really, if fidelity is remotely an issue, get something outboard, i.e. a USB DAC.
 

Tks

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We see the results to driving costs down regardless of performance. A headphone amplifier that can't even produce 1 milliwatt of power. Yet Dell wastes money on crapware on effects and such for this interface. Shame on you guys for not spending another 50 cent interface to produce better audio.

I don't know if you were around for the whole ordeal, but Dell was one of the companies to openly admit to being bribed and accepting bribes, and saying they must accept them in order to get Intel CPU's and avoid using AMD ones in their products (through way of massive rebates).

So when you want to say shame on them, or shame on MS for laxing standards. That'd be like saying shame on Google for allowing all sorts of shovelware or malware in their Playstore, and allowing OEM's to run rampant with their substandard Android OS implementations, and abandoning OS updates as soon as the next version of the same device is released.

But you know how that race to the bottom is. Heck even look at Windows10 now, unless you're on an Enterprise edition, Windows Updates cannot be stopped, and the amount of incidents of forced updates creating unwanted effects (like settings being secretly turned on or off, and security flaws being introduced, and just general headaches for literally every Win10 user). I hate this OS with a passion. THE ONLY reason it has any relevency to me is I like to fire up games that only run on Windows (though Linux is getting wrappers that allow you to run things like Steam games on Linux). If it weren't for that, and a few other software used for performance tuning.. This OS I'd dump in a heartbeat. What a piece of trash honestly..
 

Willem

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I matches my own subjective experiences, and also some measurements by Archimago. By and large many laptops are terrible, some desktops are as well, and some recent quality desktops are somewhat OK but still quite easily improved upon. The good news is that an excelleent external usb DAC does not have to cost more than some $100. But it is good to know that the default should be not to rely on the motherboard audio.
 
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filo97s

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incredible!


We have found something that perform worse than an Audio GD product! :eek:
 

Cortes

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I'm writing from a dell XPS 15' and listening to tidal :p. Overall sound is not that bad for a laptop. Indeed better that most of my old laptops (thinkpads, vaio z-one of the best laptops ever-). However, I must say that this is my first and last Dell laptop. I regret the purchase. The keyboard is a full insult to any power user, no function key on the right limits me too much to be productive in linux.
 
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