Cheap Sound Card Instead of Onboard?

theunliked

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Dec 3, 2014
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My onboard audio decided to quit on me so I'm looking into buying a sound card. I have a micro ATX with no spare PCI slots so USB is my only option.

Would a cheap $5 audio to USB converter off eBay be good enough or should I get a big brand one for a bit more?

Good surround sound is not important to me, I'm mainly only looking for something that doesn't degrade audio quality. Has anyone had experience with these and is audio quality an issue?

Thanks in advance.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-2-0-to-3D-AUDIO-SOUND-CARD-EXTERNAL-ADAPTER-VIRTUAL-5-1-CH-MIC-Headphone/250951090739?epid=876467248&hash=item3a6dd9c233:g:GIkAAOSwUMxZ~Gh5
 


What board is it? If the onboard sound fails then it has a high chance of just dying on you soon.
 

theunliked

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Dec 3, 2014
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Its the Asrock Z97M Anniversary. I might have just been lucky but my mobo is still working a year after the onboard audio failed. I've been using HDMI passthrough since, but I want to use my headphone's mic and HDMI pass through AFAIK doesn't support mics.