Sound Card Questions

BryanLamoree

Honorable
Jun 11, 2013
30
0
10,540
I don't know any other way to say this except I like shit loud. When I'm playing BF4 I want to feel immersed in the game or when I'm listening to music I like it to be loud. I'm using AudioTechnica AD700x Headphones with and Asus Xonar Headphones.

My first question is:

If I buy a ASUS Essence will that make my sound louder?

What does the 124db SNR mean? Is this something that lets me know how loud it gets.

What does sample rate mean? It's showing at 192 khz sample rate.

I'm looking to make an upgrade to more quality sound and anyone's opinion and input would be greatly appreciated.
 
SNR isn't loudness but clarity. It stands for "Signal to Noise Ratio." The signal is what you want to hear, and the noise everything else (what you don't want - static, hiss or whatnot). Higher SNR cards push the "noise" further down so that all you hear is the music or movie or game sounds.

Sample rate is another thing that goes into "sound quality." It measures how many "samples" are taken per second. That is, nothing in a computer is really continuous - it's all broken into small pieces. Having more "pieces" per minute better approximates a continuous signal. 192 kHZ (kilohertz) means there are 192,000 samples taken per second (kilo = 1000; hertz = "per second").