Onboard Realtek ALC887 vs. Asus Xonar DGX

Mandathor

Honorable
Dec 15, 2013
25
0
10,530
I have Asus B85-plus (http://www.asus.com/no/Motherboards/B85PLUS/)

I thought the inbuilt soundcard was terrible so I went along and bought a Asus Xonar DGX. Realised afterwards I should have installed drivers and use Realtek HD Audio Manager. And the inbuilt soundcard now seems ok.

Does the DGX give me any better sound than the inbuilt sound on B85-plus: Realtek ALC887?




(follow up problems after installing drivers:

After installing latest realtek audio drivers my computer started messing up. problems closing windows 8 window mode. Generally slow and unresponsive.
Iv experienced some oddities, now flux wont start automatically on startup (along with other software).

Also when i check my realtek audio drivers properties it says I have a later version than the one I installed?

Anyone familiar with these issues on this motherboard?

(also my ethernet input stopped working just recently. tried to update drivers. still not working. computer performance after ethernet failure was fast and stable))
 

Tradesman1

Legenda in Aeternum
The drivers that came with the mobo on CD were probably out of date when you got them and newer drivers were downloaded through Win update. Check the mobo website for the latest drivers there for the ethernet. The Xonar and the onboard are probably near equal, the Xonar may give better tuning capabilities (and it may have more recent drivers than it came with also ;) )
 

Mandathor

Honorable
Dec 15, 2013
25
0
10,530
Hmm. I'v heard that the audible difference isn't really there between those two options.

tomshardware forum quote: "It isn't. Researchers from forums have showed that barely any audiable difference can be interpreted. Unless you're going $500+ headphones with FLAC files, you'd be better off saving that money. I actually own an Xonar Essence STX and quality wise, not much difference. But I need the upgrade for my RCA receiver set up. Note that I am pairing my STX with stereo towers with some what enthusiast quality."