XTRProf
Fully Modded
Pssst ! Got any spare capacitors ?
Posts: 5,689
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Post by XTRProf on May 25, 2012 3:33:39 GMT
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elysion
Been here a while!
Team Anti M$ AND Facebook.
contra torrentem
Posts: 2,375
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Post by elysion on May 25, 2012 10:07:28 GMT
The news sound interesting, but I've had a quick look at the Biostar website. It seems to be not much more than a bit hot air... The pages of all new Biostar Z77 motherboards are already online and I see nothing special: www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/index.php?S_ID=13www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=582www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=579www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=581www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=578www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=580According to the specs, each of these Z77 motherboards is using a plain-vanilla Realtek ALC892 CODEC. They can do what they want, an ALC892 isn't an audiofile part. I've expected to see something like the ASUS Xonar hardware, for example a C-Media chip onboard. Is the advertisement really only about the ALC892 and what I have quoted below? 110 dB SNR from an ALC892? It's still a CODEC and most audiophiles would want additional sound hardware. Almost every motherboad has 24bit/192KHz on the paper today. Nice, but why don't they use better audio hardware at all. I can't take the ALC892 serious. Almost every motherboard has one. It seems to be more the type of audio that can also be found on some ALC8xx equiped ASUS motherboards. Put a sticker onto the ALC8xx which says something nice, add a bit useless software and stick with the same crap hardware as usual. At least, ASUS sells good audio hardware (Xonar series), but you have to pay extra. IMO a real advantage for audiophiles would be the complete removal of crappy/mediocre hardware on the motherboard. I've had to disable the the onboard audio hardware with an ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z Rev. 3.0 motherboard so that it does not interfere with the Xonar Essence STX PCI-E card. Of course, there's still a chance that Biostar will reveal their Puro Hi-Fi motherboard at the show and put the information online later. At least, they've listed a lot of Z77 based motherboards already and they mention the same "24-bit/192KHz" story for their ALC892 based boards. www.biostar.com.tw/embedded/news/news_content.php?S_ID=141
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Post by freddypipsqueek on May 25, 2012 12:26:47 GMT
All this is unlikely to catch on. In the late 90s I remember a few MBs with Creative cards on but it added to the price and restricted choice. I'm not saying the cards were any good but the SB128 was a the big gaming card at the time. .
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Post by ruinevil on Jun 14, 2012 4:47:31 GMT
Most enthusiast mobos have one of the nicer Realtek devices. I too have the alc892, but I hear the 889 chip is a higher rated chip, though in the previous generation. These mobo based devices are probably better than most < USD $60 USB DAC, however their problem is that their analog signal is has interference from the rest of the mobo connections.
Also... don't buy Biostar, they suck.
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Post by eugenius on Jul 24, 2012 19:03:55 GMT
That is another name for >2$ spent for implementation of analog audio.
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