News Biostar targets audiophiles with Hi-Fi Z77X motherboard

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by brumgrunt, 23 Jul 2012.

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  1. brumgrunt

    brumgrunt What's a Dremel?

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    brumgrunt, 23 Jul 2012
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  2. asura

    asura jack of all trades

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    "There is one strange lack in the motherboard's feature set, however: with Biostar focusing on home theatre and audiophile builds, it seems odd that the board only includes analogue audio outputs - there's no sign of an optical or coaxial S/PDIF port..."

    ...or of RCA sockets, always a disappointment that so few sound cards (Other than professional cards I can only think of one) are equipped with them. However,h it does have a HDMI socket, and presumably, as an audiophile product, it will be capable of outputting 7.1 to an AV amplifier, thereby negating the need for their fancy on-board amp and etcetera...

    Or am I just being sceptical?
     
    asura, 23 Jul 2012
    #2
  3. digitaldunc

    digitaldunc What's a Dremel?

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    Kudos for doing something slightly different, but I would think any self respecting audiophile would go for a high end PCI-E card instead.

    And yes, if you're talking SP/DIF passthrough or HDMI it doesn't matter anyway...
     
    digitaldunc, 23 Jul 2012
    #3
  4. Er-El

    Er-El Minimodder

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    It's got an EFI BIOS so why does it also include a PS/2 port? :confused:
     
    Er-El, 23 Jul 2012
    #4
  5. greigaitken

    greigaitken Minimodder

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    upgrade law dictates that soundcards last 5x longer than a motherboard. so you pay the extra for for onboard hifi but lose it next time you upgrade. unless the extra costs 1/5 price of new sound card - its not a win
     
    greigaitken, 23 Jul 2012
    #5
  6. Elton

    Elton Officially a Whisky Nerd

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    N-Key Rollover. :lol:

    In all seriousness, I find this an admirable effort, but BioStar aren't exactly known for their amazingly awesome motherobards. They're good in a pinch, but that's about it.

    That said, I miss the old days of wacky colored mobos.
     
    Elton, 23 Jul 2012
    #6
  7. MiNiMaL_FuSS

    MiNiMaL_FuSS ƬӇЄƦЄ ƁЄ ƇƠƜƧ ӇЄƦЄ.

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    audiophile mobo = Sp/Dif RAW....nforce 2 had it for **** sake! why has sound on mobo's moved so far backwards!
     
    MiNiMaL_FuSS, 23 Jul 2012
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  8. zulu9812

    zulu9812 What's a Dremel?

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    Decent onboard audio at last? Even ASUS's ROG motherboards have sucky on-board audio.
     
    zulu9812, 23 Jul 2012
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  9. Elton

    Elton Officially a Whisky Nerd

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    Cheaper manufacturing. You have now one large audio chipset maker: Realtek and the two competing companies being C-Media and parts of Creative.

    Given that there's only about 3 well known audio chipset makers (C-media being the most advanced and ironically the least well known) it's no surprise we haven't advanced far yet.
     
    Elton, 23 Jul 2012
    #9
  10. Jipa

    Jipa Avoiding the "I guess.." since 2004

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    Audiophiles go for an external DAC.
     
    Jipa, 24 Jul 2012
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  11. fluxtatic

    fluxtatic What's a Dremel?

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    Glad to see them going for a niche here, but...damn, they did it wrong. I bet they would have been better off making (or licensing) a discrete card, as Asus has done off and on with their ROG boards.

    And even the higher-end Realtek doesn't exactly make me feel warmly towards it.

    But, it being Biostar, it's likely to be fairly cheap. Too bad that applies in both senses of the word.

    I could actually see a (very) niche market for something like this, but in mini-ITX - put it in a tiny case with a single SSD (or mSATA, even better) and screw all the audiophile BS - just make sure the board you build it on has HDMI or S/PDIF and bam! Cheap, simple build you can charge Monster Cable prices for. Damn, if I could get OS X for it, I could probably sell one to my boss (who trolled both the IT manager and myself by leaving "Mac for the Enterprise" marketing fluff on our desks - fluff which had come out of the packaging for the MBP he'd bought his wife.)
     
    fluxtatic, 24 Jul 2012
    #11
  12. BD Hopkins

    BD Hopkins What's a Dremel?

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    But can you make music on it digitally? DPC latency, anyone?
     
    BD Hopkins, 24 Jul 2012
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  13. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    ?

    We now have SupremeFX III and IV that mirror or better Biostar's solution:

    http://rog.asus.com/131512012/maximus-v-motherboards/what-is-supremefx-iv/ - 300Ohm headphone amp, 110dB SNR, ELNA caps, complete signal isolation, 1500uF buffer cap.

    Not to forget that our M5F also comes with the option of ThunderFX (114dB SNR, 300Ohm headphone amp), and we also have 'ThunderBolt' (audio/LAN combo card) on selected models last year too.

    Only the Extreme boards have basic audio as they aren't built for gaming; they are designed for OC or those people with budgets way beyond needing onboard audio.
     
    Guest-16, 24 Jul 2012
    #13
  14. Elton

    Elton Officially a Whisky Nerd

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    To be fair, onboard audio has taken HUGE strides compared to it's inception. Sure you won't be getting the best, but you're getting some decent hardware.

    Anyone remember VIA's attempts? Or god forbid some of RealTek's intial efforts? Yeesh.
     
    Elton, 24 Jul 2012
    #14
  15. Jaybles

    Jaybles Minimodder

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    I use a PS2 keyboard...
     
    Jaybles, 24 Jul 2012
    #15
  16. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    I use an AT keyboard, into an AT-to-PS/2 adapter, into a PS2-to-USB adapter. Which is kinda special, really.
     
    Gareth Halfacree, 24 Jul 2012
    #16
  17. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    To be fair you're also building a ZM81. You didn't really leave the 80s did you?

    ;) :lol::lol::lol:
     
    Guest-16, 24 Jul 2012
    #17
  18. XXAOSICXX

    XXAOSICXX Minimodder

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    IT isn't special, Gareth...you are :p
     
    XXAOSICXX, 24 Jul 2012
    #18
  19. [USRF]Obiwan

    [USRF]Obiwan What's a Dremel?

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    Audio enthusiast mobo should have eight 1/4" TSR, XLR input with phantom powe switch, spdif, AES50, midi, XLR main outputs.


    oh wait....
     
    [USRF]Obiwan, 24 Jul 2012
    #19
  20. Er-El

    Er-El Minimodder

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    Why? N-key rollover?
     
    Er-El, 24 Jul 2012
    #20
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