Anyone ever use the Onboard AC97 Audio?

[Orbit]

Yep, in conjuction with the 'Bored Ass' Thread in Random Nonsense, I'm considering experimenting with my sound today.

I have onboard AC97 (8KHA+ flavor), but I've never ever used it.

I've always used a Hercules Fortissimo II, and to be honest, I bought it not paying attention to the fact that this board comes with audio...doh. And, since the Herc was here, I put it in.

So, I'm wondering if the AC97 is acceptable.

And, I'm wondering if removing the PCI sound card will possibly maybe improve system performance by some nth degree.

In the meantime, it's time to d/l the 3.4mb sound file from Epox, I guess.

[The Spyder]

AC97 has always for me SUCKED except on my epox............ :-D

[SteveI]

I guess I'm not an audiophile. For the majority of my systems the last few years, I just used the onboard sound, usually AC97(some fine, some not so fine). It sounded fine on my 8KHA+, but since I have 4.1 speakers, I wanted to try out a better sound card. I can tell the difference. But to be honest, I would have been happy just using the mobo's sound as well.

[surlyjoe]

I buy boards with the c-media 6.1 on board

[Orbit]

Well, I'm trying it now. Just played Quake for about 30minutes, sounds the same to me.

I have a 3 spkr setup, with the main output going to the Bass, and its output going to two old amplified Altec Lansings, instead of the two original non-amped cheapie highs. Needless to say, the volume isn't up very high. hehe

The drawback would be, 2 less speakers, and no separate Headphone jack, but, I don't use those anyway.

Now I can use this card in a unit for my son, I guess, and save $40. He uses headphones a lot, as the sound is more 'upfront'. Better bass, he says, and who am I to argue with someone with 2000 watts of dual speaker bass in his trunk? (They call that a 'boot' in UK, don't they?)

Low overhead as far as interface goes, also, no fancy program, just a couple sliders, etc. Suits me, I never have been a bells and whistles kinda guy.

[Samuknow]

After having the Fortissimo II, I don't think you will like the onboard sound. I had a decent sound card before and this Herc card blows it away.

[Pinky]

I'd die with only onboard sound, but I use my audio card to the max.

[Orbit]

Surprisingly enough, this doesn't sound bad at all. Granted, can't do much with sorry donkey speakers, but I can actually hear things in Quake that I never heard before.

So, for the "What it's Worth" Dept. - If you're not an audiophile, save some bucks and try the onboard before you buy a card....
Buy better ram, or a faster cpu.

[unclemojo]

I'll agree with you Orbit, the AC97 ain't that bad, but you know I'm a music kinda d00d. Why I still ahve a SB Live! blows my mind, but I can't hear the difference between mine and my bud's Audigy.

I did a LOT of music compilation and editing a coupple years back, when this card was the top dawg. I do like the fact that I can compile and mix up to 128 trax at once. Sure, thats a lot of processing power, but is an old fart SB Live! can hang and still sound like it does, I'll have to stayy off AC97.

One thing I didn't like about the AC97 was the lack of amplification. I got a lot of tinny sounds with mine, though the AC97 I had before on an older board worked quite well. Are they hit and miss maybe?

The onboard sound, which I chose to save myself getting another sound card, added $10 to the price of the board. Too bad it doesn't ****ing work. And it wasn't worth the $20 trip into toronto to try to get a replacement only to have them possibly insist that I leave my whole machine with them for up to 6 weeks so they can test the problem. Thanks alot ANUS.

[Uncle Bob]

I was a SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 before I got my EPOX board and tried the onboard, I like it. I suppose with a real speaker system I might be dissapointed. I have a killer stereo, home theater rig I rock out with so it wasn't a real big deal to me. I put the card in my son's new rig we made and he is stoked!

[Áedán]

Originally posted by unclemojo
[B]I'll agree with you Orbit, the AC97 ain't that bad, but you know I'm a music kinda d00d. Why I still ahve a SB Live! blows my mind, but I can't hear the difference between mine and my bud's Audigy. [B]

From what I can remember from places like DearHoney, the SB Live's converters are better quality than the Audigy. It's all very well claiming the Audigy has 24bit/96KHz converters, if the DSP can't do anything better than 16bit/48KHz

I did a LOT of music compilation and editing a coupple years back, when this card was the top dawg. I do like the fact that I can compile and mix up to 128 trax at once. Sure, thats a lot of processing power, but is an old fart SB Live! can hang and still sound like it does, I'll have to stayy off AC97.

When you're mixin 128 tracks (presuming mono here), your processor is doing the bulk of the work, as the EMU chip used can only handle 32streams. The quality of the output is then down to the DAC converters in use. The only issue with AC'97, is that the Codecs only run at 48K. On the other hand, that's the same issue with the EMU chip - it processes everything at 48K. I'm still amused at the fact that the Live's rear channels are higher quality than the front channels.

One thing I didn't like about the AC97 was the lack of amplification. I got a lot of tinny sounds with mine, though the AC97 I had before on an older board worked quite well. Are they hit and miss maybe?

I would rather my sound card didn't have any amplification. There's no way that a small power amp embedded in the middle of a very noisy environment can provide any decent quality, esp as it's going to be powered off the same 12v line as my hard disks and other items.

The AC'97 link standard provides a standard way for a DSP to talk to a CODEC. It doesn't provide anything more than that. Depending on which AC'97 CODEC is used and what processing is done post conversion, the sound can vary from poor to excellent.

That makes it a bit hit and miss!

AidanII

[Orbit]

Thanks alot ANUS.

and this would be directed to?

I use an Epox 8KHA+ board, the AC97 must be different than the Asus if you're having issues with it. (everything works on my Epox - from $90 on up delivered)

I'm still using the AC97, and I actually like it, less wireage, and, like I say, I don't use it for music (although I did run some Moodie Blues thru it, and it sounded fine to me.)

I don't do any audio conversions, my interests lie elsewhere. I do play acoustic guitar, so that has something to do with me not listening to music much.

Originally posted by Orbit
and this would be directed to?

The company named ANUS. I have an ANUS A7V-E motherboard. Its not directed at you or anyone else here (unless you own the company). Sorry I wasn't clearer about that.

[Orbit]

HAHAHAHA>... that's pretty funny ..
Yeah, I was sorta wondering...

It's even better when you refer to their voltage/temp/rpm monitoring program Probe. Who here uses ANUS Probe?

[unclemojo]

Thanks for the info AidanII. I'm not a sound card buff, so it was good info for me. I remember a while back there was a hard mod for the SB Live! cards that could turn it into an x-gamer or 5.1. Totally unsure what it turned it into, but a lot of the creative cards used the same parts from the original SB Live! cards.

Though I did have MANY issues with this card, a VIA chipset and Win2K, I haven't had ANY issues running XP with it yet...cept for a slight stutter in UT last night, but thats another story......

Oh, and yes...128 tracks was in mono. Stereo I did only 4 at a time max. I don't use a beat matcher, so I had to do it all by hand, and any more than 4 tracks I would get lost and ruin my work. Most were very short loops to create ambient and background noise. Lost nearly 20 gigs of music during the great crash of 2000 when the HDD failed, and would not allow recovery. Indeed a severe bummer for me. Now I rarely mix, only listen. Pretty much spoiled it for me losing all the data like that.

[Áedán]

Originally posted by unclemojo
Though I did have MANY issues with this card, a VIA chipset and Win2K, I haven't had ANY issues running XP with it yet

Nothing to do with a faulty ACPI header in the card then? I think Creative should have fixed that.

The AC'97 spec is pretty good when you look at it. Yes, it has downfalls, like the fixed 48KHz sample rate and the way that some manufacturers take so much care putting the parts on their boards...

AidanII