Hi all. I've been thinking recently about the sound quality of mini-ITX motherboards. As a result I decided to post a thread and receive some answers from knowledgeable people. The google search didn't return any sensible results. And I saw some other topics here in the forums, but they are ancient (2005, 2009 etc). I think a slight refresh on the topic in 2012 is a nice chit-chat which might lead to some clarifcation in the field I really like the mini-ITX form factor and I hope my next build is such, but what bugs me is the sound. Currently at my parents' PC, they have this board: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5QEM/ . It's intended for home theater, and sound is not bad. But I bought them a cheap sound card: http://support.creative.com/Product...e! 24-bit&subCatName=Live!&CatName=Sound+Blas . What can I say, the differnce is amazing...it's just everywhere- skype, youtube, mp3, flac, whatever... Now these days I see mini-ITX boards like this: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/motherboards/desktop-motherboards/desktop-board-dh67cf.html . 10 channel audio>? Is it really? Some people experimented and came to the conclusion that "it depends" whether you need a sound card. But from my exerience it's a necessity, even if it's a cheap one. What about the external one's from Creative and other brands? You can suit yourself with as little as $35 That doesn't look so much to me. How do you find the sound quality from mini-ITX boards? Share your experience. I'm quite interested to read. 10x.
onboard audio is onboard audio. It is no worse on mitx than any other form factor. Where mitx falls short is there is only 1 pci-e / pci slot, so if you want a sound card, that's all you can have. If you need a gpu in your mitx build and onboard and gpu audio isn't good enough then you go with an external solution.
This is why Mini-DTX needs to become popular. That way you can stick a 1 slot GPU and a sound card in at the same time, since it has 2 expansion slots. As far as sound quality goes, I honestly don't notice a difference between our mini-ITX Pandora's Box controller and my ATX desktop. Even my dad, a professional audio producer, can't tell any noticeable difference between them.
I don't really think there are single GPU's anymore . Maybe some low-profile one's. But the second paragraph, wow that's quite of a compliment for the onboard audio
I didn't say he said they were good. In his opinion, every onboard audio processor(includes sound cards) is ****. Only proper external audio processors are any good. It's just there are varying levels of ****. Also: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131433 Single slot 6850. Not cheap, but it's small.
I'm no audiophile, so I listed doesn't bother me/don't care. For a layman the onboard sound on my 2011 Zotac board is fine. I was initially considering buying a dedicated sound card since I'm using the onboard graphics and have an open slot but now can't really justify the purchase. It might be better sounding, but since I've no comlaints now there's little reason.
A computer sound card is never going to hold a candle to a proper sound system, so you have to judge it based on other merits. Unless you only play FLAC, with expensive speakers or headphones (over £60 or so for a pair) then you will never really notice the difference. Most of it gets lost in mp3 anyway. What you really have to ask yourself is wether you want to listen to the song because you like listening to music whilst working on documents/browsing the web, or wether you want to listen to every bit of the music because you want to listen to music. If it's the latter a subscription to audiophiles monthly and a wallet that's more stuffed than the turkey is all I can suggest. Hope this helps Enterobsidian
No, neither of them. As far as using optical out to a proper external amp, our HTPC does that with an HT Omega Clario sound card. There is an audible difference in sound quality between the onboard audio and the Clario. It's not major, but it's enough to justify using the card.
I prefer external dac or amp. honestly, I think on board codec can only provide different function not different quality...
Most m-itx boards will feed a TV via HDMI, IMHO. Mine is in my car doing itunes duties ! My HTPC uses an Asus Maximus III Formula with it's audio card to feed my Cyrus AV processor/system. dunx