zerowalker
Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2019
- Messages
- 9
- Likes
- 2
Hi,
So i am not that familiar with these stuff so i rely on those that are.
// Background story - START
Currently i got an ZxR SoundBlaster in my PC, which i think might be a pretty good card (might be wrong),
i just know that there was something with the 48khz in SoundBlaster cards (at least some?), that everything was internally converted to it, which is bad if that's the case.
Now it might not matter as i personally always use 48khz in Windows, so i get resampling on Windows anyhow, and i think that one is pretty good.
With that you cna probably see that i am not a audiophile per se.
But that doesn't mean i am happy with anything. Why i don't listen with bit-sample exactness is simply cause it's too much of a hassle,
i can't use ASIO or WASAPI Exclusive all the time cause i need then other things break, and i switch around and do so many stuff all the times, so yeah, laziness!
// Background story - END
// Reason for wanting DAC - START
That was the backstory, so you know where i come from, which might help explaining stuff
Now for the question at hand.
I would like an external DAC, one cause ZxR SoundBlaster is not able to filter noise generated by the GPU (it's mostly that one i believe) during certain work.
Pretty much high fps games, i got no clue why the fps plays a role, but i guess some part goes haywire there and generate high frequencies (just guessing).
So my thought is that even if it's not a pain usually (cause it's not really noticeable unless it's very low or silent in my headphones) it's not something i want to be there.
Second is, i am guessing external DACs are generally better at what they do, as Soundcards are made for"Gaming" and thus focus on things that appeal to them.
At least i believe that is the case, ZxR is clearly a "Gaming" card,
even though (as far as i know) there's no Hardware processing that game uses in Soundcards anymore,
cause the CPU is simply strong enough to do it, and there's no "the Soundcard has to do this",
it's just shuffling around data (As far as i know, please correct me if i am wrong).
// Reason for wanting DAC - END
// Reason for wanting Optical - START
Now for the DAC i would like Optical. Why?
Well i am not a big fan of USB cause it's software and polling driven,
thus if the OS decides that is has too much to do, it will ignore data which will cause hiccups in the sound.
Now i know this is not a common thing to occur, but i know it can happen cause my Mic which is USB (which i would like to replace as well,
so if you got some recommendations shout out) will drop out, had a total pain with that when i was syncing stuff and checking the samples and the clock rate.
PCI-E cards aren't immune cause the CPU has to do something at some point in order to handle data to begin with,
but it's mostly hardware based so you need extreme cases for that to break up, at least in my testing.
// Reason for wanting Optical - END
Now that's a lot of "If, maybe" haha, but hopefully something made sense.
And please be critical, i might prefer and think in some ways, but that doesn't mean i don't accept changes,
or at least knowledge where my understanding is lacking.
My understanding of audio is severely limited, and my understanding of hardware is mostly unrelated to the "audio parts" if you will.
And of course if i don't make any sense, which is quite common, do tell and i will try to clear things up!
Thanks!
EDIT:
Totally forgot to mention that i got an amplifier as it might matter, this one: https://jdslabs.com/product/objective2/
So i am not that familiar with these stuff so i rely on those that are.
// Background story - START
Currently i got an ZxR SoundBlaster in my PC, which i think might be a pretty good card (might be wrong),
i just know that there was something with the 48khz in SoundBlaster cards (at least some?), that everything was internally converted to it, which is bad if that's the case.
Now it might not matter as i personally always use 48khz in Windows, so i get resampling on Windows anyhow, and i think that one is pretty good.
With that you cna probably see that i am not a audiophile per se.
But that doesn't mean i am happy with anything. Why i don't listen with bit-sample exactness is simply cause it's too much of a hassle,
i can't use ASIO or WASAPI Exclusive all the time cause i need then other things break, and i switch around and do so many stuff all the times, so yeah, laziness!
// Background story - END
// Reason for wanting DAC - START
That was the backstory, so you know where i come from, which might help explaining stuff
Now for the question at hand.
I would like an external DAC, one cause ZxR SoundBlaster is not able to filter noise generated by the GPU (it's mostly that one i believe) during certain work.
Pretty much high fps games, i got no clue why the fps plays a role, but i guess some part goes haywire there and generate high frequencies (just guessing).
So my thought is that even if it's not a pain usually (cause it's not really noticeable unless it's very low or silent in my headphones) it's not something i want to be there.
Second is, i am guessing external DACs are generally better at what they do, as Soundcards are made for"Gaming" and thus focus on things that appeal to them.
At least i believe that is the case, ZxR is clearly a "Gaming" card,
even though (as far as i know) there's no Hardware processing that game uses in Soundcards anymore,
cause the CPU is simply strong enough to do it, and there's no "the Soundcard has to do this",
it's just shuffling around data (As far as i know, please correct me if i am wrong).
// Reason for wanting DAC - END
// Reason for wanting Optical - START
Now for the DAC i would like Optical. Why?
Well i am not a big fan of USB cause it's software and polling driven,
thus if the OS decides that is has too much to do, it will ignore data which will cause hiccups in the sound.
Now i know this is not a common thing to occur, but i know it can happen cause my Mic which is USB (which i would like to replace as well,
so if you got some recommendations shout out) will drop out, had a total pain with that when i was syncing stuff and checking the samples and the clock rate.
PCI-E cards aren't immune cause the CPU has to do something at some point in order to handle data to begin with,
but it's mostly hardware based so you need extreme cases for that to break up, at least in my testing.
// Reason for wanting Optical - END
Now that's a lot of "If, maybe" haha, but hopefully something made sense.
And please be critical, i might prefer and think in some ways, but that doesn't mean i don't accept changes,
or at least knowledge where my understanding is lacking.
My understanding of audio is severely limited, and my understanding of hardware is mostly unrelated to the "audio parts" if you will.
And of course if i don't make any sense, which is quite common, do tell and i will try to clear things up!
Thanks
!EDIT:
Totally forgot to mention that i got an amplifier as it might matter, this one: https://jdslabs.com/product/objective2/
Last edited:
