When assembling a PC, everyone always thinks about the big three first—the CPU, the GPU, and the motherboard. After that, people tend to piece together the rest, depending on what they want. However, everyone always overlooks one component: the humble sound card.
A world of missed sounds
Once you hear good audio, you’ll never go back
Though interacting with the operating system of your PC doesn’t require high-fidelity sound, or any sound at all really, most of our leisure activities do.
If you’re a gamer, you’ve undoubtedly had those moments where you’re fully immersed in what you’re doing, only to jump or flinch when something exciting (usually involving a sound) happens on screen.
Pretty much everyone listens to music, or watches videos, television, or movies on their PCs. A sound card is required for all of those activities!
So why then do the sound cards integrated into motherboards feel like an afterthought? It’s difficult to describe unless you’ve experienced it, but a dedicated sound card can make a large difference in audio quality, especially if the card comes with software that lets you fine-tune your listening experience. Sounds in games will often be clearer, and music will sound “fuller.” It is the auditory equivalent of jumping from a 720p display to a 1080p display.
You don’t even need to spend that much on a sound card to notice a large improvement, either—usually about as much as a power supply unit or your RAM. If you’ve already paid good money for a nice headset or headphones, why not ensure they’re working to their maximum potential?
As an extra perk, sound cards typically last much longer than other components in your PC.
Good sound lasts a long time
Audio components rarely need to be replaced
When you purchase a graphics card or a CPU, it always comes with the understanding that it won’t last forever.
Newer manufacturing methods lead to smaller, more efficient transistors, and old GPU architectures get left behind. New, purpose-designed chips wind up integrated into the next generation, like what has enabled the NPUs integrated into CPUs to run simple AI models much more efficiently. It is also why raytracing, which relies on specialized RT Cores, has made such large strides between GPU generations.
No matter how much you spend, you’re going to start lagging behind after two or three generations.
Sound cards don’t have the same sort of problem.
Sound cards, most broadly, consist of two important parts: the digital-analog converter (DAC) and the amplifier (amp).
The DAC is what converts binary audio data into signals that your headphones can use to make sound. Of course, the signal from a DAC isn’t very strong. If you plug earbuds directly into a DAC, you’ll probably hear something, but it’ll be extremely quiet. The signal first needs to be amplified.
The amplifiers in dedicated sound cards tend to be much nicer than the ones you find integrated into motherboards. They use higher-quality components that can amplify a signal to a higher level without distorting, have sophisticated circuitry designed to eliminate electromagnetic interference and noise, and will often be able to power higher impedence headphones without breaking a sweat.
Choosing between a sound card and amp can be tough
Internal, external, and whatever’s in between
If you’re going to buy a sound card, you actually have two ways to approach the problem. You could buy an internal sound card that plugs into one of your PC’s PCIe ports, or you could buy an external DAC and amplifier that connect to your PC through a USB port. An audio interface can also fulfill the role of a DAC and amp if you need audio recording capabilities alongside high-quality playback.
No option is distinctly better than another, though there are a few reasons you might want to go one way or the other. I have a small USB DAC and amplifier combo unit I have for my laptop, but my desktop PC has an internal sound card.
Why buy an internal sound card?
There are two big reasons to buy an internal sound card over an external DAC and amp combo unit: software and space.
Most PCIe sound cards you can buy are designed with an emphasis on PC gaming and usually have a software suite that comes with them that lets you tweak the sound to your liking. Sometimes they even have settings that amplify the sounds associated with footsteps to give you an edge in competitive gaming.
There will also be settings that let you control virtual surround sound, tweak your bass boost, and other enthusiast-related settings.
Additionally, internal sound cards don’t use up any space on your desk or add to wire clutter. As superficial as it sounds, my desk is already pretty full, and I didn’t want another peripheral in the way taking up space. It is ultimately what pushed me to go for a PCIe sound card over an external DAC and amplifier.
I opted to get a Creative Sound Blaster card, since Creative has been making dedicated sound cards for decades, and I’ve never had a significant issue with one.
The only significant downside to PCIe sound cards these days is noise.
Any sound card you put in your PC is going to be exposed to whatever electromagnetic interference (EMI) is being generated by the other components in your case. I previously owned an x370 Taichi motherboard from ASRock (which I loved) that was extremely sensitive to EMI from another component that I could never identify. I added a SoundBlaster Z and the problem went away—whatever EMI isolation was built into the card was enough. However, there is no guarantee that will work in your situation.
If you are getting EMI, you should try removing components one by one to isolate the source of the noise first.
Alternatively, you could get a USB sound card or external DAC and amp, which will be much less prone to EMI because they’re physically removed from the source of the noise.
Buy an external DAC and amplifier
If you’re going to buy something that connects via USB, you need to be a bit more careful. Some of those devices combine a DAC and an amplifier into one, but others are separate. In that case, you’ll need to buy two separate pieces.
The combined units are a bit easier, since you really only need to supply a USB connection and sometimes a separate power supply.
On the other hand, separate DACs and amps may be a better long-term value proposition. Amplifiers tend to age really well—a nice amp today will be a nice amp in 20 years. On the other hand, DACs are a little more vulnerable to changing technology. If “future proofing” is something you’re really concerned about, it might be worth considering. Schiit is known for producing reasonably-priced units that let you get your foot in the door without breaking the bank.
However, in most cases, I’d stick with the combo units—they’ll perform beautifully for years.
Hardware’s just the start
I’d also suggest trying out audio from a lossless streaming service, or at least breaking out your now-dusty collection of CDs, to test things out. The audio quality is usually much better than what you’ll get on YouTube.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
