Motherboard Audio

[Deleted member 5035]

I posted the following in the forum for Amir's review of the Gigabyte Z390 motherboard's audio section, but I don't think it will ever get seen there. I thought it might interest some of you, so I thought I'd post it here...

I have an ASRock X370 Gaming K4 motherboard running Realtek ALC1220 audio. The headphones output is useless - weak and noisy. However, the rear Line Out appears to be excellent. With a decent DVM, I'm measuring a maximum of 2.20 volts RMS at 1 KHz on each channel. I'm using that Line Out to drive a JDS Atom amp. With the Windows sound turned all the way up, the Atom's sensitivity on high, and the Atom's volume turned all the way up, I can hear no noise at all on sensitive AKG K371 headphones - no hiss, no hum, and no computer digital noise.

And the RMAA numbers are impressive - especially considering that these are Line Out to Line In loopback numbers, being analyzed through the ALC1220 ADC...

Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB .. +0.01 -0.06 .. Excellent
......................... Noise level, dB (A) .. -103.2 ....... Excellent
....................... Dynamic range, dB (A) ... 103.1 ....... Excellent
...................................... THD, % ... 0.00210 ..... Excellent
......................... THD + Noise, dB (A) .. -88.2 ........ Good
.............................. IMD + Noise, % ... 0.00447 ..... Excellent
........................ Stereo crosstalk, dB .. -96.0 ........ Excellent
............................ IMD at 10 kHz, % ... 0.00444 ..... Excellent
......................... General Performance ................. Excellent

Seems ASRock did a stellar job with the audio on this particular motherboard, and I'm having a hard time justifying an external DAC.

Does anyone see any reason why I should buy an external DAC?

 

[bigjacko]

The problem is companies may lie about their specs. I think on reddit people generally advise if you can't hear pop or weird noise you don't have to upgrade to dedicated dac amp. On ASR people generally advise that you can use a bit of money like $300 to upgrade dac and amp. I would advise if you have higher price headphone and when ABing you can hear difference, you can spend up to $300 to upgrade.

 

[Deleted member 5035]

The problem is companies may lie about their specs. I think on reddit people generally advise if you can't hear pop or weird noise you don't have to upgrade to dedicated dac amp. On ASR people generally advise that you can use a bit of money like $300 to upgrade dac and amp. I would advise if you have higher price headphone and when ABing you can hear difference, you can spend up to $300 to upgrade.

I think the Atom amp is plenty. I'm just wondering if there would any real audible advantage to an external DAC - possibly the matching Atom DAC.

 

[pozz]

Does anyone see any reason why I should buy an external DAC?

Features, multiple inputs.

A headphone amp is a good idea, a DAC is more peace of mind.

 

[bigjacko]

I think the Atom amp is plenty. I'm just wondering if there would any real audible advantage to an external DAC - possibly the matching Atom DAC.

I think amp makes more difference so thus more important than dac. The dac on mother board might have some noise due to complex electronics on the mother board. I would say if there is no weird noise the mother board dac should be ok, but I don't have golden ear so may not be good advise. You can also get a dac that can be returned and try to do AB yourself.

 

[Tks]

Hear any issues? No? You're set.

 

[jasonhanjk]

Try to use the Atom in a different way. Set your amp to 0dB settings and volume max; this should allow you to get 2V in with 2V out.

Now use your PC's volume control to lower the volume, does it sound better now?

 

[Sgt. Ear Ache]

Chances are you'll get no audible benefit from a separate dac.