# Realtek inbuilt HD ALC887  vs Asus Xonar DGX PCIe



## ramaswamy ganapathy (May 17, 2018)

Guys i think its not always about having the best headphones, ive seen a lot of pro's buy sound card for gaming purposes, i was thinking this could be one of the solutions, as i feel my onboard is shit, ive used the same headphone on a different system which sounded much better.



IVE GOT A GIGABYTE AX370M-GAMING 3 MOTHER BOARD


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## SaiyanGoku (May 17, 2018)

Which headphone are you using and have you updated the audio drivers?


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## whitestar_999 (May 18, 2018)

Onboard audio on mobo is almost always inferior to a dedicated sound card & Asus Xonar brand is quite famous among audio cards(this particular model is budget model though but still quite good). However you need to have some decent headphone/speakers to notice the significant improvement in audio quality.


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## Nerevarine (May 18, 2018)

I have XONAR U3 and my onboard motherboard having realtek soundcard has far superior audio quality. Tested on speakers and headphones/earphones.


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## whitestar_999 (May 18, 2018)

Xonar U3 is a usb sound card,not even close to a dedicated pci/pci-e sound card like Xonar DGX.


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## ramaswamy ganapathy (May 18, 2018)

@SaiyanGoku I am using a chinese gaming headphones called kotion each, now before u make any judgements i would like to say that it has performed better than my previous sennheizer HD series (i had like 2 of them) and logitech gaming headset(all of which i paid around 4-5k at that time).


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## ramaswamy ganapathy (May 18, 2018)

@whitestar_999  which are the ones i can consider can u give me a list? and links to the products?


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## ramaswamy ganapathy (May 18, 2018)

please provide urgent inputs guys


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## SaiyanGoku (May 18, 2018)

ramaswamy ganapathy said:


> please provide urgent inputs guys


Which kotion each headphone, specify the model? Have you updated the mobo audio drivers?


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## ramaswamy ganapathy (May 18, 2018)

yes mother board drivers are updated 


Kotion Each G2100 Vibration Wired Headset with Mic Price in India - Buy Kotion Each G2100 Vibration Wired Headset with Mic Online - Kotion Each : Flipkart.com


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## SaiyanGoku (May 18, 2018)

ramaswamy ganapathy said:


> yes mother board drivers are updated
> 
> 
> Kotion Each G2100 Vibration Wired Headset with Mic Price in India - Buy Kotion Each G2100 Vibration Wired Headset with Mic Online - Kotion Each : Flipkart.com


Your headphones don't even require it as they are low powered (32 Ω only link: EACH G2100 Vibration Function Professional Gaming Headphone | Kotion Each Official Site - Media Center ). For comparison, my E10c and 598SE have impedance of 42 Ω and 50 Ω respectively and my office desktop (Realtek ALC662) can drive them easily.

Realtek ALC887 Onboard audio vs Asus Xonar DG / DGX or any other similar dedicated Sound Card - [Solved] - Components



> Dedicated sound card will give you a huge volume boost. My Creative X-Fi (PCI-E card) has such a high volume output that I had to limit max volume in drivers because my Sennheiser HD415 headphones would destroy my eardrums if volume level in Windows would be changed to max by some program (heck even ~30% was unbearable without forced limitation).
> 
> As for sound quality, you may get some sweet bass, but I think it's more related to quality headphones and any realistic improvement from soundcard itself would be more available power for output & driving high(er) impedance headphones and quality speakers.



IMO, you should consider buying an external powered amp instead of a pcie sound card if you want higher, but distortion free, sound levels.


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## ramaswamy ganapathy (May 18, 2018)

something like this?

*www.amazon.in/Kotion-Each-Gaming-H...F8&qid=1526638853&sr=8-4&keywords=kotion+each


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## SaiyanGoku (May 18, 2018)

ramaswamy ganapathy said:


> something like this?
> 
> *www.amazon.in/Kotion-Each-Gaming-H...F8&qid=1526638853&sr=8-4&keywords=kotion+each


Nope, those would be an option if your mobo audio died and you needed something urgently as a backup. FiiO E10K is considered as a good budge dac/amp.


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## Nerevarine (May 18, 2018)

rule of thumb is u should spend half of total value of ur earphone + speakers on dac. pairing a 2k hp with a 5 k dac is worse than going for a 7K earphone instead and using mobo out


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## ramaswamy ganapathy (May 18, 2018)

@SaiyanGoku The cost of that thing is same as the cost of 


*www.amazon.in/Creative-Blaster-Aud..._rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=NHWZPDAESRQK8QKY43SY



*www.amazon.com/FiiO-E10K-Headphone...00LP3AMC2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8



don't u think a sound card is future proof in case i go for a better headphone?


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## SaiyanGoku (May 18, 2018)

ramaswamy ganapathy said:


> @SaiyanGoku The cost of that thing is same as the cost of
> 
> *www.amazon.in/Creative-Blaster-Audigy-Performance-Headphone/dp/B00EO6X4XG/
> 
> ...


What better headphone would you upgrade to? You'd be better off buying a tube amp/dac instead of a sound card if you decide to get studio headphones.


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## ramaswamy ganapathy (May 18, 2018)

@SaiyanGoku gaming headphones, logitech,sennheizer,steel series etc.


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## SaiyanGoku (May 18, 2018)

ramaswamy ganapathy said:


> @SaiyanGoku gaming headphones, logitech,sennheizer,steel series etc.


Even those won't go above 50-100 Ω at worst (unless they're priced higher than, say, 10k). E10k is rated for 16-150 Ω.


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## ramaswamy ganapathy (May 18, 2018)

@SaiyanGoku thanks bruh for coming through with this, is this thing easy to setup tho?


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## SaiyanGoku (May 18, 2018)

ramaswamy ganapathy said:


> @SaiyanGoku thanks bruh for coming through with this, is this thing easy to setup tho?


I haven't had the need to buy one. Can't comment on the setup procedure.


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## whitestar_999 (May 19, 2018)

r/headphones - FiiO E10k Settings question.


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