Best Motherboard for Audio

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The board is advertised at -108db for noise or at least THX compaiable.
Clearly by this shot the inputs are better than that and there are a few pulses of noise but they never go above -108db.

jer :)

Looks like a very good setup! Can you look at the noise levels at higher Frequencies? USB2.0 runs at 250MHz and up so the noise levels at these high frequencies are what I am most interested in.

Thanks!
 
These noise levels are the input noise levels as stock and open and unterminated using the onboard 24 bit A/D's.

I don't have any other means of checking at higher frequency's other that my 60Mhz Hitachi analog scope.
The scope is getting old but I did used to be able to detect signal up into the 100Mhz range with it.

I will try to get some screen shots using it when I do some more testing.
Right now I am basically in the overclocking testing mode at this time and making sure that all of my versions of OS's work on the system.

I just loaded Win7 and Linux Mint 14 KDE works good off of the CD.
But, I am having a bit of difficulty getting Linux Mint 14 to boot from off of the hard drive.
I will have to try Mint 13 as I never had an issue with that version.

This board has an IDE interface and I am using a IDE DVD drive and the hard drive is SATA.
I did read of an issue about an IDE controller conflict and there maybe a fix although I don't think that is what is wrong.
It is also a UEFI bios and there may be some kind of issue about that and the Linux Boot loader installer or so I have read.
Nevertheless I will figure it out later.
I have the same issue with the UD3 board and Linux Mint 14 as well as my Friend has the same issue with his UD5 board.

But I will try hooking the inputs of my Trusty Gina24 and/or my X-FI card up directly to the outputs and try to get a noise reading from the outputs of the onboard sound system using them as well as the scope.

The last onboard sound system that I heard was an X-FI engine from an ASUS Crosshair 4 AMD setup and I think that it uses the same Realtek chip for the A/D's and D/A's.

I will have to look that up again to verify it.

Otherwise I heard no issues with that system and was very amazed on how well it sounded.
I was listening through some good wireless headphones (Creative's I think) and our ole' KRK 6000 nearfield monitors on a Alesis RA 100 amp through a Beringer mini Mackie look a like mixer.
I was Quite Impressed I should say!!

jer :)
 

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Hello
IMHO
It all depends on whether you're looking at analogue out or spdif out, of the pc.

Analogue out of pc motherboard is ... well... hmmm... not really high end.
spdif can be better but pc motherboards don't usually isolate the digital output (as in (transformer)

I'm latching on to this conversation. I'm not looking for USB audio, but for ANY motherboard with a transformer isolated digital spdif output (not toslink). Does it exist? Has there ever been one?

If not, any kits or diy layouts for said solution that could be installed to the spdif header?
 
My Asrock motherboard has both coaxial and optical SPDIF outputs.

I am sure that you can easily make a transformer isolation adapter very easily,

Jeff Rowland :: BNC S/PDIF and Transformer Coupling

using this part,

https://www.google.com/search?q=PE6...+Inc&aqs=chrome.0.57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

http://datasheet.octopart.com/PE-65812NL-Pulse-datasheet-8399145.pdf

PE-65812NL - Pulse - PE65812NL - datasheet


skibum, I haven't been able to find any significant RF noise energies coming out of the system using my scope even with the sensitivity up as far as it would go at 5mv per div.

Even with the scope connect to the case my ambient noise is much greater than any thing coming from the computer.
I did make some pictures of the scope but there really wasn't any thing to show except the noise getting picked up from my CRT monitors being on.

Here are a few more screen shots of some loopback tests through my mixer.

The second picture is of one of the inputs with a 1KHZ signal from the computer, and, the other input is shorted at the computer without the mixer.

Two other test show a 1Khz and 20Khz 5mv Triangle wave that is created from TONE signal generator program the waveform may have been in a 16bit output mode in this test by the looks of the 20KHZ signal.

But the sampling was done in 24bit.

It is buried in the mixers noise and the waveform shown on the scope is the actual signal being sampled by the computer.

Sorry, I did not get a chance to test the Gigabyte 900XA-UD3 motherboard as it went off to its destination, But maybe at a later time I will do so.

The Asrock system is still running solid at 4.8GHZ and I only had one BSOD so far and I don't know what has caused it,other than that I have not had any issues so far.

I did get linux to install as it was a problem with the boot loader installer and the UEFI bios.
This has been fixed in more recent updates although it was a PIA to figure out the proper sequence to make dual boot system with Win7.
I am now trying out Ultimate Edition Linux 3.5 and it is a very nice build and I like it very much.

I am still learning how to work with linux and it's sound systems are confusing to me so at the moment I find it sub par for recording uses although it plays back nicely.
So as usual I stick with windows for audio functions until I can figure it out.
I will experiment with it more after I get my critical data that I have been sorting off of the only 1TB drive that I have right now.

I have found that running the Realtek ALC892 at 192Khz can be glitchy on the input side at times.
This is apparent while using Holm Impulse and REW5.0 beta10 and such during some sweep tests.
I would have to repeat several times the test until I got a clean sample and the glitched data was never in the same spot.

Now that I think about it this very well could be be an issue with my mixer as it has been know to do this as well.
I haven't heard these glitches except on playback and I wasn't monitoring the same output that is feeding the computer either, but, my scopes is, and I didn't see any glitches going in, so I suspect it is an issue with the ALC892.
It does not do this at all 96Khz.

Running at 192Khz is very cool and the bandwidth is extended to about 70Khz to 80Khz !!!
I already know that my mixer is good until 100Khz so this was very exciting for me.

I did find the the GINA24 card is a bit better with a lower noise level and flatter THD curve.
I didn't get any screen shots of that data as it is just a completely different class of caliber although the ALC892 is still a great chip.
Also the GINA24 can't do 192Khz either but I think it might in the 16bit mode only.
I have not verified this yet but some programs do accept the 16bit 196khz parameters when using it.

Enjoy !!!

jer :)
 

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Thank you. My motherboard has a SPDIF header. I just want to bring out the digital. For any one interested I found a reference doc from Berkely U, including circuit design examples :

http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs150/fa01/labs/project/SPDIF_explanation.pdf
 
Just an update.

The ALC892 is flakey at 24bit 192Khz with some programs.

It seems to work fine in this mode in Audacity but in VA2011 I can get it to work sometimes and sometimes not.
Even in the windows control panel (win7) they mostly only have 16bit modes selectable with a 24bit option on the input.
This does not look right to me as I thought I remembered seeing 24bit modes as well when I first installed the system.
I know my laptop has these modes.
I will try XP64 and see if there is any difference some time later and post back.

jer :)
 
I was just playing with an AMD Trinity A10 w. Hudson 3 (A75) chipset.
I'm gonna be upgrading an old Dell with an XP licence sticker and wanted
to test the board first with a live boot CD. Get some idea what the driver
conflicts will be when the "old" 1TB SATA XP drive sees new board and be
prepared the likely event it has to be re-installed. Oh joy, a nightmare...

Pain to boot XP (UBCD4WIN) or Knoppix 7, but can be done...

I had to find a setting in bios and set SATA to IDE mode for WinXP.
The default is "AHCI", requires you press F6 to load driver on floppy.
But this board DOESNT HAVE A FLOPPY HEADER! You either have to
hack your boot CD to include the driver, or use the SATA "IDE" mode
if your motherboard bios offers that option. If you don't know to do
that, XP is likely booting the blue screen of death...

Knoppix had no probs with IDE or AHCI. But the on chip video was
a scrambled mess every time. You need the cheat code: nomodeset
Took me several days trial to discover too...
 
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I am going to build a silent streaming computer. And i am wondering if any of you know of a motherboards that can be run without fan and has s/pdif output header that will do 24bit 192khz, so you dont need the a sound card with s/pdi?f 24bit/193kHz?

Is it correctly understood that the asrock motherborad mentioned above can do that?
Any other boards that can do that ?

I tink this might be the way to go for me :)
 
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Yes, it has both opitcal and coaxial s/pdif interface connectors on it.
I have not yet tried them, as the only device I have is my Sony PCM-2600 Dat machine and I very rarely use it because it is only 16bit.

I am not sure exactly what modes it supports but I do think that I will do 24bit at 192Khz on the interface.
I do know that it does 16bit and at 192khz as it is standard in the mode selection box.
I will look into this for you and report back.

jer :)

P.S. Yes.it does support it.
Here are two screen shots displaying the digital playback options for the Asrock 990FX extreme 4.
 

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Freax,

Motherboard audio has improved in leaps and bounds over the last decade - probably more than good enough for most people.....

Hi zman01,

I certainly agree with your comment. Too many people are still clinging to the past.
I have made an attempt to quantify current performance of contemporary motherboard. The results are in:

http://www.bodziosoftware.com.au/Computers_SNR.pdf

Best Regards,
Bohdan
 
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Joined 2010
Paid Member
I'm considering the Intel DH77EB and ASUS P8H77-M/CSM motherboards for a fan-less HTPC build in a Streacom FC5 Evo case.

Does anyone have a recommendation from an audio / video perspective?

The Intel boards are known for being very low-power, while the ASUS claims to have low EMI with their Protect 3.0 technology. Though I'm not sure how much of that is marketing vs real-world performance.

I'll be running audio through USB to an external DAC, video through HDMI, and data through Ethernet. All other onboard devices will be turned off as the BIOS will allow.

I'm leaning slightly towards the ASUS due to a known bug with the Intel board and 24p playback, but thought I'd seek out opinions here.
 
I am using a streacom pc5 case. Totally fanless setup. Have fitted a gigabyte sniper m3 mainboard. Disabling internal sound (still it god creative soundchip). Using a small pcie riser connected to an asus essence stx used as spdif out. Some ssd's, 32gb memomy etc. etc.
Sounds great - and dead silence :)
 
Hi Sabrosa,

The Intel DH77EB has ALC892 audio codec and ASUS P8H77-M/CSM has ALC887 codec. There are better audio on-board codecs.

See comparison at:
Audio Codec Comparison Table | Hardware Secrets.


This one looks good: X79 Extreme3

ASRock > X79 Extreme3


  • ALC898 audio codec with 8 output channels. Excellent SNR – up to 110dB.
  • Intel® Core™ i7 processor family for the LGA 2011 Socket
  • 3 x PCIe slots – will accommodate future PCIe cards.
  • 2 x PCI slots – will accommodate current PCI cards.
  • Supports Core i7 SandyBridge E CPUs.

Best Regards,
Bohdan
 
I am using a streacom pc5 case. Totally fanless setup. Have fitted a gigabyte sniper m3 mainboard. Disabling internal sound (still it god creative soundchip). Using a small pcie riser connected to an asus essence stx used as spdif out. Some ssd's, 32gb memomy etc. etc.
Sounds great - and dead silence :)

The Gigabyte sniper uses Nichikon Muse capacitors. I am wondering are these caps on the sound card part of the mb and if so, if you are using a outboard dac that these caps are not utilized?
 
At 95db SNR I wouldn't say it is the greatest.
But the price is what it is quality comes with cost.
Probably a good cheap board but you eat your savings having to buy a better sound card.

VIA Vinyl? VT1708B - VIA Technologies, Inc.

But it does support 8 channels at 24bit 192Khz.
Typical of today's codecs is 108db SNR or better.
You would be better off with an add on sound card or a board that shows at least THX noise level specs of 108db SNR for a little more.

At 95db to 98db SNR you will be only be getting the dynamic range of a typical cheap 16bit sound system or cd player.

FWIW

jer :)
 
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