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Question about Latency Onboard Soundcard

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Ryusaki

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
I use a External Dac/amp for my headphones. However for the mic I use a external cheap USB soundcard ( Syba ). Now I hear from my friends that the sound quality is pretty bad.

So I was wondering if I would connect the mic directly to my onboard soundcard ( realtek). If it would add some latency. Just using the mic not for sound.
 
#2 ·
i dont know the exact latency of realtek, but its not really a soundcard, as in, its not based on a dedicated chip on the motherboard, its a codec, its software that allows the cpu to process audio. If you are able to manually set low latency, 48/96 quality audio, it will eat up hard drive resources, and self-defeat.
 
#3 ·
what motherboard are you using?

honestly, 99.99% of onboard sound on motherboards is a million times better than those super cheap usb 3.5mm mic/headphone outputs.

also most motherboards use dedicated chips for audio these days. its been a long time since cpu's did audio processing and even then its a pretty small load for cpu's these days..
 
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#4 ·
Actually, I believe most audio processing is done on the CPU these days, even with an expensive soundcard.

What kind of latency are you talking about? None of that should affect input lag, but if you're talking about, say, monitoring your own voice, that's a whole different thing.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
Thanks everyone for your input
Quote:
Originally Posted by IMI4tth3w View Post

what motherboard are you using?

honestly, 99.99% of onboard sound on motherboards is a million times better than those super cheap usb 3.5mm mic/headphone outputs.

also most motherboards use dedicated chips for audio these days. its been a long time since cpu's did audio processing and even then its a pretty small load for cpu's these days..
Click to expand...
Using a Asrock X99 Taichi.

Quote:
Originally Posted by brucethemoose View Post

Actually, I believe most audio processing is done on the CPU these days, even with an expensive soundcard.

What kind of latency are you talking about? None of that should affect input lag, but if you're talking about, say, monitoring your own voice, that's a whole different thing.
Click to expand...
Yea Inputlag. So seems like it wont add inputlag. Would it affect my FPS by much ?

I guess I am going to try it out
 
#6 ·
my bad- i havent used onboard audio since i had a lexicon 2 multichannel audio/adat optical interface. eventually, usb upgraded, and now i use a focusrite. i might occasionally play back audio on my integrated audio,but i wouldnt use those same a/d converters to record
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryusaki View Post

I use a External Dac/amp for my headphones. However for the mic I use a external cheap USB soundcard ( Syba ). Now I hear from my friends that the sound quality is pretty bad.

So I was wondering if I would connect the mic directly to my onboard soundcard (Realtek). If it would add some latency. Just using the mic not for sound.
Click to expand...
If plugging the mic directly into the motherboards on-board audio's input jack (mic) makes the sound quality of the mic better, go for it.
I'm guessing improved audio quality is worth it, over what might be a minor latency issue.
What external DAC/amp are you using?
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by acheleg View Post

i dont know the exact latency of realtek, but its not really a soundcard, as in, its not based on a dedicated chip on the motherboard, its a codec, its software that allows the cpu to process audio. If you are able to manually set low latency, 48/96 quality audio, it will eat up hard drive resources, and self-defeat.
Click to expand...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacoboy View Post

If plugging the mic directly into the motherboards on-board audio's input jack (mic) makes the sound quality of the mic better, go for it.
I'm guessing improved audio quality is worth it, over what might be a minor latency issue.
What external DAC/amp are you using?
Click to expand...
USB DAC/amp Schiit stack. I am thinking that might cause actually more input lag then a onboard soundcard?
 
#9 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryusaki View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by acheleg View Post

i dont know the exact latency of realtek, but its not really a soundcard, as in, its not based on a dedicated chip on the motherboard, its a codec, its software that allows the cpu to process audio. If you are able to manually set low latency, 48/96 quality audio, it will eat up hard drive resources, and self-defeat.
Click to expand...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacoboy View Post

If plugging the mic directly into the motherboards on-board audio's input jack (mic) makes the sound quality of the mic better, go for it.
I'm guessing improved audio quality is worth it, over what might be a minor latency issue.
What external DAC/amp are you using?
Click to expand...
USB DAC/amp Schiit stack. I am thinking that might cause actually more input lag then a onboard soundcard?
Click to expand...
I would assume sending out digital audio thru USB would offer less lag, then sending digital audio thru a sound card.
USB just passes the audio thru it.
While a sound card takes the time to do changes to the audio stream.
(sound card has it hooks into the audio stream)
 
Discussion starter · #10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by acheleg View Post

i dont know the exact latency of realtek, but its not really a soundcard, as in, its not based on a dedicated chip on the motherboard, its a codec, its software that allows the cpu to process audio. If you are able to manually set low latency, 48/96 quality audio, it will eat up hard drive resources, and self-defeat.
Click to expand...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tacoboy View Post

I would assume sending out digital audio thru USB would offer less lag, then sending digital audio thru a sound card.
USB just passes the audio thru it.
While a sound card takes the time to do changes to the audio stream.
(sound card has it hooks into the audio stream)
Click to expand...
That being said, would using the onboard soundcard just for the mic would add some more lag then using a seperate USB soundcard?
 
#14 ·
the latency of any audio device is primarily determined by the driver design. If your usb audio in or out uses the generic windows usb audio drivers, or if they design their own, but dont design them with great care, then the ill-suited drivers will cause latency issues. If your usb audio device comes with decently-designed drivers, you can get studio-acceptable low-latency levels. I have a syba usb audio card, and its windows 98 compatible, which means it MUST use the windows default audio drivers
frown.gif
.

As far as your audio stream hogging up your CPU resources while gaming- you would have to be recording/playing/rendering a dozen or more simultaneous tracks or effects to have the audio CPU load affect your gaming performance. A single stereo track isnt gonna hog your cpu, even if you had a cyrix 250Mhz cpu.
 
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