What do you all think of using a dedicated sound card for a PC these days? Is there any benefit anymore?

Years ago, I think there was still a benefit in that a dedicated sound card typically had sound processing chips on it, whereas onboard audio on a motherboard would be very simplistic and would need CPU processing power for audio. For that reason, I still used a dedicated sound card in my PCs for a while. The last one I used was an Asus Xonar Xense in my last PC - I think it worked well.

For my current PC (which I built in 2019), I decided to just use the onboard audio on the motherboard rather than buying a dedicated audio card, and I think it has been just fine. I typically use a pair of stereo speakers, and I also have a headset with a mic that I sometimes use, plugged into the front audio ports. My PC's motherboard uses a Realtek ALC1220P for audio - I've looked up specs and reviews, and it seems to be decent in that regard.

One of my favorite sound cards that I had in the past was a Sound Blaster Audigy 2, which included an internal 5.25" front-facing panel with various audio inputs & outputs, as well as a MIDI input & output - I thought that was pretty cool.

If you do have a need for better audio on a PC, I've heard people recommend an external audio interface these days (typically USB-based).

Nightfox

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Re: Dedicated sound cards for a PC
By: Nightfox to All on Mon Jan 05 2026 09:11 am

What do you all think of using a dedicated sound card for a PC these days? Is there any benefit anymore?
If you do have a need for better audio on a PC, I've heard people recommend an external audio interface these days (typically USB-based).

Nightfox

I record music some, so I use an external USB Focusrite Scarlett audio interface. It makes a great sound card with easy access to io ports. I agree with you on the Sound Blaster cards. I had a higher end one years ago (can't remember which one now) and I used to love to play midi files through it as it has real instrument sounds.

LW
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Re: Dedicated sound cards for a PC
By: Lonewolf to Nightfox on Mon Jan 05 2026 02:53 pm

I record music some, so I use an external USB Focusrite Scarlett audio interface. It makes a great sound card with easy access to io ports. I agree with you on the Sound Blaster cards. I had a higher end one years ago (can't remember which one now) and I used to love to play midi files through it as it has real instrument sounds.

These days, it seems software-based MIDI synthesizers are typically used (and Windows has one built-in). For music recording, software-based MIDI synthesizers (as part of the music recording software) probably make more sense - I believe it's easier to render MIDI to an audio file if it's software-based.

Nightfox

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Re: Dedicated sound cards for a PC
By: Nightfox to Lonewolf on Mon Jan 05 2026 14:19:09

These days, it seems software-based MIDI synthesizers are typically used (and Windows has one built-in).

Really? I'm using 10 and 11 and I've never come accross a synth.

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Re: Dedicated sound cards for a PC
By: Nightfox to All on Mon Jan 05 2026 09:11 am

What do you all think of using a dedicated sound card for a PC these days? Is there any benefit anymore?

I bought a pre-built gaming PC last year and the onboard audio output had constant interference noise. So I bought a cheap USB audio dongle from Sound Blaster:
https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-70SB173000000-Sound-Blaster/dp/B06XBZ38ZJ

And no noise. <shrug> But I usually use onboard audio (for output only) when it's available and works fine.
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Re: Dedicated sound cards for a PC
By: Mortar to Nightfox on Mon Jan 05 2026 07:35 pm

These days, it seems software-based MIDI synthesizers are typically used
(and Windows has one built-in).

Really? I'm using 10 and 11 and I've never come accross a synth.

If you open up a MIDI file and play it (i.e., with a program like VLC), chances are it will be using a software synthesizer built into Windows.

Nightfox

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Re: Dedicated sound cards for a PC
By: Nightfox to Mortar on Tue Jan 06 2026 10:44 am

Re: Dedicated sound cards for a PC
By: Mortar to Nightfox on Mon Jan 05 2026 07:35 pm

These days, it seems software-based MIDI synthesizers are typically used
(and Windows has one built-in).

I know this is getting in the weeds some from your original question. But, you can go a step farther with MIDI files and use a software DAW like Cubase and assign virtual instruments VSTs to each track within the MIDI file and end up with a great sounding audio track. I recalled Al Stewart's Year of the Cat being a great one to do that with. In my earlier reply I mentioned an older Sound Blaster AWE32/64 card that I had that had these realistic instrument sounds embedded in the chip. Which sounded superior even to the one's on modern mother boards. I'm not sure if modern Sound Blaster's like the Z SE PCIe achieve the same, but I guess they would take some of the load off the CPU if doing some gaming etc. Anyway, my two cents.

Lonewolf
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Re: Dedicated sound cards for a PC
By: Lonewolf to Nightfox on Tue Jan 06 2026 04:11 pm

These days, it seems software-based MIDI synthesizers are typically used
(and Windows has one built-in).

I know this is getting in the weeds some from your original question. But, you can go a step farther with MIDI files and use a software DAW like Cubase and assign virtual instruments VSTs to each track within the MIDI file and end up with a great sounding audio track.

Yes, I think that's one advantage to software-based MIDI synthesizers. Also, in particular with a DAW, I think you need a software-based MIDI synth in order to render the recording to an audio file.

In my earlier reply I
mentioned an older Sound Blaster AWE32/64 card that I had that had these realistic instrument sounds embedded in the chip. Which sounded superior even to the one's on modern mother boards.

Are there (or were there ever) any motherboards with on-board hardware MIDI capabilities? I don't recall if I've ever seen or heard of one.

Nightfox

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Re: Dedicated sound cards for a PC
By: Nightfox to All on Mon Jan 05 2026 09:11 am

What do you all think of using a dedicated sound card for a PC these days? Is there any benefit anymore?

Honestly, most people uses very lame sound output so the soud chipset they use makes no difference.

I mean, I remember people used to have proper speakers, like PRIMAX Sounstorms and the like. That stuff sounded very close to a hi-fi dedicated system. Nowadays they use small speakers bought for 7 bucks that lack the size to output a proper frequency range.

Redneck kids these days have better sound systems in their cars than people has in their computers.


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