#1 ·
My motherboard's onboard audio is starting to flake out on me. The sound has gotten all muddy and distorted, and I don't think it's just bad cables or loose connections, so I'm thinking about jumping to an external sound card.
I noticed most people are pushing these USB DACs now, which I don't know much about. Does anyone have experience with them or solid recommendations? Are they actually any better than the old-school PCI cards?
They come in all shapes, from tiny thumb drives to little desktop boxes that plug into a USB port.
Just to be clear, I'm not looking for audiophile perfection here—just decent, reliable sound.
Also, will one of these pull too much bandwidth from my USB bus? I'm running a USB Wi-Fi adapter for my internet connection, so I'm worried one might throttle the speed of the other.
I noticed most people are pushing these USB DACs now, which I don't know much about. Does anyone have experience with them or solid recommendations? Are they actually any better than the old-school PCI cards?
They come in all shapes, from tiny thumb drives to little desktop boxes that plug into a USB port.
Just to be clear, I'm not looking for audiophile perfection here—just decent, reliable sound.
Also, will one of these pull too much bandwidth from my USB bus? I'm running a USB Wi-Fi adapter for my internet connection, so I'm worried one might throttle the speed of the other.