There was a reason Creative put joystick ports on their sound cards: They were used for making music! That port was also used for MIDI interface, or you can use a joystick interface directly to control anything that needs a variable numeric input. In the professional audio arena, Firewire was also a popular choice for connecting to media devices -- it wasn't limited to hard drives and iPods. So that made sense too.
Plus, for folks who didn't do music work, video games were probably one of the few applications that would make any use of a sound card's capabilities, so being able to plug your joystick into the sound card instead of needing potentially a second dedicated expansion card just for joystick ports was probably nice. It makes less sense now that we have USB everything (including USB sound cards, go figure.)
Well, you need one for the I/O ports serial and parallel, one for the graphics card, one for the IDE controller, and one for the sound card right? Or am I getting old?
@@Carewolf Nah you plug a multi IO card into your VESA local bus slot for Serial, Parallel, IDE and gameport and you are set! These are MODERN times. ;)
Also given PC's didn't have ANY onboard sound, OR any Joystick Ports, AND were short on slots, AND most people wanted a Sound Card....for games....adding a Joystick port onto a soundcard was a GODSEND. When I got my first PC (Amstrad 386DX), coming from a Commadore Amiga, I was shocked at how little it could do "out of the box". First upgrade was a 2 port "game card" (joystick port card), but the shitty internal speaker beeps were too much for me. SO I saved hard again, and purchased the Sound Blaster 16 Pro. OMG great sound AND a joystick port, and I could remove my "game card". WHAT A JOY!!!!!!
This is one exception that I would buy even when knowing I may not even notice any difference at all. Back in the 90s, we were stuck with the PC speaker for years. Owning a Sound Blaster was the holy grail. When I finally got the Sound Blaster 16 it was amazingly awesome. Even the card itself was beautiful. So yeah.. for nostalgia reasons alone, I would buy a Sound Blaster today.
How are you going to control that? And would you have a f*** with a adressable RGB cable going inside with your meat stick? "Baby, do you have a condom?" "Yeah, but let me connect the adressable RGB cable here."
Back in the day, sound cards reduced CPU load in gaming. I kinda wished that Linus had tested this to see if it was still true to some extent. Oh, and RGB controller? Dear god.
3 years later, sound card owner here. Spotify CPU usage without hardware acceleration is around 1-0.6%, with hardware acceleration enabled cpu usage is 0.6-0%
There used to be a Soundblaster card that showed on the box that it encoded MP3s in hardware. Back then, this was a useful feature. Nowadays? Not so much. But I wouldn't use a USB device for sound on a desktop PC just because of dropouts and such like that. A PCIe slot card if I have an open one would be preferable to avoid issues when CPU usage gets higher. And RGB? Yeah, my motherboard has that and to be honest, its only use for me is to remind me that I left the computer on when I turn the lights off in the room.
External USB audio interface or sound card would've work just as wel as an internal card though. (And less of a hasle to install) (For years I've been using a cheap Yamaha Audio interface with midi in/out, Microphone input, instrument input+, Jack and Tulip line in and outputs and separate headphone output with it's own volume nob on it. Originally got it second hand for a few 10ers to plug my electric guitar into it. But I haven't used my onboard sound since I got it cause the audiolevels are much higher then the onboard and there is less noise(buzz) in the audio that comes out of it. And the thing is literally Plug and Play just like a USB headset. No special driver installation required so it'll work on any OS. It's awesome. Currently using it connected to a USB port on a Steam Link and it works without any problems on that too.) Or if you have a monitor with HDMI input and an audio output jack connector you could have used the HD Audio HDMI output of your GPU. The last 4 generations of GPU have supported digital audio output over HDMI.
@@PhoenixNL72-DEGA- thanks, that a tech tip I was actually not familiar with. That in itself pushes me over the edge. Ugh, but now I have to go research that.
Linus: "Bla bla.. soundcard bla bla" Me: "Nah, not interested" Linus: "But wait! This one is different" Me: "What elese linus? There's no way this old soundcard worth My mone-" Linus: "It has RGB" Me: "I am listening."
I found an old external floppy drive in the closet.... Has a floppy disk labeled "internet friends" in it... Not sure whether to investigate further...
They still do :) It just doesn't make 'as much difference' as they used to, due to faster CPUs. However, it still does, since much of the audio processing is passed onto the Soundcard (versus being done on the main CPU) - the larger difference would still be the quality of the sound (clearer and louder) than the on-board audio adapter.
...or decreased FPS as is the case with Aureal A3D cards. But the HRTF those sound cards generated, especially on supported games, were just amazing! Somehow, 3D sound technology in games regressed after Aureal died. Fck Creative for killing Aureal.
I can see an dependent sound card being useful, reducing processing power and could feature the latest audio processors. Having one that is compatible with Dolby Atmos would be pretty awesome. If I were to spend extra for a separate card, I would expect the sound to be notably superior to built-in.
@@dickstab false, atleast nowadays. most onboard audio is a seperate chip now, while still processed by the CPU, it removes any load compared to actual CPU audio. a soundcard does the same job, plus its better to get a cheap soundcard for some form of audio output and then use a external dac/amp for actual audio quality.
The "Joystick" port was a generic media port, at the time it was included, to be used with either joysticks and game controllers OR MIDI devices. It had an audio purpose on audio hardware.
It was useful for me back then. Motherboards starting leaving out the general midi port, and my favorite controllers used it. Back when saitek had all the good stuff :( I think logitech owns them now, maybe they will turn it around? When mad catz bought out saitek, it was a sad day...
Also, let's be honest, the port on eg the Sound Blaster Pro saved a gamer the extra cost (and ISA slot, was it?) of a dedicated joystick card. Joysticks were important for the full coin-up experience, which was peak gaming back then.
@@BobRooney290 I believe they are a German company and that just happens to be the owner's last name. Kind of unfortunate when translated to English, but that's the risk you run, eh?
3:05 "joystick ports on sound cards" That also doubled as a midi port so you can have external midi modules. HOW ELSE WOULD YOU EXPERIENCE DOOM OTHER THAN WITH A ROLAND SC-55 MIDI MODULE?? FM SYNTH? Madness!
I've always loved having streaming audio recording with the creative cards. Onboard audio is good but still has a very long way to go when it comes to surround sound and audio manipulation.
Once in the past, sound cards did not mean "just a DAC", they had hardware acceleration of 3D sound APIs they provided like A3D from Aureal, hardware EQ and HW synthesizer with sound banks. One of the HW accelerated samples include the old gone nForce2 chipset. Later all this died and everything went back on the CPU.
Joystick ports on sound cards date from a time when your PC otherwise didn't have one. The IDE Multi I/O cards that we all got didn't show up until years later.
I get the feeling Linus' computer experience started at a time right when sound cards were becoming obsoleted and doesn't remember that there was a time when your computer didn't do anything but beep and bloop through the PC Speaker, and in order to get even Midi-like sound you needed things like the AdLib card and in a time where computers needed multiple expansion cards to keep up with the game, having a joystick/game port on your audio card was a real life saver as you might not have had any spare PCI slots for a dedicated expansion just for that. Now granted, my experience with PCs came equally late in the game (I'm under 30) but at least I learned enough about computer history to understand why things were that way. For anyone else wanting to learn just how far we've come, Lazy Game Reviews has a wonderful channel full of old computer stuff.
At one time FireWire was thought to be The One Interface that would take over everything to do with high speed connections for storage, sound and so on, leaving USB for mice, keyboards, game controllers and other stuff that didn't need any bandwidth to speak of. The reason FW was incorporated into so many sound cards probably had more to do with the ability to import digital video from DV recorders rather than high end audio equipment. A lot of DV recorders was sold to consumers, and the idea that you would be able to import the video to a computer was something that sounded almost like SciFi. But in the end a large majority of these never had anything FireWire based attached to them ever. I've worked as a computer technician since the 80's, and FireWire devices never really took off for the PC market. Even after the FW interface became common the added cost drove people to USB alternatives. The Apple crowd on the other hand was quite happy to adopt FW for external storage and such. But even if FW was huge with the Mac crowd you have to remember that at the time Apple had perhaps 3% of the market...
When creative saw this video they were like hold my beer and then they released the AE9 which not only is extremely competitive with external high end sound modules But also integrates an XLR mixer into the card itself which is freaking awesome And it has the audio module which controls everything which is also awesome no having to reach around the back of the case anymore
I have the soundblaster zx in my system right now. I use a pair of senheiser cans and it sounds a hell of a lot better than using my boards plugs. I also have a good pair of klipsch speakers + sub connect to it. Stereo Direct is incredible. Music plays a huge role in my life as well, so I really do take advantage of my purchase :)
And my Audigy 4 pro on windows 10 with daniel k's 6.2 drivers pack. EAX on old games is still impressive and at the same time so sad seeing how today gamers don't get to experience that.
I got mine about the same time. Circuit City was going out of business, and since I worked there part time, I hid my sound card behind a covered portion of the shelf it was on, so nobody else would bother it at the last moment. It finally started having a crackling noise a couple years ago. I had no way to fix it, so I regrettably threw it away. No more Dolby Live (or whatever it was called), no more EAX enabled sound on games. I miss it.
and my X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro Series that I got back in 2010, I still reckon my card combined with my Astro A50s running Dolby Digital LIVE through the TOSLINK cable shits on anything shown in this video, not to mention I have EAX for older games
As an ex-sound blaster live customer, I will never buy an audio card again... but i am not an audiophile and think literally more than 99 percent of PC users will never notice the difference between today's onboard and standalone audio... only audiophiles which is probably near 0.1 of all PC consumers
Just installed the BlasterX AE-5. WOW, the sound is brilliant and alot clearer when high, and the RGB lights are magic, i have a MSI z170a so this is my first RGB, i just have the rgb light on with the card, i left the strip off as it was very bright and maybe too much. Thanks for this!
Be good for producing sound. Trance music sounds epic through sennheisers, especially through a limiter, mixer, compressor......JUST FUCKING DON'T OVER COMPRESS AUDIO!!! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Jonathan Scruggs so glad someone else corrected this. Sound cards have built-in midi ports that early game controllers used, but were primarily there to attach external sound equipment.
I'm glad you said something. I really didnt think anyone would prefer hooking the cable up to the back of your computer compared to a nice headphone port setting on your desk. I'm glad there is always that guy out there.
i'm with you there. I want a clean desk top and no extra wires. I'm ok with plugging headphones into the front of my PC and the volume wheel on my corsair keyboard is all i need.
I don't see why you hate on this sound card when it does the same thing as your Schiit devices without taking up desktop space. If you want a portable device get a dragonfly black. With this card I see no reason to own a Schiit product. This is for the person who uses his PC for everything from gaming to streaming, to professional audio and more. It's simple, easy to use and install, and just plain works. On top of that it has enough power to drive the toughest headphones on the market, and for now $140 it's a bargain.
"toughest headphones" the LCD-2 and DT990 250ohm are far from difficult to drive let alone the toughest headphones. Try driving an AKG K1000 with that soundcard.
Tbh, I didn't mind old Realtek HD and mostly forgot about sound cards 'til a relative gifted me a Sound Blaster X-Fi HD (USB card). I edit music as a hobby, and ever since I got the card, I can't imagine going back to Realtek. It's like playing games with an AMD or Nvidia for the first time after being stuck w/ Intel graphics for so long. Lol.
Sound cards are still needed for music production, and they usually have a noticeable difference in sound quality. However, internal sound cards, honestly I don't see them much anymore. Very niche market for this product.
I swear I just bought a Creative Sound Blaster Z (not for any performance increase, just because Win10 and Realtek HD Audio decided I didn't need audio and video at the same speed when streaming) and now this comes out.
The AE is like $50 more, I just checked it. I am in love with my SoundblasterZ, it has literally changed my life. Anyone who says soundcards are meaningless have never hooked up a $150 set of headphones to a $100 soundcard inside their PC. One of my friends looked like he was going to cry when he first heard his favorite song on it.
Rolling Rock I mean that in a random coincidence, LTT just reviewed a product from the same line that I just bought a product from. This isn't surprising when buying new stuff as an upgrade, but when buying a fix for a problem it's pretty rare.
Linus, please Make a video for gamers that goes into detail on whether we should be using a sound card or DAC or some sound solution or just our USB headphones.
You know, I was looking around to see what ASUS has presently. I couldn't find anything. There are far fewer sound cards offered for sale online than just 2 or 3 years ago.
I still use my Asus Xonar Essence STX. Beautiful card and it still gets driver support. The sound difference between onboard is night and day even with these MOBOs advertising "high definition" sound.
Great video as always, I understand the point of the comparison, perhaps from a price standpoint, but my feeling is that the head amp on the card is a nice add-in but where its strength is, is the DAC. Perhaps an interesting comparison would be to use the same Schiit amplifier and compare the DACs (the Schiit DAC vs the SB DAC). I have the feeling that the story would be very different, I could be wrong tho, hence experimentation and testing needed! Keep up the good work mate!
Aren't they wearing the Audeze's backwards ? The thick side of the pad should be on the back and the connectors leaving the headphone should face outwards not towards the body.
Original reason for sound card was performance improvement, sound quality was an added bonus. Also, to add the ability to rip audio at higher quality, as well as to upgrade to the then new 5.1 and then 7.1 which wasn't an option for a long time (standard now). You would buy a MB without audio, add a PCI audio card. Not buy a MB with audio and replace/disable onboard audio. Some newer high end gaming MB have built in audio with DAC processors (if you look hard enough), etc. Also, the design of newer systems and newer software compression, it becomes less likely you will need as a regular everyday gamer. But was hoping someone like Linus with his $40,000 PC setups would run some benchmarks to see if there is any performance differences with or without a dedicated sound card. Also, with the external, won't you have audio latency? Even with USB 3.1 (a and b), no? Is your USB lanes faster than my PCIe slot?
1, audio latency. nope. you can use audio cables over massive lengths and have no latency. its called having a wire. even USB 1.0 wont have any latency, since audio really isn't THAT hard to send signals for. 2, there wont be any noticable performance difference nowadays for adding a internal soundcard, mabye like 1-2 FPS average higher with a slight lift in FPS drops. I personally havent noticed any difference at all after installing my SB ZSE into my rig.
I wasn't going to buy but then I found out it has RGB. I then purchased two of them and set them up via crossfire. I went from 24 fps in Forspoken to hearing twice the frames in true 3d. It's lit.
@@coladict If u do professional audio work, especially THEN u WOULDN´T put a damn Soundcard in your PC, but use an external Solution. Soundcards are and will ever be less good than an external Solution, cuz Interference.
@Calamity They claim they do, but most of them don't really. Best option is, get it as far away as possible and that's only possible with external devices.
I'm still using my Creative ZXR since 2015 and loving it. The software is a bit...meh, but once you get the EQ the way you like it, it's fantastic. Both headphones and out to your receiver (if you choose to do so).
Don’t knock the old midi joystick port. Believe it or not, we still had to connect peripherals before USB came on the scene and that was pretty much the only way to connect a joystick. And since this was before on-board audio, you had to have a sound card anyway so it all worked together.
Linus, I like you guys and the videos you put out, but in this video you are misleading people. Probably because you don't know any better yourself. I have the MSI PRO-Z790-P-WIFI motherboard and I just bought and installed the Soundblaster Creative AE-5 Plus board. If all you are doing is listening on presets, then you can do a lot with your stereo Treble and Bass, but if you are trying to produce music videos for RUclips or elsewhere, then the AE-5 Plus is a real advantage simply due to the Graphic Equalizer. Each room, each set of speakers or headphones, to create a flat response needs the graphic EQ. Otherwise, you have no way to properly produce audio that will be such that you are not over driving the lows or the highs. By using a 20 to 20,000 frequency sweep RUclips video and then monitoring the output to the speakers with a spectrum analyzer like Spectrum Lab (free). you can with a little work be certain that your system is flat. Believe me when I say I live this stuff. My first recording studio job was in 1969. In 1980 I started as multitrack studio engineer. I have worked on NEVEs and many other consoles. The ability to EQ balance your system is critical. So, even though the sound coming through the Soundblaster board might not be perfect, the ability to EQ will make it perfect. There is no way that anyone can predict what speakers you use or what your room sounds like. Calibrating the system is what we do in pro recording studios and it has to be done here too.
i've been using sound cards ever since the beginning of my PC building years, and they are noticeably different from on board, but i always use speakers ( i hate headphones ) so the sound card has always been a nice add on, unfortunately my sound blaster fatality died last year and i've been looking for a replacement for a while, and now i see something that actually looks worth getting, cant wait to try this card out
i think it was a x-fi sound blaster fatality, at least that is what it looks like, i think it requires a pcie 4 slot, and it came with some great software as well
I had an old Soundblaster X-Fi Fatal1ty with 5.25" panel with 6,3mm input jack, optical and shit, golden PCI. When I found it, sister threw it into trash bin. That card leveled volume levels like whispering and explosions, significantly improved sound, I could plug guitar in it, it even had integrated effects and no lag. Pity there's no Creative alternative.
lucas rem No, onboard always uses the main CPU for audio processing. You always get better performance with a Soundcard (just like using a GPU for video output) and the audio will always be better (clearer and louder) with a Soundcard versus onboard audio adapters... Reminder: Stock is never as good as add-ons when it comes to audio tech (cars, computers, anything)
I have SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer, it even has a heatsink :D Had to buy it back then because i could hear noise from CPU and hard drives after buying Senheisser headphones and trying to use them with onboard audio.
Why Linus, you didnt mention the Sound Blaster ZxR which came as 2 cards with 8 cores, gold contacts and I believe the best set they have made. What do I know because I am crazy.
@@nikoyochum6974, so in essence, they could be plated with anything that doesn't oxidize.(copper gets green and gooey, and then your contact is Schitty) That cheapo "chrome" finish is nickel plating, and nickel is a fairly good conducting metal, which also has the ability to inhibit oxidation, and bonds excellently to copper. So yes, 100% gimmick. Silver also conducts well, for what it is worth.
Nickel does however have high impedance, which is why heater wire is consist of it, gold does not, but the days where losses, cross talk and EM interfere made it a necessity are long gone. So without expensive equipment plotting the difference for you on a graph, I highly doubt that you will be able to perceive any kind of difference. It's merely placebo at most, nowadays.
@@s4rg380 It's not for corrosion at all. It is for preventing sparking when you plug in/out and when the contact is poor. The last thing you want in an audio interface is a spark that could kill electronics or poor contact in the port causing the audio to go to schiit. They use gold because it is the material with the best properties for anti-spark coating and is also an excellent condunctor of electricity. Nickel is also used (not in audio) but it can heat up and cause issues. For the same reason the best way to pick up a simple light switch is to see if it is at least nickel-coated - ultra cheap ones are bare copper and can cause a short and literally weld themselves in a month or so.
What is the point in getting a USB DAC if you are going to use bluetooth aptx? They quite literally added a feature to their DAC which bypasses the rest of the product and renders it redundant. You could just buy a bluetooth dongle instead and get the same thing.
Aethid I'm an Audiophile, wired FTW. I understand the difference. It gives people options .. that's literally my only point. Truth is people's hearing is often so damaged most couldn't tell the difference.
AFFE NOWU All I have is a USB based gaming headset on my PC. For music I prefer a DAP _(juiced up like smartphone running Android with an integrated DAC and wireless)_ connected to wired high impedance comfy headphones.
"USB based gaming headset" and "I'm an Audiophile" from a single commenter. now this i'm grabbing some popcorn for. carry on. And also. high ohm headphones on a mp3 player?
To answer your question by answering it instead of schiiting on a company it was named that way because the guy who started the company kept saying "I'm going out to work on shit" to his wife and she said something along the lines of why don't you just call the company that (I don't recall what she said) and so he did. The being brought up is that the schiity headphone amps were putting out a extremely high DC shock when being turned off. First schiit ignored the problem then they claimed it was normal for audiophile equipment and you should unplug your headphones before turning off your equipment. This DC shock can damage your headphones. They had to have proof that it was real and could damage your hearphones. So they put in a muting switch at power on and off. However it seemed to me like the schiit guy was just too arrogant to change rather than too cheap. I was just trying to find another headphone amp that is comparable for the same price range in Europe but couldn't find one. Just compare power output and other numbers around with other things around the magni price. However you probably weren't even interested in any of that drama and the stupidity of having to get your opinion on the issue down on the subject (that's how I feel about this what I wrote at least).
I have this card and I love it! Everything about it actually. Great sound quality, it powers my Sennheiser gaming headset perfectly and all of that sweet, sweet RGB LEDs. I got the whole LED kit for it. The software works good for me as well. No issues.
If you didn't review the surround sound functionality then you missed a MAJOR reason to use an aftermarket sound card in 2018. (besides the other reasons). The problem is that most people don't know how to configure their PC's correctly for surround sound when using a stereo headphone set. Your windows audio settings should be set to 5.1 or 7.1. If the option exists in game, it should also be set to 5.1, 7.1, or surround. (some games will use the windows setting). Now here is where the magic happens. Your soundblaster settings should be set to headphones with surround enabled. The soundcard then takes a 5.1 / 7.1 input and creates virtual surround sound using proprietary technology. And yes, while some people here are going to argue that games like Battlefield have builtin headphone surround options, the overwhelming majority of games do not.
Jamie Smith that’s why VR headsets have 7.1 setups, right? Because you can’t do it with two speakers...wait, no, the other thing, you only need two. You can play Quake blind with just your ears, and this is from the 90s. Headphones is all you need. Never mind that most built in options come with digital out via TOSlink, or video cards with HDMI, a soundcard is completely pointless.
Sure but why are headphones still in the picture? Simulated surround is garbage. You either have real setup or you don’t even bother. I only play on One X/PS4 these days and use a Yamaha amp with Polks but back when I did play on PC I bought a cheap 5.1 Logitech set with the Audigy 2 ZS and it was great especially for the money. I remember the demo disc sounding fantastic. It had a mix of 24-bit recordings and obviously EAX was a huge deal in lots of games to the point where if you didn’t have a Sound blaster you were really missing out. Headphones can be nice outside and on the plane but when you’re home you really should have speakers moving air.
lecorsaire “sunken cost fallacy” Go look it up. Also, have a look (listen) at binaural recording then come back to me. A good set of cans will outperform a stack of speakers any day of the week.
Originally I was using the onboard sound and Razer Kraken 2019. Now I am using the AE-5 with the same Kraken 2019. It is a substantial upgrade in sound
If I may pop in, as a Computer Technician and Gamer - yes you do get a boost in fps... It's not a 'lot', but a soundcard will always improve fps/performance, as the audio is utilizing the main CPU far less, to process audio and output it (the processing is passed onto the soundcard, just like how a GPU processes video output far better than a CPU could).
Actually you do. Crysis 1 is able to do the sound processing on the soundcard. But what would you gain? About 1.5FPS? But I really like (creative) because with them you can use EAX in older games, which improves the sound effects greatly. :D
Got the AE-5 Pure a few weeks ago, huge upgrade from on board, AND I can run 3.5mm to RCA splitter cable from the L/R to my external amp for my bookshelf speakers, as well as a separate 3.5 to RCA from the C/Sub out to my powered sub and cross over. Note that you must uncheck "full range speakers" in the software for the sub to get signal. Also drives my SHP9500's very nicely, you can select the resistance range of your cans in the software. I really like the custom EQ's ability to draw the freq curve, as well, can't wait to take some measurements with my UMIK-1 and import from REW. Another plus is that I was able to get rid of the clutter on my PC desk from the external DAC which can now sit and wait (along with the Fosi BT30E amp) for when I go to a 2.1 setup for the bedroom TV.
how was the performance on your bookshelf speakers .. and what about headphone.. does the xamp tech makes a difference? was thinking of getting one... but surprised to found out what happened to sound card market... never realized creative labs gone thru so much these years.. haha... from one of the top dogs to almost hobo in less than a decade.. and Asus is not updating their sound card line up.. else i was thinking of getting their xonar series of sound card... let me know what you think about it. thanks...
Lol Elon named his son after a sound card
Are y'all still making this joke
Harrison Lane yes dumbass
Harrison Lane yes dumbass
@@harrylane4 yes dumbass
Elon said his wife chose the name dumbass
There was a reason Creative put joystick ports on their sound cards: They were used for making music! That port was also used for MIDI interface, or you can use a joystick interface directly to control anything that needs a variable numeric input.
In the professional audio arena, Firewire was also a popular choice for connecting to media devices -- it wasn't limited to hard drives and iPods. So that made sense too.
There were even Firewire DACs.
It was used to connect my MS Sidewinder gamepad to play Motocross Madness 👌
I had an firewire'd DAC on an Audigy 2 and later an Audigy 4 Creative soundcard :D
Plus, for folks who didn't do music work, video games were probably one of the few applications that would make any use of a sound card's capabilities, so being able to plug your joystick into the sound card instead of needing potentially a second dedicated expansion card just for joystick ports was probably nice. It makes less sense now that we have USB everything (including USB sound cards, go figure.)
@@GTFour thank you for this. I totally forgot about that chapter of my life haha
"what's those shiny metal boxes you got over there?"
"Oh, that's my Schiit"
LMAO
polished metal schiit
@@astroabood polished schiit
Magni and Modi
What shit?
A good PCI slot is a filled PCI slot!
oh yeah...I'm gonna fill all your PCIe slots baby
Crossfire four way.
I got 6 ram slots open
Well, you need one for the I/O ports serial and parallel, one for the graphics card, one for the IDE controller, and one for the sound card right?
Or am I getting old?
@@Carewolf Nah you plug a multi IO card into your VESA local bus slot for Serial, Parallel, IDE and gameport and you are set! These are MODERN times. ;)
Soundcards in 2017:
"We've removed the headphone jack because it's too old"
Worst part is it wouldn't be a surprise if Creative did such a thing. Those fuckers are the scumbags.
Ice Coffee apple innovation 2017 - a sound card with NO 3.5mm jack
so what do we use now? l know you're joking, but if there is no analog output then a sound card is 100% pointless.
Electronics For Fun- Subtitles
subtitle card? XD
to be fair what was called a "joystick port" was really just a general midi port soo it kinda was thing you wanted on good sound card... just saying
At least it was relevant for a sound card. You did need to plug in a MIDI-controller somewhere if you wrote music.
And professional audio equipment like ProTools and UAD stuff were connected through FIREWIRE in the 2000s - hence the IEEE1394 port.
Also given PC's didn't have ANY onboard sound, OR any Joystick Ports, AND were short on slots, AND most people wanted a Sound Card....for games....adding a Joystick port onto a soundcard was a GODSEND. When I got my first PC (Amstrad 386DX), coming from a Commadore Amiga, I was shocked at how little it could do "out of the box". First upgrade was a 2 port "game card" (joystick port card), but the shitty internal speaker beeps were too much for me. SO I saved hard again, and purchased the Sound Blaster 16 Pro. OMG great sound AND a joystick port, and I could remove my "game card". WHAT A JOY!!!!!!
was a* thing
@@DarthVader1977 can you mark my maths homework next please?
3:42 Nooooooo they’re on backwards!
Drove me crazy the whole time, its really obvious the way they are supposed to go, just look at the inputs jabbing into their shoulders..... ahhh
5:18 Dennis doesn't seem to mind
Snazzy Labs REEEE!
lol
Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
This is one exception that I would buy even when knowing I may not even notice any difference at all. Back in the 90s, we were stuck with the PC speaker for years. Owning a Sound Blaster was the holy grail. When I finally got the Sound Blaster 16 it was amazingly awesome. Even the card itself was beautiful. So yeah.. for nostalgia reasons alone, I would buy a Sound Blaster today.
Next up RGB condoms
Zeus 999 dude you have a million dollar idea here bro.. not joking
Zeus 999 rgb shit
I don't need a condom to be rgb, my DEEPWANG is lit by DEEPCOOL rgb lighting strips
RGB... kids?
How are you going to control that? And would you have a f*** with a adressable RGB cable going inside with your meat stick? "Baby, do you have a condom?" "Yeah, but let me connect the adressable RGB cable here."
Back in the day, sound cards reduced CPU load in gaming. I kinda wished that Linus had tested this to see if it was still true to some extent. Oh, and RGB controller? Dear god.
3 years later, sound card owner here. Spotify CPU usage without hardware acceleration is around 1-0.6%, with hardware acceleration enabled cpu usage is 0.6-0%
@@Leo_OMx Well sound cards do help in many factors too.
Plus I recommend the AE-5 Plus cause man it's way different.
@@zushikatetomotoshift1575 Would you recommend Plus or Pro?
It does to a much lesser extent then back in the day.
There used to be a Soundblaster card that showed on the box that it encoded MP3s in hardware. Back then, this was a useful feature. Nowadays? Not so much. But I wouldn't use a USB device for sound on a desktop PC just because of dropouts and such like that. A PCIe slot card if I have an open one would be preferable to avoid issues when CPU usage gets higher.
And RGB? Yeah, my motherboard has that and to be honest, its only use for me is to remind me that I left the computer on when I turn the lights off in the room.
To be fair to Creative, they were putting joystick ports on the sound cards before USB ports were a thing; it was a big selling point in the 90's.
Yeah without that id have been screwed, in fact i still got that card on my pc now soundblaster audigy 2 lol screw on board rubbish.
durtySumthing lol you and me both bro
It was also used to control MIDI devices, which makes perfect sense on a sound card. MPU-401 anyone?
Back then it might have been needed based on your pc because not every pc had a port for midi or controllers. You only got 1 port if any at all
@@Wolfstanus yeah maybe if you had a 386 system still like a pleb
“Hello guys today I’m going to be reviewing the SCHIIT Modi 2.”
RUclips: I’m gonna stop you right there
>own $900+ headphones
>puts them on backwards
Craftymang she doesn’t own them.
yeah that's plain to see, cringey
I own a pair and they are glorious set of cans
Thats what I did. The microphone canonically goes on the right side of my face.
?? I'm talking about the Audeze LCD-2's... they don't have a microphone.
Hahaha!!! Shit is hilarious! What made you purchase the headphones that are near a $1,000?
Linus: ''Schitt''
RUclips: *DEMONITIZED*
Basically....
Schiit*
like it would affect their budget
Linus. You forgot to test it watercooled for lower temperature resulting in better signal to noise ratio, lower distortion, and better fps.
Mike Frames per Sound? :thinking:
White Vaille digital sound does come in frames. It's called "samples per second" or "sample rate"
That's not how a DAC works
The sound chip on my mobo stopped working. Didn't want to replace the mobo. So sounds cards suddenly became very relevant.
do this sound card.
External USB audio interface or sound card would've work just as wel as an internal card though. (And less of a hasle to install) (For years I've been using a cheap Yamaha Audio interface with midi in/out, Microphone input, instrument input+, Jack and Tulip line in and outputs and separate headphone output with it's own volume nob on it. Originally got it second hand for a few 10ers to plug my electric guitar into it. But I haven't used my onboard sound since I got it cause the audiolevels are much higher then the onboard and there is less noise(buzz) in the audio that comes out of it. And the thing is literally Plug and Play just like a USB headset. No special driver installation required so it'll work on any OS. It's awesome. Currently using it connected to a USB port on a Steam Link and it works without any problems on that too.)
Or if you have a monitor with HDMI input and an audio output jack connector you could have used the HD Audio HDMI output of your GPU. The last 4 generations of GPU have supported digital audio output over HDMI.
@@PhoenixNL72-DEGA- thanks, that a tech tip I was actually not familiar with. That in itself pushes me over the edge. Ugh, but now I have to go research that.
Linus: "Bla bla.. soundcard bla bla"
Me: "Nah, not interested"
Linus: "But wait! This one is
different"
Me: "What elese linus? There's no
way this old soundcard worth
My mone-"
Linus: "It has RGB"
Me: "I am listening."
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
Story of my life
Linus: "are sound cards unnecessary??"
Linus: "well this one's actually worth it"
Linus: "RGB boi"
Me: "waste of money"
lol
RGB
But can it play Crysis soundtrack?
Linus: Incorporate RGB within floppy disks, and they'll make a comeback as well
I gather sarcasm isn't something you're good with?
I found an old external floppy drive in the closet.... Has a floppy disk labeled "internet friends" in it... Not sure whether to investigate further...
And binary weaving.
I remember when back in the day a good sound card increased fps :D
They still do :)
It just doesn't make 'as much difference' as they used to, due to faster CPUs. However, it still does, since much of the audio processing is passed onto the Soundcard (versus being done on the main CPU) - the larger difference would still be the quality of the sound (clearer and louder) than the on-board audio adapter.
IIRC Since windows vista it's all software processed anyway. They neutered the audio stack for DRM reasons.
...or decreased FPS as is the case with Aureal A3D cards. But the HRTF those sound cards generated, especially on supported games, were just amazing! Somehow, 3D sound technology in games regressed after Aureal died. Fck Creative for killing Aureal.
Pallomobiili aijaa suomalaisia :D
"However, it still does, since much of the audio processing is passed onto the Soundcard (versus being done on the main CPU)"
Lies.
I can see an dependent sound card being useful, reducing processing power and could feature the latest audio processors. Having one that is compatible with Dolby Atmos would be pretty awesome. If I were to spend extra for a separate card, I would expect the sound to be notably superior to built-in.
OR YOU GET HIGHER FPS IN GAMES WITH THE SAME QUALITY OR BETTER. SOUND TAKE A HUGE AMOUNT OF CPU TO CREAT.
@@dickstab false, atleast nowadays. most onboard audio is a seperate chip now, while still processed by the CPU, it removes any load compared to actual CPU audio. a soundcard does the same job, plus its better to get a cheap soundcard for some form of audio output and then use a external dac/amp for actual audio quality.
@@scarecrow5848 make sure cheap internal soundcard is isolated enough from internal interference
It has no water cooling, so I'm not interested.
indeed :)
It needs tempered glass too
Waiting for EKWB to release a water block for this.
Hose no Star Wars Collector's Edition
Is your avatar related to grim fandango? I love that game.
The "Joystick" port was a generic media port, at the time it was included, to be used with either joysticks and game controllers OR MIDI devices. It had an audio purpose on audio hardware.
Add RGB to it, it will make a comeback!
I was surprised Linus didn't know that -_-'
It was useful for me back then. Motherboards starting leaving out the general midi port, and my favorite controllers used it. Back when saitek had all the good stuff :( I think logitech owns them now, maybe they will turn it around? When mad catz bought out saitek, it was a sad day...
Yeah, Gameport is no longer supported in recent windows versions.
Also, let's be honest, the port on eg the Sound Blaster Pro saved a gamer the extra cost (and ISA slot, was it?) of a dedicated joystick card.
Joysticks were important for the full coin-up experience, which was peak gaming back then.
5:45 our slightly more expensive
S C H I I T
😂
That's some good S C H I I T
I love my creative soundblaster Zx series sound card. Sound quality is a lot a lot better than my integrated sound card on my mother board
Do they do strippers with RGB?
Yeah, and they even come with a free (!!!) RGB dildo!
ye they are also know as christmas trees
You're about 5 years too late if so. First saw them being released (and almost fell over laughing) in 2012, beating the PC RGB trend by a long shot.
you gotta pay extra for that
I need an Amazon link to the rgb dildo
2:07 whoever founded Schiit Audio needs a lesson in business naming
Actually the story to that is pretty funny and they are doing very well so...
"And the audio quality... goes to Schitt". When schitt is a mark of quality.
I know I'll never forget it so there's that.
yeah. they did a good job at enticing their audience with that name. isnt that what selling a product is all about? DUHHHH!
@@BobRooney290 I believe they are a German company and that just happens to be the owner's last name. Kind of unfortunate when translated to English, but that's the risk you run, eh?
3:05 "joystick ports on sound cards"
That also doubled as a midi port so you can have external midi modules. HOW ELSE WOULD YOU EXPERIENCE DOOM OTHER THAN WITH A ROLAND SC-55 MIDI MODULE?? FM SYNTH? Madness!
munxcorp yeah #makemidiportsgreatagain
How else? With an MT 32 of course.
And here I am having a project building a synth with an OPL2
WaveBlaster 64 awe.
What do you get when you stack two dac boxes on top of each other? ....A pile of Schitt.
A couple of deuces
This sound card review has closed captioning. Why would a deaf person want a sound card? The RGB!!!
I'm an anime fan, so I watch videos with subtitles or "closed captioning" enabled anyway :-p
The comment was still funny though, hence the reply.
Deaf folks still listen to and write music and better sound quality provides higher quality vibration as well. Just a heads up it is a thing.
@@casparhughey5651 They could feel the low frequencies on the body, but how can they listen to music if they're deaf? ಠ_ಠ
@@acdcjor the vast majority of Deaf people have some residual hearing.
Should have titled the video "Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 is not Schiit"
Dragon Slayer Ornstein Why does this not have more likes???
I've always loved having streaming audio recording with the creative cards. Onboard audio is good but still has a very long way to go when it comes to surround sound and audio manipulation.
look at linuses cute nail polish🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Once in the past, sound cards did not mean "just a DAC", they had hardware acceleration of 3D sound APIs they provided like A3D from Aureal, hardware EQ and HW synthesizer with sound banks. One of the HW accelerated samples include the old gone nForce2 chipset. Later all this died and everything went back on the CPU.
Joystick ports on sound cards date from a time when your PC otherwise didn't have one. The IDE Multi I/O cards that we all got didn't show up until years later.
And, they doubled as midi ports.
We all got? I don't remember those at all. It was always about just using your sound card
Randall Danger, he means that non-soundcards with joystick ports didn't show up until later.
Yep, but nothing beats a good old interrupt based joystick. Just like kbd.
also from a time when joysticks had unique ports instead of usb, or bluetooth
I get the feeling Linus' computer experience started at a time right when sound cards were becoming obsoleted and doesn't remember that there was a time when your computer didn't do anything but beep and bloop through the PC Speaker, and in order to get even Midi-like sound you needed things like the AdLib card and in a time where computers needed multiple expansion cards to keep up with the game, having a joystick/game port on your audio card was a real life saver as you might not have had any spare PCI slots for a dedicated expansion just for that.
Now granted, my experience with PCs came equally late in the game (I'm under 30) but at least I learned enough about computer history to understand why things were that way.
For anyone else wanting to learn just how far we've come, Lazy Game Reviews has a wonderful channel full of old computer stuff.
Actually you didn't have ANY PCI slots back then. It was 8 and 16 bit ISA all the way!
Fuck u I'm not old xD
Plus, putting firewire on an audio card makes perfect sense. Tons of professional audio equipment used to use firewire. Daisy-chain baby!
At one time FireWire was thought to be The One Interface that would take over everything to do with high speed connections for storage, sound and so on, leaving USB for mice, keyboards, game controllers and other stuff that didn't need any bandwidth to speak of. The reason FW was incorporated into so many sound cards probably had more to do with the ability to import digital video from DV recorders rather than high end audio equipment. A lot of DV recorders was sold to consumers, and the idea that you would be able to import the video to a computer was something that sounded almost like SciFi. But in the end a large majority of these never had anything FireWire based attached to them ever. I've worked as a computer technician since the 80's, and FireWire devices never really took off for the PC market. Even after the FW interface became common the added cost drove people to USB alternatives. The Apple crowd on the other hand was quite happy to adopt FW for external storage and such. But even if FW was huge with the Mac crowd you have to remember that at the time Apple had perhaps 3% of the market...
And now Apple throw away FW and replaced all with USB 3.1 and Thunderbold...
When creative saw this video they were like hold my beer and then they released the AE9 which not only is extremely competitive with external high end sound modules But also integrates an XLR mixer into the card itself which is freaking awesome And it has the audio module which controls everything which is also awesome no having to reach around the back of the case anymore
The joystick connector was actually a midi connector that doubled as a joystick connector.
I have the soundblaster zx in my system right now. I use a pair of senheiser cans and it sounds a hell of a lot better than using my boards plugs. I also have a good pair of klipsch speakers + sub connect to it. Stereo Direct is incredible. Music plays a huge role in my life as well, so I really do take advantage of my purchase :)
TheXForgottenXSavior im considering getting a ZX, but I don't have a high impedance headset imnonky considering it to use with Logitech z506.
Do u use the front panel connectors of the case or plug your headphones on the back?
Sam Mulder I don't use headphones yet because rear audio is to shit and front panel audio is completely trash.
i use 15$ pc-speakers i bought 14 years ago -.-
Still rocking my Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer PCI card, which I got in 2007.
And my Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum, from 2002, on windows 10 with free drivers www.github.com/kxproject
And my Audigy 4 pro on windows 10 with daniel k's 6.2 drivers pack. EAX on old games is still impressive and at the same time so sad seeing how today gamers don't get to experience that.
I got mine about the same time. Circuit City was going out of business, and since I worked there part time, I hid my sound card behind a covered portion of the shelf it was on, so nobody else would bother it at the last moment. It finally started having a crackling noise a couple years ago. I had no way to fix it, so I regrettably threw it away. No more Dolby Live (or whatever it was called), no more EAX enabled sound on games. I miss it.
and my X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro Series that I got back in 2010, I still reckon my card combined with my Astro A50s running Dolby Digital LIVE through the TOSLINK cable shits on anything shown in this video, not to mention I have EAX for older games
@@LucasJodokast God I miss my Dolby Live and EAX. Whenever I build a new PC I always test it with Baldurs Gate 2, since I can enable EAX to test it.
If you have good headphones
... They don't.
DanielRichards644 I have never seen a LTT video without you commenting lol
DanielRichards644 the only real answer, and thanks for not just saying first :)
also if you do anything on your computer other than video games
As an ex-sound blaster live customer, I will never buy an audio card again... but i am not an audiophile and think literally more than 99 percent of PC users will never notice the difference between today's onboard and standalone audio... only audiophiles which is probably near 0.1 of all PC consumers
"I'm having flashbacks to when they were putting like... Firewire ports, and Game ports and stuff on sound cards."
I literally have both of these...
Schiiting out good content 24/7
Anker and Schiit
Old Sound Blaster : No RGB but Dolby and DTS / New Sound Blaster : RGB but no Dolby and DTS
What an improvement !
One of these days I'm going to get a seizure from all this RGB
But that's when the fun starts.
I get all the RGB I could ever want from playing Thumper (well, that and I feel like I go down some kind of acid trip every time I play the game...)
I'm not sure what should I pick: full silent or full RGB computer.
We'll be sure to deck out your coffin in RGB too.
pink floyd reference i guess...??
Just installed the BlasterX AE-5. WOW, the sound is brilliant and alot clearer when high, and the RGB lights are magic, i have a MSI z170a so this is my first RGB, i just have the rgb light on with the card, i left the strip off as it was very bright and maybe too much. Thanks for this!
No Sennheiser comments?
u mean the sennheiser gsx1000? i'm currently using it with my laptop, that's a good dac for open world gaming
Who uses momentum's for gaming :P
Be good for producing sound. Trance music sounds epic through sennheisers, especially through a limiter, mixer, compressor......JUST FUCKING DON'T OVER COMPRESS AUDIO!!!
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
momentum is actually very accurate. hard to believe, but i think its a variant from hd25, which is for accuracy.
What about Shure
I was like "Yay! Max is back!" And then i saw the actual date for the video -_-
I still have SB Live, Audigy and X-Fi. The last one still attached on my primary PC.
Same I thought I was only one lol
me 3..... lol looking for a pci adapter so I can still use it when I upgrade. LOL x-fi elite pro..... wish I could find that remote o0p
Loved my X-FI card, I wonder if I’d even notice a difference getting a new modern upgrade?
Yup, still got an X-fi in one PC, its "What U Hear" recording is flawless, and surprisingly handy.
Me too. I even have 3 awe32's laying around
6:50
Did... Did you just plug in a USB-A into a MacBook?
Woah...
It's an old MacBook air with usbA slot 😋
Did it bother anyone else that Max had the headphones on backwards?
Audezes also require a HUGE head in order not to look ridiculous.
Yep.
3:48 the pc isnt even on lmao.
Imagine having > $2k headphones to put em on the wrong way lol
The drivers and pads are angled so it sounds muddy when on the wrong way
This just shows you how ridiculous this review is...
Joystick ports weren’t originally made for joysticks. It’s midi.
Jonathan Scruggs so glad someone else corrected this. Sound cards have built-in midi ports that early game controllers used, but were primarily there to attach external sound equipment.
LOL yep.. Used to plug my keyboard in that way back in high school..
Thank you for posting this comment.
Also analog joysticks require an ADC, which is only present on a sound card.
Yep!
I've been wanting you guys to cover this forever. I love mine, I really wanted a solution that wouldn't take up any desk space.
I'm glad you said something. I really didnt think anyone would prefer hooking the cable up to the back of your computer compared to a nice headphone port setting on your desk. I'm glad there is always that guy out there.
i'm with you there. I want a clean desk top and no extra wires. I'm ok with plugging headphones into the front of my PC and the volume wheel on my corsair keyboard is all i need.
I don't see why you hate on this sound card when it does the same thing as your Schiit devices without taking up desktop space. If you want a portable device get a dragonfly black. With this card I see no reason to own a Schiit product. This is for the person who uses his PC for everything from gaming to streaming, to professional audio and more. It's simple, easy to use and install, and just plain works. On top of that it has enough power to drive the toughest headphones on the market, and for now $140 it's a bargain.
"toughest headphones" the LCD-2 and DT990 250ohm are far from difficult to drive let alone the toughest headphones. Try driving an AKG K1000 with that soundcard.
She put the audeze headphones on the wrong way, very professional testing! Oh you all did.. even professionaller!
Was the first thing I noticed...
I was about to comment the same... Somebody's going to be triggered. Well I'm triggered haha
me too
It doesn't actually matter which way you put on headphones, dude.
**"Act-ing!"** for the camera.
Had no idea they still make sound cards (never bothered to look) untill I watched this video. The more you know
based_will music production= sound cards.
The latest I had heard of was Sound Blaster Z.
gotta gets something to fill in those pcie slots bruh
Tbh, I didn't mind old Realtek HD and mostly forgot about sound cards 'til a relative gifted me a Sound Blaster X-Fi HD (USB card). I edit music as a hobby, and ever since I got the card, I can't imagine going back to Realtek. It's like playing games with an AMD or Nvidia for the first time after being stuck w/ Intel graphics for so long. Lol.
Sound cards are still needed for music production, and they usually have a noticeable difference in sound quality. However, internal sound cards, honestly I don't see them much anymore. Very niche market for this product.
I swear I just bought a Creative Sound Blaster Z (not for any performance increase, just because Win10 and Realtek HD Audio decided I didn't need audio and video at the same speed when streaming) and now this comes out.
The AE is like $50 more, I just checked it. I am in love with my SoundblasterZ, it has literally changed my life. Anyone who says soundcards are meaningless have never hooked up a $150 set of headphones to a $100 soundcard inside their PC. One of my friends looked like he was going to cry when he first heard his favorite song on it.
What is your comment supposed to mean?
Sunder Gaming I have a TEAC UD-503 and I swear by it.
Rolling Rock I mean that in a random coincidence, LTT just reviewed a product from the same line that I just bought a product from.
This isn't surprising when buying new stuff as an upgrade, but when buying a fix for a problem it's pretty rare.
I hope by now this comes out you mean the video because this sound card has been out for a little while now.
Linus, please Make a video for gamers that goes into detail on whether we should be using a sound card or DAC or some sound solution or just our USB headphones.
OMG YES, I wanted Linus to review these for the longest time. I have the Sound BlasterX AE-5 in my system and love it.
The ASUS dedicated sound cards sound considerably better than onboard sound.
That will be the DAC the timing has to be right on and theirs a difference between cheap and expensive premaps.
You know, I was looking around to see what ASUS has presently. I couldn't find anything. There are far fewer sound cards offered for sale online than just 2 or 3 years ago.
I have bough the card and it was horrible, my old Asus basic version way better, this card was horrible
It is horrible
I still use my Asus Xonar Essence STX. Beautiful card and it still gets driver support. The sound difference between onboard is night and day even with these MOBOs advertising "high definition" sound.
You're wearing the pads backwards.... The fat end is supposed to be in the back with the slimmer side to the front.
Great video as always, I understand the point of the comparison, perhaps from a price standpoint, but my feeling is that the head amp on the card is a nice add-in but where its strength is, is the DAC. Perhaps an interesting comparison would be to use the same Schiit amplifier and compare the DACs (the Schiit DAC vs the SB DAC). I have the feeling that the story would be very different, I could be wrong tho, hence experimentation and testing needed! Keep up the good work mate!
3:45 I'm quite surprised the surround software did not help when she was wearing the LCD2/3 reversed lmao
At least the joystick port was actually a repurposed MIDI interface
Do all Canadians wear audeze headphones backwards?
Ethan Frye huh weird just noticed tbay
So you guys tested all the functions of this GAMING sound card except it's performance.
Aren't they wearing the Audeze's backwards ? The thick side of the pad should be on the back and the connectors leaving the headphone should face outwards not towards the body.
Serhat Köşeli sadly my friend you are correct
Original reason for sound card was performance improvement, sound quality was an added bonus. Also, to add the ability to rip audio at higher quality, as well as to upgrade to the then new 5.1 and then 7.1 which wasn't an option for a long time (standard now).
You would buy a MB without audio, add a PCI audio card. Not buy a MB with audio and replace/disable onboard audio.
Some newer high end gaming MB have built in audio with DAC processors (if you look hard enough), etc.
Also, the design of newer systems and newer software compression, it becomes less likely you will need as a regular everyday gamer. But was hoping someone like Linus with his $40,000 PC setups would run some benchmarks to see if there is any performance differences with or without a dedicated sound card.
Also, with the external, won't you have audio latency? Even with USB 3.1 (a and b), no? Is your USB lanes faster than my PCIe slot?
1, audio latency. nope. you can use audio cables over massive lengths and have no latency. its called having a wire. even USB 1.0 wont have any latency, since audio really isn't THAT hard to send signals for. 2, there wont be any noticable performance difference nowadays for adding a internal soundcard, mabye like 1-2 FPS average higher with a slight lift in FPS drops. I personally havent noticed any difference at all after installing my SB ZSE into my rig.
i don't give a shciit about that external solution, i like the rgb on the other one
Imagine having a conversation: "Yeah I have shit audio"
CalculatinGenius HAHAHAHAHA , CAN'T STOP LAUGHING WHEN I SAW AND HEARD THAT BRAND :'D
I love my Schiit Stack ROFL
CalculatinGenius u can buy that led for a couple of dollars from AliExpress
I wasn't going to buy but then I found out it has RGB. I then purchased two of them and set them up via crossfire. I went from 24 fps in Forspoken to hearing twice the frames in true 3d. It's lit.
2019 version of this - are sound cards still worth?
For anything other than professional audio work: no.
Really, you'll never know if there's a difference, without special testing equipment.
@@coladict If u do professional audio work, especially THEN u WOULDN´T put a damn Soundcard in your PC, but use an external Solution. Soundcards are and will ever be less good than an external Solution, cuz Interference.
@@coladict false
@Calamity They claim they do, but most of them don't really. Best option is, get it as far away as possible and that's only possible with external devices.
I'm still using my Creative ZXR since 2015 and loving it. The software is a bit...meh, but once you get the EQ the way you like it, it's fantastic. Both headphones and out to your receiver (if you choose to do so).
Don’t knock the old midi joystick port. Believe it or not, we still had to connect peripherals before USB came on the scene and that was pretty much the only way to connect a joystick. And since this was before on-board audio, you had to have a sound card anyway so it all worked together.
He is advertising a Casio smart watch as he wears an Apple Watch. Not that I have a problem with that just an observation.
he's the opposite of the casio's target customer
sn0fx he actually uses that Casio watch as his daily driver now
That Casio trinket it pulling in $500.00 bucks. I will keep my 45 year old Seiko thank you.
Linus, I like you guys and the videos you put out, but in this video you are misleading people. Probably because you don't know any better yourself. I have the MSI PRO-Z790-P-WIFI motherboard and I just bought and installed the Soundblaster Creative AE-5 Plus board. If all you are doing is listening on presets, then you can do a lot with your stereo Treble and Bass, but if you are trying to produce music videos for RUclips or elsewhere, then the AE-5 Plus is a real advantage simply due to the Graphic Equalizer. Each room, each set of speakers or headphones, to create a flat response needs the graphic EQ. Otherwise, you have no way to properly produce audio that will be such that you are not over driving the lows or the highs. By using a 20 to 20,000 frequency sweep RUclips video and then monitoring the output to the speakers with a spectrum analyzer like Spectrum Lab (free). you can with a little work be certain that your system is flat. Believe me when I say I live this stuff. My first recording studio job was in 1969. In 1980 I started as multitrack studio engineer. I have worked on NEVEs and many other consoles. The ability to EQ balance your system is critical. So, even though the sound coming through the Soundblaster board might not be perfect, the ability to EQ will make it perfect. There is no way that anyone can predict what speakers you use or what your room sounds like. Calibrating the system is what we do in pro recording studios and it has to be done here too.
i've been using sound cards ever since the beginning of my PC building years, and they are noticeably different from on board, but i always use speakers ( i hate headphones ) so the sound card has always been a nice add on, unfortunately my sound blaster fatality died last year and i've been looking for a replacement for a while, and now i see something that actually looks worth getting, cant wait to try this card out
which one ?
i think it was a x-fi sound blaster fatality, at least that is what it looks like, i think it requires a pcie 4 slot, and it came with some great software as well
Get X-Fi Titanium, it still supports EAX 5.0 in hardware but is a little more modern and still has Windows 10 drivers (Daniel_k)
So many people wearing the Audeze Backwards.....
TheKez1a Audeze nuts
I noticed aswell. It hurts.
TheKez1a so ezedua
Oh my god...
i wouldn’t put it
past LMG to have reversed the connections just to screw with us though.....
"Breh, your desktop has SCHIIT audio..." 🎧
"Hey, thanks man!" 🤓
(Fistbump) 🤜💥🤛
I had an old Soundblaster X-Fi Fatal1ty with 5.25" panel with 6,3mm input jack, optical and shit, golden PCI. When I found it, sister threw it into trash bin. That card leveled volume levels like whispering and explosions, significantly improved sound, I could plug guitar in it, it even had integrated effects and no lag. Pity there's no Creative alternative.
Loved that card. Had the X-Fi Elite Pro. The full spec OG X-Fi were quite good.
It all depends on your audio setup.
I had to buy a sound card because my built in sound chip in my motherboard had white noise so it was unplayable with headphones.
No Schiit.
Damn. I haven't bought a Soundblaster in like 15 years.
"NO you hold on smarty pants"
Oh no whats he ranting about again
"It has fully built in rgb"
.... •_• oh shit
Sir Antler *schitt
My Exact Reaction!
Check out Anthony giving the headset the obligatory "bounce in hand to test for quality" check.... lol, love that guy, always such a ham.
3:01 Joysticks ports to you.... amazing MIDI capabilities to me ;-)
DEMONETIZED
DEMONIZED
I had a John lewis add.
Auchzezt oy vey
Same. :(
i think dosen't matter much for linus I think !
Still rocking on an old PCI-e Sound Blaster X-fi Titanium
lucas rem
No, onboard always uses the main CPU for audio processing. You always get better performance with a Soundcard (just like using a GPU for video output) and the audio will always be better (clearer and louder) with a Soundcard versus onboard audio adapters... Reminder: Stock is never as good as add-ons when it comes to audio tech (cars, computers, anything)
I have SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer, it even has a heatsink :D Had to buy it back then because i could hear noise from CPU and hard drives after buying Senheisser headphones and trying to use them with onboard audio.
Why Linus, you didnt mention the Sound Blaster ZxR which came as 2 cards with 8 cores, gold contacts and I believe the best set they have made. What do I know because I am crazy.
William McColl gold contacts are marketing bullshit. The internals of nearly every cable is copper
@@nikoyochum6974 gold contacts are not for connections speed, but against corrosion of the port...
@@nikoyochum6974, so in essence, they could be plated with anything that doesn't oxidize.(copper gets green and gooey, and then your contact is Schitty)
That cheapo "chrome" finish is nickel plating, and nickel is a fairly good conducting metal, which also has the ability to inhibit oxidation, and bonds excellently to copper.
So yes, 100% gimmick. Silver also conducts well, for what it is worth.
Nickel does however have high impedance, which is why heater wire is consist of it, gold does not, but the days where losses, cross talk and EM interfere made it a necessity are long gone. So without expensive equipment plotting the difference for you on a graph, I highly doubt that you will be able to perceive any kind of difference.
It's merely placebo at most, nowadays.
@@s4rg380 It's not for corrosion at all. It is for preventing sparking when you plug in/out and when the contact is poor. The last thing you want in an audio interface is a spark that could kill electronics or poor contact in the port causing the audio to go to schiit. They use gold because it is the material with the best properties for anti-spark coating and is also an excellent condunctor of electricity. Nickel is also used (not in audio) but it can heat up and cause issues.
For the same reason the best way to pick up a simple light switch is to see if it is at least nickel-coated - ultra cheap ones are bare copper and can cause a short and literally weld themselves in a month or so.
Creative does produce USB DAC's .. so what's with all the Schiit talking?!🔥
Creative Sound Blaster X7 is a USB 600Ω DAC with aptX Bluetooth.
What is the point in getting a USB DAC if you are going to use bluetooth aptx? They quite literally added a feature to their DAC which bypasses the rest of the product and renders it redundant. You could just buy a bluetooth dongle instead and get the same thing.
Aethid
I'm an Audiophile, wired FTW. I understand the difference. It gives people options .. that's literally my only point. Truth is people's hearing is often so damaged most couldn't tell the difference.
I have one but they need to work on their software. Crashes repeatedly.
AFFE NOWU
All I have is a USB based gaming headset on my PC.
For music I prefer a DAP _(juiced up like smartphone running Android with an integrated DAC and wireless)_ connected to wired high impedance comfy headphones.
"USB based gaming headset" and "I'm an Audiophile" from a single commenter. now this i'm grabbing some popcorn for. carry on.
And also. high ohm headphones on a mp3 player?
i miss luke! he hasn'r been in a youtube video for soooo long
Csgo Fan he is pretty cute. Bring back Luke!
Ok now who the fuck names a company “Schiit?”
To answer your question by answering it instead of schiiting on a company it was named that way because the guy who started the company kept saying "I'm going out to work on shit" to his wife and she said something along the lines of why don't you just call the company that (I don't recall what she said) and so he did. The being brought up is that the schiity headphone amps were putting out a extremely high DC shock when being turned off. First schiit ignored the problem then they claimed it was normal for audiophile equipment and you should unplug your headphones before turning off your equipment. This DC shock can damage your headphones. They had to have proof that it was real and could damage your hearphones. So they put in a muting switch at power on and off. However it seemed to me like the schiit guy was just too arrogant to change rather than too cheap. I was just trying to find another headphone amp that is comparable for the same price range in Europe but couldn't find one. Just compare power output and other numbers around with other things around the magni price. However you probably weren't even interested in any of that drama and the stupidity of having to get your opinion on the issue down on the subject (that's how I feel about this what I wrote at least).
Mr & Mrs Schiit.
How is Focusrite Scarlett compared to Schiit? I find its price reasonable
Schiit audio runs on craapp hardware
iTech who names their fucking channel iTech? Very original. Shit is way more creative
I have this card and I love it! Everything about it actually. Great sound quality, it powers my Sennheiser gaming headset perfectly and all of that sweet, sweet RGB LEDs. I got the whole LED kit for it. The software works good for me as well. No issues.
If you didn't review the surround sound functionality then you missed a MAJOR reason to use an aftermarket sound card in 2018. (besides the other reasons). The problem is that most people don't know how to configure their PC's correctly for surround sound when using a stereo headphone set. Your windows audio settings should be set to 5.1 or 7.1. If the option exists in game, it should also be set to 5.1, 7.1, or surround. (some games will use the windows setting). Now here is where the magic happens. Your soundblaster settings should be set to headphones with surround enabled. The soundcard then takes a 5.1 / 7.1 input and creates virtual surround sound using proprietary technology. And yes, while some people here are going to argue that games like Battlefield have builtin headphone surround options, the overwhelming majority of games do not.
k1DBLITZ you have two ears. You only need two speakers.
@@Mostlyharmless1985 It's clear you only read the first sentence and then immediately replied. 🙄
Jamie Smith that’s why VR headsets have 7.1 setups, right? Because you can’t do it with two speakers...wait, no, the other thing, you only need two.
You can play Quake blind with just your ears, and this is from the 90s. Headphones is all you need. Never mind that most built in options come with digital out via TOSlink, or video cards with HDMI, a soundcard is completely pointless.
Sure but why are headphones still in the picture? Simulated surround is garbage. You either have real setup or you don’t even bother.
I only play on One X/PS4 these days and use a Yamaha amp with Polks but back when I did play on PC I bought a cheap 5.1 Logitech set with the Audigy 2 ZS and it was great especially for the money. I remember the demo disc sounding fantastic. It had a mix of 24-bit recordings and obviously EAX was a huge deal in lots of games to the point where if you didn’t have a Sound blaster you were really missing out.
Headphones can be nice outside and on the plane but when you’re home you really should have speakers moving air.
lecorsaire “sunken cost fallacy”
Go look it up. Also, have a look (listen) at binaural recording then come back to me. A good set of cans will outperform a stack of speakers any day of the week.
No matter how good onboard sound will NEVER beat dedicated soundcards(in or external!) 😤😤😤
+1!
(i use internal in my rig and external in the workplace)
FYI - FireWire and "joystick ports" were actually put there for audio/MIDI ;)
I just got one of these in the mail today. So worth it, it's amazing
What is your audio output tho, headphones, a speaker, surround sound setup. Also what were you using prior
Originally I was using the onboard sound and Razer Kraken 2019. Now I am using the AE-5 with the same Kraken 2019. It is a substantial upgrade in sound
tbh my soundblaster x-fi elite pro like ACTUALLY makes me perform better in csgo when in GAME mode. the footsteps are so much louder.
placebo
I assume you don't get extra crysis fps, so... useless
Marko420 you do
Rgb= 20 more fps guaranteed fucking peasant
If I may pop in, as a Computer Technician and Gamer - yes you do get a boost in fps...
It's not a 'lot', but a soundcard will always improve fps/performance, as the audio is utilizing the main CPU far less, to process audio and output it (the processing is passed onto the soundcard, just like how a GPU processes video output far better than a CPU could).
Actually you do. Crysis 1 is able to do the sound processing on the soundcard. But what would you gain? About 1.5FPS? But I really like (creative) because with them you can use EAX in older games, which improves the sound effects greatly. :D
Pretty creative, don't you think?
Schiit af if you ask me.
Ba Dum Tshh
Joni ba dum schitt
Nope, it's sound blaster, Creative is another brand!
that joke was Schitt
RUclips recommended me this video now for some reason. Good to see Max again! Man it's already been one year?
Does this soundcard supports 4-way SLI?
And how much sound FPS does it handle on Crysis 3?
No, but it does offer "Sound Tracing" at an 11 kHz sample rate and 8-bit audio depth.
Hilarious. 4 way SLI
Wtf sound doesnt have fps!!!!
@@soyezql I don't like to be that kind of guy but.. WHOOSH!
Next do a Canadian winter vs water cooling.
Got the AE-5 Pure a few weeks ago, huge upgrade from on board, AND I can run 3.5mm to RCA splitter cable from the L/R to my external amp for my bookshelf speakers, as well as a separate 3.5 to RCA from the C/Sub out to my powered sub and cross over. Note that you must uncheck "full range speakers" in the software for the sub to get signal. Also drives my SHP9500's very nicely, you can select the resistance range of your cans in the software. I really like the custom EQ's ability to draw the freq curve, as well, can't wait to take some measurements with my UMIK-1 and import from REW.
Another plus is that I was able to get rid of the clutter on my PC desk from the external DAC which can now sit and wait (along with the Fosi BT30E amp) for when I go to a 2.1 setup for the bedroom TV.
how was the performance on your bookshelf speakers .. and what about headphone.. does the xamp tech makes a difference? was thinking of getting one... but surprised to found out what happened to sound card market... never realized creative labs gone thru so much these years.. haha... from one of the top dogs to almost hobo in less than a decade.. and Asus is not updating their sound card line up.. else i was thinking of getting their xonar series of sound card... let me know what you think about it. thanks...
Dude... I had one of those back in the day.... That thing was awesome