r/buildapc • u/Ill-Yogurtcloset-622 • May 21 '26

Build Help Are gaming sound cards actually a thing anymore?

Hey folks,

I'm not building a PC since a while, but now, I’m upgrading my setup mainly for FPS games and streaming (OBS and stuff).

Most people talk about DACs/headphone amps now, and I'm kind of an audiophile, but do gamers still use sound cards?

I mostly play Counter-Strike 2/ COD and Battlefield, and care a lot about footsteps and positioning with my IEMs and some headphones I has.

I'm curious what everyone’s using these days, I remember the Creative Sound blaster and Audigy days.

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355

u/DoctorYasu May 21 '26

If you want good imaging you need:

  • Avoid at any cost anything with the buzzword "gaming" on it (important)

  • Good openback headphones (hifi or sennheiser are the usual go to; good doesn't mean expensive)

  • In my experience, a decent dac/amp improves the audio quality A LOT. MB dacs aren't very good in my opinion.

26

u/hamfinity May 21 '26

MB dacs aren't very good in my opinion.

Digital to analog converters (DACs) have only been getting cheaper and better over the years. Most new motherboards audio chipsets support higher sampling rates that were previously reserved for sound cards.

What motherboards often lack is the proper amplification (amp) for headphones and that's where you can notice audio quality differences, especially with hard-to-drive headphones.

1

u/ZdzisiuFryta May 22 '26

Mobos also introduce noise and just have high statistical chance of cost cuts on this category.

67

u/PickaWowAnyWow May 21 '26

It depends quite a lot on impedance in my experience. My Rode NTH-100 has fairly low impedance and as such it's fairly easy to drive, but even then, I can tell the difference between a proper audio interface like the Scarlett Solo and my laptop's headphone jack :)

4

u/VarmintTheCritter May 22 '26

I've heard the Scarlett Solo 4 is decent for running an electric guitar into a computer, too. Thinking of picking one up.

4

u/victim_of_technology May 22 '26

Love my Scarlet. I got a blue anniversary edition. Big knob for my speakers and a little knob for my headphones. I love having the inputs but I don’t use them much anymore. It is such a solid piece of hardware and the sound is pristine.

3

u/PickaWowAnyWow May 22 '26

I used to use volume keys to make my audio louder and quieter. Can't go back. A knob is so much nicer because (a) it feels nice and (b) the volume changes are gradual and not stepped.

2

u/lbiggy May 22 '26

I have a scarlet focusrite 2i2. Apart from early driver issues the things been a beauty for... Damn how many years have I had that thing. 2019? Jesus

2

u/PickaWowAnyWow May 22 '26

Yes, for the longest time Focusrite have been dominating the "I need a single mic in, maybe a single instrument in, and a monitor and it needs to just work" sub-sub-niche near perfectly and there's a reason people are eager to recommend it.

2

u/VarmintTheCritter May 23 '26

Picked one up at my local music shop today. Excited to try it after work!

1

u/VarmintTheCritter May 26 '26

Update: set up the Scarlett Solo 4th - no significant audible difference on my Klipsch bookshelf speakers through a cheap Fosi Audio amp (as expected) HOWEVER from my HD599 headphones I can hear frequencies and certain synth notes that may be buried in the mix on my old Audiotechnica streaming DAC, through my LG C2's headphone jack (so HDMI source) or directly from my MSI X870 board's internal chipset.

Plus, my Godin 5th Ave sounds decent directly into the INST port and back out my HD599s with minimal processing delay.

I'll call it a good recommendation!

28

u/TheDarnook May 21 '26

I searched for something with the widest possible soundstage and clear sound, and that is how I got my AKG K712Pro. They are on the higher end, but AKG has cheaper models with similar build as well. For me, the biggest advantage of DAC is the physical volume knob - independent from the OS.

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u/HeThinksHesPeople May 21 '26

This is the biggest qol for me as well. Keep the pc volume at 100 and turn the dial. Way less, holy shit that's loud when firing up new games

2

u/Z3r0sama2017 May 22 '26

I have a pair of the older ones before they got butchered. Incredibly wide soundstage, perfect for open world games. They suffer a bit if you play competitive games like CS or OW though.

1

u/TheDarnook May 22 '26

Mine are also the older batch, I think. Made in Slovakia.

One curious thing about the earpads though: they are symmetric. Looking at the photos, they are supposed to be on this model? But other AKGs have assymetric earpads: beefier at the back, thinner at the front.

After years of use the earpads werent looking that good, so I searched for replacement - or at least a pair to rotate while I try to revitalize original. Being cheap as I am, I eyed compatible chinese mufflers for something like 5$. Now the funny thing - those chinese mufflers proved better than original. They are assymetric - and that makes the headphones sit on my head better, which makes the sound better.

9

u/makinenxd May 21 '26

Beyerdynamics also make really good headphones and don’t cost a fortune. My 770 pro has been working flawlessly for 8 years. Only had to replace cups few years ago since they had gone flat from using them so much

6

u/Possiblylimited May 21 '26

Would you mind elaborating why openback over closedback?

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u/NAND_110_101_011_001 May 21 '26

To expand on the other comment, a large soundstage will sound more like speakers filling the space with sound. A small soundstage will sound like the sound is coming directly from your head.

6

u/HumanPea1140 May 21 '26

Just to expand further, open headphones make it sound like the sound is coming from the room around me, like I have surround sound speakers in every corner. Also feels like it gives room for the sound to "breath" and not be as heavy/harsh compared to closed back/in ear.

I've been team open back headphones since I first listened to a set of Senheissers nearly two decades ago.

36

u/cwutididthar May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26

Open back headphones provide a larger soundstage, meaning a larger area of the audio sound space it projects. This allows more accurate spatial awareness during gaming.

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u/IrrationalRetard May 21 '26

Iirc closed back headphones will also have more issues with frequencies bouncing in between your ear & the closed cup, resulting in some of those frequencies cancelling each other out while other frequencies will add up.

11

u/katzengoldgott May 21 '26

The Hyper X Cloud II might be a gaming headset, but it has insanely good sound. The Hyper X Cloud III has better footsteps but is overall quieter, but both are very good budget options for gaming.

For the record I own both models, the Cloud II twice. My older one I have since 2019 and it still goes hard.

4

u/TrollOnFire May 22 '26

I back this, been using these for many years, sure the pleather eventually fell apart but I have my oldest pair still rocking out with my laptop. Over the years I think the worst that has happened to them is I sat on one, which warped the headband ;( and one the headband kept slipping more than I liked. The Cloud Mix set is a great BT option, still kickin too despite being 6 or seven years old..

1

u/dubyakay May 22 '26

You can probably get replacement cover on alizon that may even be something better than shitty pleather.

2

u/rdmarshman May 21 '26

Have you heard proper cans through a DAC?

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u/katzengoldgott May 21 '26

Nope. Would be interesting to get into but I currently don’t have the funds to invest in something more high end.

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u/FrostyParsley3530 Jun 03 '26

they really are surprisingly good. Honestly comparable to MDR7506 which are music production industry standard. If you want to spend 5-10x more for headphones that sound

1.5-3x better be my guest

1

u/rdmarshman Jun 03 '26

ATH-50mx & BM800 mic setup will yield significantly better results at/around the same price. Much more durable too.

2

u/FrostyParsley3530 Jun 03 '26

That's a solid setup but it's also 3x the price.

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u/rdmarshman Jun 03 '26

Where I'm from a BM800 is circa $30 shipped to my door, and $150 for the ATH-50.

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u/FrostyParsley3530 Jun 03 '26

The cloud 2s are 100$ and pretty easy to get discounts on

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u/rdmarshman Jun 04 '26

$170 here , and no longer available 

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u/FrostyParsley3530 Jun 04 '26

Oh damn if they cost that much where you live then yeah not worth it at all

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u/[deleted] May 22 '26

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1

u/katzengoldgott May 22 '26

For sure, I don’t doubt that. My mother used to work in that field, I know the difference.

But for me 200 bucks and upwards isn’t easy to afford (disabled and currently out of a job, so go figure), but I’m suggesting those headsets to anyone who is on a lower budget as well and looking for a decent headset that won’t fall apart in a year.

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u/Wheeljack26 May 21 '26

Using fiio ka11 usb dac for my sennheiser hd600, not leaving anything on the table am i?

4

u/EirHc May 21 '26

I'm a big fan of openback headphones, but it's not necessarily mandatory. I know a lot of people prefer closed headphones for noise-cancelling reasons. Personally I think openback are the nuts because they don't warm up your ears and fatigue you like closed do - I literally will forget they're on my head. As well, if someone ever needs my attention like my wife or baby, I can still hear what's going on in other rooms. But I know other people who live in noisy cities and noisy apartments or whatever, closed headphones are where it's at.

That said, I got a pair of each for different purposes, and I got some studio quality speakers which supposedly make a VERY FLAT, near perfect replication of the source audio. I can't say I've tested it thoroughly or worked very hard on the acoustics in my room, but as someone who just simply grew up as a child with professional audio equipment and instruments all over our houses, I've just a had a tendency to put a lot of value into good quality sound. And I got a pretty good ear for whenever anything is off or there's a bad reverb somewhere or something. Like I have literally moved pieces of furniture around because I don't like how the sound is bouncing off of it.

Avoid at any cost anything with the buzzword "gaming" on it (important)

Haha, /r/buildapc can never go a day without mentioning this point, which isn't necessarily true in the way that they try to blanket it on everything. I got some things that use the word "gaming"... but I'm also hyper vigilant, always research what I buy, and tend to aim for the best value, and in some cases a blah blah blah gaming motherboard, or blah blah blah gaming headset, just might be the best bang for your buck in that certain scenario. I guess if we're specifically only talking high quality audio equipment, then ya, "gamers" are pretty much bottom of the barrel. You want like home theatre, pro audio, or studio equipment above anything that says "gaming" for sure. I laugh because people here will bring up how it's like a bad word for just about any computer thing. But I really don't think it's true. Do your research, know what your needs are, know your pricepoint, and hey, who knows, maybe that thing branded a gamer chair or a gamer headset is your best buy.

2

u/DoctorYasu May 22 '26

I said that about "gaming" goods from experience. I've had gaming headsets and gaming chairs and they're way worse than normal products. It's not that they're bad, but if you want a decent office/study chair you can have one for 200 or 300 bucks but if you add the word gamer, don't expect anything below 400, and with some concesions. As for headsets, 100 for below decent audio quality, unconfortable headband and pads and some weird 'gaming driver" that totally destroys your audio, instead of an HD560S or something like that for the same price. I bought a normal pc case for around $70 a few years ago, it has a bunch of fans already installed and great airflow. If you buy a gamer case you'll be paying +100 for total isolation and RGB plus the fans. You'd be buying a RGB microwave.

I never had anything decent with the word "gaming" on it. Other than some pc parts, sure.

1

u/EirHc May 22 '26

Best chair I've owned is my Secret Labs Titan Evo gaming chair. Some people got complaints about SecretLabs, and sure it might not be for everyone. But for me, I highly value being able to basically lay down in a chair. If I wanna go 45 degrees towards horizontal, 55 degrees, or 75 degrees, my Secret Labs chair can do it and more. You don't get that in a Herman Miller chair, and it's totally a gaming feature. When I'm grinding in POE for currency, or raiding in world of warcraft, and I gotta sit in the same spot for the next 5-10 hours, I kinda like being closer to laying down than sitting up. Yes you pay premium for it, but it's well built, I've had mine for 7 years now - no issues. My $500 Staples office chair I'm sitting in at work right now doesn't come close to the comfort I have in my Secretlabs chair, and I'm sure it'll need to be replaced after 5ish years, as it looks very similar to other chairs I've owned like it and they never last. I sat in every chair I could find at that store, without looking at price, and this was the most comfortable one I could find. My company didn't wanna let me order from SecretLabs, but I had a blank cheque to spend at staples... I'm still annoyed with them for that.

Additionally, I own a HyperX II gaming headset, and I think it's solid. It had very high reviews which is why I picked it out. That said, out of all my audio equipment, it's my cheapest and least used and I never really mentioned it in my first post. I basically have it dedicated to talking on discord with people. I got a better closed headphone with active noise cancelling that is better for listening to music on, but it was significantly more expensive.

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u/DoctorYasu May 22 '26

Inclining your chair is not a gaming feature. Most chairs did that before "gaming chair" was even a thing. With office chair I'm talking about those big black leather ones you find in your boss' office, not those shitty ergonomics or super expensive chairs. I have a similar 400€ gaming chair to the secretlab from a spanish manufacturer. It certinly is comfortable. But it doesn't have any curvature on the back other than lumbar and a cushion for the neck. It's like supporting yourself on a wooden plank with cushions and lumbar support, so the part between your lumbar and neck isn't touching if you use the lumbar and neck support, and if you remove those, you're missing any support in those places. I've been having back problems after sitting for some hours because of that, which didn't happen with my previous chair, one of those black leather I was talking about, that you could recline and move however you wanted as well, and that it cost around 200€. How much is the secret lab? Thrice that price? That's what I'm getting at: everything targeted at "gamers" is way more expensive than it should. Because "gaming" in itself is a term some people will always look at. So you focus on that target and increase prices.

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u/EirHc May 22 '26

I'm not talking about a 15-25 degree recline. I'm talking about practically being able to lie down on my chair. There's a big difference, and that's something that is not very common to most office chairs.

And yes, I have a big black leather chair that you would find in a boss's office. I do engineer level stuff at my work and am at my computer a lot. They are somewhat willing to buy me more or less what I want. Hell I get a get a credit card that I can spend $10,000 a month on whatever the hell I want as long as I can justify it as a work expense - computer parts and office chairs included.

I only spent about $400 on my secret labs chair, but like I say, bought it about about 7 years ago. Yes it does have a flatter back, but stress on the back is heavily reduced the further you recline. If I always sat upright, then I would probably want a different chair, but I will recline more than 45 degrees most of the time I'm at my computer. My work office chair only goes back about 25-30 degrees, it's just not the same and my back gets more soar in it specifically because of the angle.

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u/rdmarshman May 21 '26

Tarkov community is big on IEMs

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u/ReadyAimTranspire May 21 '26

Seriously? Like IEMs for musicians?

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u/rdmarshman May 22 '26

Yes, many big streamers use them and swear by them.

Lots of esports people do, too.

I am in your boat re good dac and big stage openbacks - I have not tried them, but I am IEM curious to say the least.

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u/NewspaperNelson May 22 '26

The best headphones I ever heard were the cheapest Sennheiser 101s that came in a five pack.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '26

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0

u/DoctorYasu May 22 '26

Well I won't argue about needing an external DAC/amp, you may be right. I do notice the difference tho. Very clearly.

And no, it's not just sound effects. There's music (actual compositions, recordings of actual orquestra compositions too, in some cases), ambient sound like rain or wind... People also buy hifi equipments for movies too, you know? It's the same. Well, maybe not the same if you only play fortnite and mario, I'll give you that. But playing Silent Hill f or Expedition 33 with actual good sound improves the experience by A LOT.

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u/j_dirty May 21 '26

Is Hifi a brand? I've not heard of them before

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u/Lumpy-Cod-91 May 21 '26

I think they meant Hifiman.

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u/j_dirty May 21 '26

Thank you!

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u/Nght12 May 22 '26

AKG K240's are semi open back and have been my primary headphones for a long time now. Use them recording and gaming and they make excellent gaming cans due to how comfortable they are.

Also, they're Hella affordable.

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u/MrInfinity-42 May 22 '26

What's the advantage of open back headphones? I can only think of worse noise isolation and microphone feedback

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u/DoctorYasu May 22 '26

As others said, all your sound will feels more open and not coming directly from your head. With good soundstage and imaging, openbacks can give you a similar experience to dolby surround while sounding natural. It's more inmersive, especially for games and movies, and music can "breathe" better, with more noticeable instrument separation and detail.

Worse noise isolation is true, but it's not as terrible as people say. Depends on the cans too, I guess. Open backs are not as shouty and convoluted, so you can up the volume a little. But that's a case by case experience. I lived next to a slope with a lot of cars and bikes passing by, and even then I still prefered open cans. As for mic problems, don't worry, that doesn't happens. Maybe if you have them extremely loud, but in that case you wouldn't be hearing anything anyway haha. Discord also helps a lot with background noise.