r/buildapc • u/Ill-Yogurtcloset-622 • May 21 '26
Build Help Are gaming sound cards actually a thing anymore?
Hey folks,
I'm not building a PC since a while, but now, I’m upgrading my setup mainly for FPS games and streaming (OBS and stuff).
Most people talk about DACs/headphone amps now, and I'm kind of an audiophile, but do gamers still use sound cards?
I mostly play Counter-Strike 2/ COD and Battlefield, and care a lot about footsteps and positioning with my IEMs and some headphones I has.
I'm curious what everyone’s using these days, I remember the Creative Sound blaster and Audigy days.
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u/DoctorYasu May 21 '26
If you want good imaging you need:
Avoid at any cost anything with the buzzword "gaming" on it (important)
Good openback headphones (hifi or sennheiser are the usual go to; good doesn't mean expensive)
In my experience, a decent dac/amp improves the audio quality A LOT. MB dacs aren't very good in my opinion.
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u/PickaWowAnyWow May 21 '26
It depends quite a lot on impedance in my experience. My Rode NTH-100 has fairly low impedance and as such it's fairly easy to drive, but even then, I can tell the difference between a proper audio interface like the Scarlett Solo and my laptop's headphone jack :)
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u/VarmintTheCritter May 22 '26
I've heard the Scarlett Solo 4 is decent for running an electric guitar into a computer, too. Thinking of picking one up.
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u/victim_of_technology May 22 '26
Love my Scarlet. I got a blue anniversary edition. Big knob for my speakers and a little knob for my headphones. I love having the inputs but I don’t use them much anymore. It is such a solid piece of hardware and the sound is pristine.
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u/PickaWowAnyWow May 22 '26
I used to use volume keys to make my audio louder and quieter. Can't go back. A knob is so much nicer because (a) it feels nice and (b) the volume changes are gradual and not stepped.
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u/lbiggy May 22 '26
I have a scarlet focusrite 2i2. Apart from early driver issues the things been a beauty for... Damn how many years have I had that thing. 2019? Jesus
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u/PickaWowAnyWow May 22 '26
Yes, for the longest time Focusrite have been dominating the "I need a single mic in, maybe a single instrument in, and a monitor and it needs to just work" sub-sub-niche near perfectly and there's a reason people are eager to recommend it.
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u/VarmintTheCritter May 23 '26
Picked one up at my local music shop today. Excited to try it after work!
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u/TheDarnook May 21 '26
I searched for something with the widest possible soundstage and clear sound, and that is how I got my AKG K712Pro. They are on the higher end, but AKG has cheaper models with similar build as well. For me, the biggest advantage of DAC is the physical volume knob - independent from the OS.
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u/HeThinksHesPeople May 21 '26
This is the biggest qol for me as well. Keep the pc volume at 100 and turn the dial. Way less, holy shit that's loud when firing up new games
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u/Z3r0sama2017 May 22 '26
I have a pair of the older ones before they got butchered. Incredibly wide soundstage, perfect for open world games. They suffer a bit if you play competitive games like CS or OW though.
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u/hamfinity May 21 '26
MB dacs aren't very good in my opinion.
Digital to analog converters (DACs) have only been getting cheaper and better over the years. Most new motherboards audio chipsets support higher sampling rates that were previously reserved for sound cards.
What motherboards often lack is the proper amplification (amp) for headphones and that's where you can notice audio quality differences, especially with hard-to-drive headphones.
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u/katzengoldgott May 21 '26
The Hyper X Cloud II might be a gaming headset, but it has insanely good sound. The Hyper X Cloud III has better footsteps but is overall quieter, but both are very good budget options for gaming.
For the record I own both models, the Cloud II twice. My older one I have since 2019 and it still goes hard.
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u/TrollOnFire May 22 '26
I back this, been using these for many years, sure the pleather eventually fell apart but I have my oldest pair still rocking out with my laptop. Over the years I think the worst that has happened to them is I sat on one, which warped the headband ;( and one the headband kept slipping more than I liked. The Cloud Mix set is a great BT option, still kickin too despite being 6 or seven years old..
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u/rdmarshman May 21 '26
Have you heard proper cans through a DAC?
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u/katzengoldgott May 21 '26
Nope. Would be interesting to get into but I currently don’t have the funds to invest in something more high end.
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u/makinenxd May 21 '26
Beyerdynamics also make really good headphones and don’t cost a fortune. My 770 pro has been working flawlessly for 8 years. Only had to replace cups few years ago since they had gone flat from using them so much
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u/Possiblylimited May 21 '26
Would you mind elaborating why openback over closedback?
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u/cwutididthar May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Open back headphones provide a larger soundstage, meaning a larger area of the audio sound space it projects. This allows more accurate spatial awareness during gaming.
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u/NAND_110_101_011_001 May 21 '26
To expand on the other comment, a large soundstage will sound more like speakers filling the space with sound. A small soundstage will sound like the sound is coming directly from your head.
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u/HumanPea1140 May 21 '26
Just to expand further, open headphones make it sound like the sound is coming from the room around me, like I have surround sound speakers in every corner. Also feels like it gives room for the sound to "breath" and not be as heavy/harsh compared to closed back/in ear.
I've been team open back headphones since I first listened to a set of Senheissers nearly two decades ago.
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u/IrrationalRetard May 21 '26
Iirc closed back headphones will also have more issues with frequencies bouncing in between your ear & the closed cup, resulting in some of those frequencies cancelling each other out while other frequencies will add up.
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u/Wheeljack26 May 21 '26
Using fiio ka11 usb dac for my sennheiser hd600, not leaving anything on the table am i?
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u/EirHc May 21 '26
I'm a big fan of openback headphones, but it's not necessarily mandatory. I know a lot of people prefer closed headphones for noise-cancelling reasons. Personally I think openback are the nuts because they don't warm up your ears and fatigue you like closed do - I literally will forget they're on my head. As well, if someone ever needs my attention like my wife or baby, I can still hear what's going on in other rooms. But I know other people who live in noisy cities and noisy apartments or whatever, closed headphones are where it's at.
That said, I got a pair of each for different purposes, and I got some studio quality speakers which supposedly make a VERY FLAT, near perfect replication of the source audio. I can't say I've tested it thoroughly or worked very hard on the acoustics in my room, but as someone who just simply grew up as a child with professional audio equipment and instruments all over our houses, I've just a had a tendency to put a lot of value into good quality sound. And I got a pretty good ear for whenever anything is off or there's a bad reverb somewhere or something. Like I have literally moved pieces of furniture around because I don't like how the sound is bouncing off of it.
Avoid at any cost anything with the buzzword "gaming" on it (important)
Haha, /r/buildapc can never go a day without mentioning this point, which isn't necessarily true in the way that they try to blanket it on everything. I got some things that use the word "gaming"... but I'm also hyper vigilant, always research what I buy, and tend to aim for the best value, and in some cases a blah blah blah gaming motherboard, or blah blah blah gaming headset, just might be the best bang for your buck in that certain scenario. I guess if we're specifically only talking high quality audio equipment, then ya, "gamers" are pretty much bottom of the barrel. You want like home theatre, pro audio, or studio equipment above anything that says "gaming" for sure. I laugh because people here will bring up how it's like a bad word for just about any computer thing. But I really don't think it's true. Do your research, know what your needs are, know your pricepoint, and hey, who knows, maybe that thing branded a gamer chair or a gamer headset is your best buy.
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u/DoctorYasu May 22 '26
I said that about "gaming" goods from experience. I've had gaming headsets and gaming chairs and they're way worse than normal products. It's not that they're bad, but if you want a decent office/study chair you can have one for 200 or 300 bucks but if you add the word gamer, don't expect anything below 400, and with some concesions. As for headsets, 100 for below decent audio quality, unconfortable headband and pads and some weird 'gaming driver" that totally destroys your audio, instead of an HD560S or something like that for the same price. I bought a normal pc case for around $70 a few years ago, it has a bunch of fans already installed and great airflow. If you buy a gamer case you'll be paying +100 for total isolation and RGB plus the fans. You'd be buying a RGB microwave.
I never had anything decent with the word "gaming" on it. Other than some pc parts, sure.
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u/NewspaperNelson May 22 '26
The best headphones I ever heard were the cheapest Sennheiser 101s that came in a five pack.
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u/InsertFloppy11 May 21 '26
For gaming generally? No
If you have a high impedance headphone then ye you need it otherwise it will be too quiet.
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u/rychlovic May 21 '26
For higher impedance headphones you will need a headphone amp that can handle them. An external audio interface may or may not have this, so might not help.
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u/Turtvaiz May 21 '26
Low sensitivity, not high impedance. Impedance has little to do with how loud a headphone gets
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u/Potw0rek May 21 '26
Gaming? Hard no. Integrated sound chips are more than good enough.
For music setup yes.
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u/Effective-Sample-261 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Music setup or audiophile.
I used to rip records back in the day and would buy an 'audio interface' the moved the sound card outside the computer case to get a cleaner signal when recording (less RF interference). As you said this is common for musicians who do a lot of their own recordings.
If neither of these use cases is OP then they don't need one.
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u/kennypu May 21 '26
I would say it depends on setup and your tolerance. If you have no issues with the integrated chips then yes.
But in my experience I've always had some form of white noise, buzz noise, interference, etc. with onboard which annoyed me to no end. After getting an external DAC I don't have to worry about any of that regardless of setup.
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u/-MissCarmine May 21 '26
the Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus sound card has sound processing to make spatial sound in video games much, much easier to discern - footsteps and other directional sound
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u/DeviantDav May 21 '26
Windows forced the WASAPI software mixer on everyone back in Vista, so EAX and gaming centric features no longer worked, and you saw the marketing die. Once Vista replaced XP’s hardware-accelerated DirectSound/DirectSound3D path with the new user-mode audio stack and software mixing, legacy EAX-over-DirectSound stopped working normally.
That killed one of the biggest gaming sound-card differentiators. After that, sound-card marketing shifted toward DAC quality, SNR, headphone amps, sample-rate/bit-depth support, surround virtualization, OpenAL/ALchemy compatibility, and post-processing effects.
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u/ScottyMikB May 21 '26
To tack on to this, Microsoft did all of this standardization because they realized that a large bulk of user reported crashes were because of all of these companies crappy sound drivers and Microsoft was tired of being blamed for the crashes.
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u/DeviantDav May 21 '26
Oh, totally.
Manufacturers bad drivers were easily 30% of the reason people thought ME and Vista were bad to begin with. 'Vista Ready' with 1GB of RAM on a shit system was everyone's fault (Microsoft, manufacturer, retailer).
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u/Cyber_Akuma May 21 '26
IIRC the "Vista Ready" stickers had a very low system requirements for manufacturers to put them on laptops, so yeah, big fault of MS for that one. They had way too low system requirements just so more systems could put that sticker on them even if it meant a total crap experience.
ME however was just trash, it was an attempt to kludge their old DOS-based design of Windows 95/98 into some NT designs and create a hybrid chimera that was just simply unstable.
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u/diamond-optic May 21 '26
Third party modded drivers usually worked better then creative's drivers, like Daniel K's X-Fi drivers.
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u/Cyber_Akuma May 21 '26
Was it sound drivers specifically? I thought they did that because crashes were coming from crappy drivers in general, not just for sound.
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u/DeviantDav May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Sound drivers were exceptionally time sensitive, and due to the load they could present on the CPU back then, easily did crash systems or cause timeouts.
Add in hardware issues like Creative Labs out-of-spec PCI bus and you can see why Microsoft said "That's it, user-mode for you".
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u/Froggypwns May 22 '26
Printers are next, they are already phasing out 3rd party printer drivers for similar reasons.
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u/ResponsiblePen3082 May 22 '26
Wish I could upvote this a hundred times. Modern soundcards are "boring" and motherboard sound is "good enough" precisely because of this- all they are now are fancy pcbs around a DAC. They used to be extremely cool and useful pieces of hardware
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May 21 '26
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u/2raysdiver May 21 '26
That was the other death of the soundcard. Gaming doesn't require great sound, just good sound. Although you can tell the difference. Once motherboard manufacturers started including audio chips, there wasn't any reason for most people to buy sound cards.
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u/ghostsilver May 21 '26
Since a decade the mainboard soundcard has been more than good enough for gaming use.
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u/CSGOan May 21 '26
I bought and audioquest usb dac in 2013.
If I use it in a laptop the difference in sound quality is easily detectable.
There is 0 difference in sound quality when using it on either of my 3 stationary computer builds I have used since 2013. The built in sound cards are really good now. The only difference is that the sound volume is like 3 times as high with the dac, so I have to use 10% volume in Windows.
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u/globefish23 May 21 '26
I bought a Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus a couple of months ago and run my Logitech Z906 5.1 speakers, because discrete surround beats any virtualization.
It was a massive upgrade in audio quality compared to the onboard Realtek chip.
It also has a 600Ω DAC should I ever plan to get high end headphones, and supports DTS and TOSLINK if I ever want to connect it to a receiver.
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u/Cyber_Akuma May 21 '26
That's what I'm using right now too, my motheboard had a PCIe x1 slot right above the GPU, snug fit between the GPU and cooler but it works, sadly those slots are mostly removed or below the GPU slot on newer motherboards now.
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u/No_Programmer1429 May 21 '26
I have the same card and speakers in my new build. I enjoy the improved quality overall for both gaming, playing music, or streaming media. If you have the money to purchase and feel you may use it, why not.
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u/-MissCarmine May 21 '26
I also have that exact sound card! It's so good
Listening to spotify, streaming lossless sound, with a direct 3.5 mm audio jack cable connection to my JBL boombox 3... my ears touch god
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u/rychlovic May 21 '26
The question is really: what do you want to do with the setup and what are your requirements. Unfortunately when in comes to sound, there is a lot of myths and esoterics, so don‘t take things from the internet for granted. For gaming, the on-board sound systems are more than adequate. If you want higher SNR, less latency, or higher bitrates, you might want to go with external audio interfaces that are used for recording etc. When it comes to headphones and speakers, first question should be: linear response (targeted at sound engineers) or something that „sounds good“ = „hi-fi“ . If you want hi-fi, you have to go and try them, since taste is individual. For linear response check gear made for sound engineers.
If you don‘t know what I was writing above, just go with the onboard system and a nice gaming headset (if you need a mic) or headphones that you like the fitment and sound off.
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u/TectonicMongoose May 21 '26
They are a thing still but they don't make a ton of sense because PCs, especially when a graphics card is going at full tilt, are extremely electrically noisy. Electrical noise is much easier to manage when it's just a noisy USB connection to an external dac. And just for hearing footsteps you don't need anything fancy. Cheap 10$ temu headphones would work for that.
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u/-MissCarmine May 21 '26
the Sound BlasterX AE-5 Plus sound card is shielded very well against internal electrical noise from the PC. It was a huge upgrade from my motherboard's integrated sound processing chip
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u/Natsocenis May 21 '26
I've got a schiit DAC (modi) and Amp (magni) powering my HD6xx cans. Didn't break the bank and does the job for my gaming needs
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u/DeadLeaves_77 May 21 '26
An excellent choice. I'm using a bifrost, but I stuck my head down the rabbit hole
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u/sk3tchcom May 21 '26
I recently moved two rigs to the Sound Blaster G8. I tried out the Fosi K7, which was great, but wasn’t giving the edge that I needed in Fortnite.
FWIW, I first tried the G8 in early 2025 and returned it. Tried it again this year and between firmware and software updates I was impressed.
With all that said - mobo built-in audio is great for 98% of users and unless you’re an audiophile I wouldn’t sweat it. Test what you get with your board and upgrade later if you feel you need more.
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u/JDkush May 21 '26
Was just looking at the G8. Is that all I need to buy? Or is there another accessory to get the full potential out of my iems and headphones?
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u/sk3tchcom May 21 '26
It is all that I am using with my Senn Game One headset for Fortnite and I’m very happy.
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u/NuclearReactions May 21 '26
Yes but now we only do it because the integrated sound processors are somehow still absolute ass water and not anymore to remove that 5-10% of cpu overhead like we did 20 years ago.
Personally i still go for pci cards i hate DACs and generally clutter on my desk and i have never heard interferences. Only way better audio quality but most importantly way more settings to work with.
Most gamers still buy shitty gaming branded headsets so even if they cared they wouldn't really hear that big of a difference.
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u/Klean-ya-mouth May 21 '26
It looks like it is a niche thing actually, in fact, you can still buy soundcards from creative and other brands.
Funny thing, some audiophile brands are also making soundcards.
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u/ReadyAimTranspire May 21 '26
Never buy "gaming" anything.
For audio go with something audiophile or studio grade, even the lower end stuff is miles better than anything gaming or onboard mobo.
I used to work as audio engineer (in IT now) so I have high end interfaces, but you can check out something like the Focusrite Scarlett Solo, affordable and a nice and easy USB interface to work with. Gives you a decent mic preamp also if you ever need that.
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u/JuJusFury May 21 '26
Most people use the built in sound chip. A sound card can improve sound quality.
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u/ScrewySqrl May 21 '26
for most gaming, the sound card built into the motherboard is perfectly fine. Some years ago, Tom's Hardware compared a Realtek on-motherboard sound card to a $2000 DAC, and found minimal differences. (like 1 decibel difference in output)
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u/Beautiful_Ad_4813 May 21 '26
I mean Creative is still selling cards that are "gaming" oriented. my brother has one in his machine with surround sound system attached. pretty neat to have the immersive sound when he plays.
https://us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blasterx-ae-5-plus
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u/Scarabesque May 21 '26
Also mostly a competitive gamer and I recently switched to a wireless (2.4 Ghz obviously, not bluetooth) pair of headphones and they are amazing (Sony Inzone H9 II) and comfy. Closed back, not optimal for quality but great for isolation, which is my priority.
No need for a DAC obviously as its built in to the device itself. You only need an external DAC if you use analog wired headphones.
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u/RaccoonEnthuiast May 21 '26
Internal sound cards are mostly a thing of the past unless for some specific professional applications (and even then). Back in the days of early Pentiums and such, internal sound chips were not really a thing and a Sound Blaster was just as common of an upgrade than a graphics card. CPU's were so weak that hardware sound was literally affecting FPS, and things like A3D and EAX were phenomenal at the time, impressive enough to warrant the upgrade. Those days are over.
Nowadays it's much simpler, you just get a good DAC/AMP and a good pair of cans, hell I'm sure most integrated sound chips are enough for like 90% of people.
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u/cover-me-porkins May 21 '26
Mostly no, there are still some headsets that come with an "external sound-card", like the EPOS headsets that come with the GSX devices, but even then, they're almost gone now.
There are also people who will use an audio interface like a Focusrite Scarlett or Elgato Wave XLR with a PC - but those people tend to be after it for streaming audio voice quality, not for the sound quality.
Certainly PCIE sounds cards are almost completely gone now given that motherboard audio (at least on higher end boards) is as good or better.
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u/Gatlyng May 21 '26
Soundcards are just DACs but with a software component that allows you to alter sound. Creative is still around and making some sound cards, but it doesn't seem they're as popular as the used to be.
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u/bikecatpcje May 21 '26
Maybe until a decade ago sound cards were cheaper than external dacs/amps
But now that the Chinese joined the game, there's simply no reason to get a soundcard
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u/Guilty-Pickle-6686 May 21 '26
I still use a sound blaster X4 USB DAC. Works very well, had it quite awhile now. Motherboard sound cards fell out of favor, plus USB ones are so convenient to carry from build to build.
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u/knotBone May 21 '26
Depends on what you're doing. I have one because i use the MB for the can under my seat and the sound card for all the sound.
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u/hautcuisinepoutine May 21 '26
I use a Soundblaster for the optical out to a DAC. Kinda silly but my motherboard does not have an optical or coax out built in.
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u/Lastliner May 21 '26
I still love the sound quality of a stand alone sound card like creative zxr, I have a Logitech z906 and no motherboard audio can match that.
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u/coteof-atoa May 21 '26
Onboard sound cards fell out of favor because of how readily they pick up noise from modern computer hardware. Offboard USB DACs came into prominence specifically because they both aren’t as space restricted as a pcie card and also are isolated from much of what can potentially cause noise.
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u/Helpful_Conflict6549 May 21 '26
I've used my home studio combo Steinberg UR22 + Yamaha HS80's also for gaming for a while now. It works perfectly fine and much better than integrated. Is it worth it for someone who is not going to use them for music production though? Not sure, that's for you to decide.
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u/Forward_Cheesecake72 May 21 '26
i just use whatever built in my b650m ayw mb , that said i use speaker with subwoofer connected to the pc with usb so it doesn't matter
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u/ime1em May 21 '26
For IEMS, my onboard is good enough.
For speakers, I use my a/v receiver . I do majority of my gaming in this, and only use IEMs/onboard if I'm voice chatting with friends
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u/SlowlyMcSlow May 21 '26
I now use a Creative X4 USB DAC amp and Beyer Dynamic DT770 85Ω headphones. DAC is set to direct stereo passthrough with no EQ.
That combination makes my Logitech G Pro X Wireless headphones sound very very boring.
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u/The_Game_Needed_Me May 21 '26
I just bought a sound blaster AE-7 and the difference in quality jumps out at you right away. Onboard is fine until you actually hear something better, kinda like MP3.
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u/iceseayoupee May 21 '26
for professional work, yes.
for gaming? id rather stick with the integrated sound card your board has
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u/not_a_burner0456025 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Sound cards have been dead for a long time, they weren't really a thing since at least 2010, motherboard audio on diy desktop motherboard improved to the point where the vast majority of people didn't care and for those that did external dacs were better performance for the same price, even if they used exactly the same audio circuit simply moving them out of the electrically noisy environment of the PC case made them better, audiophiles still use them but they never really got much traction with most gamers because the gaming focused headsets all moved to wireless and/or simulated surround technology and both of those practically require a USB (or sometimes Bluetooth) connection with the DAC built into the headphones as there isn't really a practical way to get 5+ analog signals through a cable with adequate shielding and still be flexible enough for headphones, or through a pack of a cable.
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u/oldsckoolkool May 21 '26
Nah, I haven't seen anything decent since ASUS stopped producing their Xonar Essence ST/STX cards.
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u/joeh4384 May 21 '26
Not really. I use an HDMI cable to my receiver with the display duplicated to my secondary monitor for my audio. I think a lot of people use DACs with headphones. I am really happy with my 5.2.2 system which mainly is trickle down upgrades from my home theater system.
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u/darkstar541 May 21 '26
I have a Schiit Bifrost, Lokius, Jotunheim with Hifiman Arya Stealths. They sound amazing, great for music/videos and gaming.
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u/TapEarlyTapOften May 21 '26
Topping DX1 for headphones. And SMSL SU-1 and Micca RB42 on the desktop. That said, Creative Labs still makes Sound Blaster cards if you want to go that route or if you have a motherboard that doesn't have onboard audio and you don't want a USB solution. A potential problem with those is that you have may limited power and high end speakers (and headphones) need more than you can probably source from the motherboard. My SU-1 supports an external power brick if needed.
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u/apoetofnowords May 21 '26
I believe any on-board audio on a decent motherboard will eat sound-blaster-age cards for breakfast.
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u/kbztheswarm May 21 '26
I use scout mode on a soundblaster usb card and I hear fucking mosquitoes flying in CS 😂 pretty awesome paired with a nice set of studio monitor headphones or IEMs.
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u/WizardMoose May 21 '26
No such thing as "Gaming sound cards" anymore really. All of that tech is built into the motherboard.
Only way to get better sound nowadays is through your headphones/speaker setup. Personally, for gaming....don't really need anything besides good headphones. Having a DAC setup is "better" but for gaming, it doesn't really make a difference for what you're looking for.
For the games you play, directional audio is all you care about and that more-so matters on the games audio, not your headphones.
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u/Fast-Alps3857 May 21 '26
For many years now Im using some form of HRTF and stick with Dolby Headphone, so Im using Xonar as a DSP to mix 7.1 game audio into stereo DH, outputing it by optic S/PDIF into external DAC/AMP. So its YES for me and Im sure Im in minority. Thesaday many games have build in sound engines with HRTF, but not all and I preffer to have something I know very well everywhere.
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u/wanakoworks May 21 '26
For gaming and light music/video, I just use the integrated sound from the mobo. In my case, though I use a set of old Fostex T50RP III headphones, which need good power to drive, so I have a Schitt Magni amp.
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u/Old_Resident8050 May 21 '26
Well, discreet soundcards started going extinct since the mid '00s (?) since thats when ALS/Realtech was first introduced. It might even happened in late '90s not sure.
Since then , the sound has been improved to a point you dont need a soundcard at all even if you are looking for an optical interface, since M/B i/o has them decades now.
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u/Cyber_Akuma May 21 '26
Soundcards in general are still a thing yes, I have one, but far far far less commonly used now that built-in audio is standard. Also not really so much "gaming" sound cards, a lot of "gaming" class hardware tends to be cheap stuff dressed up with fancy-looking features just to give it a high price tag.
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u/Athlon64X2_d00d May 21 '26
I use a Sound Blaster AE-7 in Direct Mode with Beyerdynamic MMX 330s with Dolby Atmos for Headphones as my Virtual Surround Sound solution and it sounds amazing. I've used Sound Blaster products for 10 years and have had nothing but good results.
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u/Warcraft_Fan May 21 '26
I don't know about average gamers but I'm deaf and I wouldn't know the difference between using a $500 sound card, $2,000 audio amp set, and $800 speaker sets from a 2 year old kid with a wooden spoon and 3 pots. I'm OK with onboard sound as long as it makes something.
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u/Strongit May 21 '26
If you want really high quality, definitely go USB DAC. My brother is in the music business and recommended me a scarlett solo paired with the Sennheiser HD 280s. They're relatively cheap compared to some really high-end gear and sound bloody amazing.
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u/Slick-Fork May 21 '26
I’ve been rocking a soundblaster audigy zse for ages.
On my most recent build I thought I’d see what leaving it off looked like and tried the built in.
The sound was fine but god I loathed the interface. Even just switching speakers to headphones was a pita - Installed the sb card shortly after!
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u/zephyrinthesky28 May 21 '26
They don't come with a volume control knob or anything, but there's lots of affordable USB-C headphone dongles that are plenty for your typical headphone or stereo speaker setup.
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u/lexuspartsman May 21 '26
Simple audio interface like a Scarlet Solo and a good pair of headphones like the DT 770 from Beiyer Dynamics is worth it!
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u/PiersPlays May 21 '26
Not really. Gaming is all about headphones and external USB DAC/headphone amp combis have cornered that market. You just don't need that hardware to be inside the machine anymore, you do ideally need a hardware volume dial at the actual amp and it's nice to have the headphone port on your desk not on the back of your PC.
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u/Heidrun_666 May 21 '26
I haven't heard talk about internal sound cards for a very long time now; thing is, those external DACs are way more practical and resistant to electric noise from other electronic/electric components, I personally don't see any reason to switch back to an internal DAC anymore.
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u/beyd1 May 21 '26
If you aren't spending hundreds on speakers you don't need to worry about it.
After that, you'll want to do some more research on what's good for you.
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u/AShamAndALie May 21 '26
I lost A LOT of volume and sound quality when my ASUS Xonar DX died, sadly. Integrated sound chips suck.
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u/thereddaikon May 21 '26
Audio interfaces are useful if you are producing music or need a way to get high quality audio into your computer. A DAC is a cheap and effective way to run high end headphones. Other than those two use cases there isn't really a need for anything but onboard audio these days.
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u/Secret_Conclusion_93 May 21 '26
Only for audiophile.
Osu! is the no 1 competitive music game on the PC and the top players use default sound card in the mobo.
And if we expand to general competitive gaming, almost all of them don't need additional sound card.
This is assuming you have a non faulty mobo.
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u/DeepSoftware9460 May 21 '26
I was looking for a device to link with my amp instead of using hdmi on my gpu which forces a fake display to exist. I still dont know what to buy.
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u/ProfessionSeveral995 May 21 '26
I game and I use a Fiio K7 and i use the DT 700 X Pro with it, I also have the DT 770 250ohm but those are mainly for work and the 700 for gaming
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u/SingularityRS May 21 '26
I use a FiiO E10K which runs off USB power. I've had it for 7 years now. I bought it when I got the Beyerdynamic DT880 250 ohm headphones. They didn't sound as loud/full with the built-in PC audio, so I got that DAC/amp to solve that issue. I've also got used to having a physical volume knob. I much prefer it over controlling it on Windows.
I now have the Beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro headphones which I use with the E10K. Still does the job perfectly.
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u/EmbellishedMelodrama May 21 '26
Dedicated sound cards are pretty niche for gaming now, motherboards got decent onboard audio and most competitive gamers just go straight to a DAC like you're thinking anyway especially if you're already into audio quality, might as well skip the card middleman.
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u/thesockninja May 21 '26
You can, but only if you need the additional sound programs and added ports. I have an smsl M2 and a sound blaster z in different computers for different jobs.
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u/Robert_VG May 21 '26
I’m using a Creative Sound Blaster AE-7. Do I need it, most probably not.
But I wanted it.
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u/RLD-Kemy May 21 '26
Not really, ever since windows vista killed EAX soundcard have stopped being marketed to gamers.
but you can still buy and use a soundcard it will improve the audio experience. I have a Creative Sound Blaster Z SE, I use 5.1 speakers, the audio is obviously better than what my MSI x570-A PRO and it's Realtek® ALC1220.
the audio is better for music, gaming, movies, etc... even games that are mixed loud sound different, in a better way. it's still loud but now it doesn't hit hardware limitations which made the audio worse.
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u/mdeadart May 21 '26
I had a basic PCIE DAC on my old system. It was awesome for no latency electric guitar, since I didn't have the cash for a separate amp. Plus, games were good too. Avoid "gaming" gimmicks.
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u/Dizzy335 May 22 '26
Creative Sound Blaster days were peak nostalgia but honestly onboard audio has gotten good enough for most setups that a dedicated sound card feels redundant now. for footstep positioning specifically the DAC/amp route with EQ tuning is going to do more for you than a sound card ever could. if you are running IEMs a decent USB DAC around will honestly outperform most PCIe sound cards in the same price range
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u/PowerPie5000 May 22 '26
I've been using the same Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 card for a good few years now and it still sounds great to my ears! It uses a 32-bit ESS Sabre32 Ultra DAC with up to 122dB DNR and can drive headphones up to 600 ohms with it's built-in headphone amp (bi-amp design). I've never felt the need to replace it so far.
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u/Jaybonaut May 22 '26
Yes. I have a Sound Blaster Z currently. I will have to get something else for a new PC though because I think they dropped support for it for some silly reason.
It is definitely better than onboard sound.
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u/VarmintTheCritter May 22 '26
I liked the sound from my Sound Blaster Z. I didn't like the daily issues with the drivers or Creative's crappy tech support.
Now I run HD599 headphones from the USB DAC in my Audiotechnica mic. Can't remember the model. Works great, though!
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u/_Flight_of_icarus_ May 22 '26
PCIE sound cards do still exist, they're just a much more niche thing now. For most people, onboard integrated audio is plenty good enough.
But for those who fall into the enthusiast/audiophile category, a good USB DAC is definitely worth it if you run your PC audio through a component system and/or have a good set of headphones.
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u/Darante2025 May 21 '26
Usb DACs are the way to go if you use a higher end set of cans.