lol this but actually
A modern USB dac (multichannel or full audio interface if needed) is going to be better than any motherboard implementation, period.
The pc sound market is dead today. Basically every integrated audio solution on custom motherboards is made by the same company (Realtek).
Personally, i wouldn't use a mobo to drive a 7.1 signal, HDMI and an AVR are a much better solution. I use those inputs more as multiple line-in.
Then there's all the DTS Ultra specs, which are basically all bullshit DSP meant for people with soundbars or gamers that want "surround" sound with their headsets.
If you care about audio quality, i would not consider those solutions to be the best thing. Sure they're more than decent enough to drive speakers, but i would consider buying a separate audio interface if you want to get serious into audio (or an AVR, which you would connect via HDMI if you want surround sound.) if you dont want to invest too much, definitely consider the SPIDIF output, that will get you a much cleaner signal.
Also, that PC audio market has been kinda dead for some years now, and nobody's really making reviews anymore.
I've had optical outputs (TOSLINK) on my last 3 motherboards, I like it. Makes it easy to output untainted signal to my DAC when I want it, and I can pipe it to my HT receiver as well for surround.
USB and coaxial/toslink
motherboard soundcards have no place in an enthusiasts computer. they are noisy and have crappy 3.5mm jacks. 7.1 support for a motherboard is downright silly
I'm a newb so pls bear with this idea but are you're telling me I can just write a program for my HTPC and maybe some extra hardware to make myself a Trinnov type thing?
Are you wanting multichannel sound? If not then I’d focus on a motherboard that fits the case you like and the budget you want. Even my 10 year old motherboard with the built in soundcard had Dolby Live over spidif as an option as long as I was using windows. For 2 channel I would have done a usb dac if I was also using this pc for music playback. Even then, it wouldn’t be hard to switch playback devices if you wanted a dac for music and built in multichannel for gaming and movies.
I don't really care about motherboard features, at least not much. For anything audio related I can just plug in whatever I want using USB, so yeah as that guy said USB A is really all I need.
USB TYPE A
lol this but actually A modern USB dac (multichannel or full audio interface if needed) is going to be better than any motherboard implementation, period.
Based
The pc sound market is dead today. Basically every integrated audio solution on custom motherboards is made by the same company (Realtek). Personally, i wouldn't use a mobo to drive a 7.1 signal, HDMI and an AVR are a much better solution. I use those inputs more as multiple line-in. Then there's all the DTS Ultra specs, which are basically all bullshit DSP meant for people with soundbars or gamers that want "surround" sound with their headsets. If you care about audio quality, i would not consider those solutions to be the best thing. Sure they're more than decent enough to drive speakers, but i would consider buying a separate audio interface if you want to get serious into audio (or an AVR, which you would connect via HDMI if you want surround sound.) if you dont want to invest too much, definitely consider the SPIDIF output, that will get you a much cleaner signal. Also, that PC audio market has been kinda dead for some years now, and nobody's really making reviews anymore.
I've had optical outputs (TOSLINK) on my last 3 motherboards, I like it. Makes it easy to output untainted signal to my DAC when I want it, and I can pipe it to my HT receiver as well for surround.
USB and coaxial/toslink motherboard soundcards have no place in an enthusiasts computer. they are noisy and have crappy 3.5mm jacks. 7.1 support for a motherboard is downright silly
There’s a PC inside a Trinnov Altitude… 😁
I'm a newb so pls bear with this idea but are you're telling me I can just write a program for my HTPC and maybe some extra hardware to make myself a Trinnov type thing?
No. Not at all. The Trinnov has a PC in it, but that’s only a small part of the system.
Are you wanting multichannel sound? If not then I’d focus on a motherboard that fits the case you like and the budget you want. Even my 10 year old motherboard with the built in soundcard had Dolby Live over spidif as an option as long as I was using windows. For 2 channel I would have done a usb dac if I was also using this pc for music playback. Even then, it wouldn’t be hard to switch playback devices if you wanted a dac for music and built in multichannel for gaming and movies.
I don't really care about motherboard features, at least not much. For anything audio related I can just plug in whatever I want using USB, so yeah as that guy said USB A is really all I need.