Strongly disagree on windowed PC cases; this is especially true for systems w/ liquid cooling & so on. Nonetheless, there's plenty more non-windows PC cases in the market.
The problem is tempered glass and RGB is very specific "loud" look. I don't really have a problem with it and I think it can look good when done correctly if thats what you are going for but the issue is it seems to be the default and thats whats annoying about this "trend". As someone who likes minimalist design and dosn't give a shit about RGB its frustrating that is actually hard to find quality components that are not aimed at this segment of market.
Why does it matter so much to you? It seems like you go on the attack when someone has a totally non-threatening difference of opinion about a computing product which was not in any way specifically directed at you or intended to offend you. Yet here you are attacking someone, accusing them of abnormalities, and taking it upon yourself to be the comments section thought police. Give it a rest and learn some self-control before overreacting over someone's opinion of some random computer part. There are bigger things in life out there and most of them aren't even really worth getting fired up about.
That is undeniably a true statement and I take no offense in reading it. Although, I don't generally invest genuine emotion when doing so. That arguably could be considered trolling as well and I acknowledge that too. What I don't get (or actually, decline to factor in at all even though I understand the perspective and likely hypocrisy argument being made) is why it matters at all if I do or not. It doesn't invalidate the point I was making about the person behind jordanclock+jeremyshaw's keyboard.
I think it is annoying to see the full spectrum (which is always in marketing photos) but when setting everything to one color, they can look nice. That said, I don't have any RGBs on my case so maybe I don't actually think they look nice haha
I was always annoyed by the RGB thing, but never understood about why people get so militantly upset about it until I rebuilt my system last fall... the things don't default to 'off' and you often have to install half-baked and untrustworthy software in order to turn it off. This really does need to stop. Either ship the product with it off, and allow people to install crap software to turn it on, or give us a switch to toggle the lights on and off. Outside of that, who cares if a vendor wants to spend $2 on crappy lighting that they could otherwise take as profit. I am not exactly seeing the prices of products rise because of the addition of the lights.
I mean people can do whatever makes them happy, but for my personal builds I'd rather buy a non-RGB variant if available. Regardless, I'm not going to use it.
That aside these cards are up there in price with the new AE-7 and AE-9 so ouch. I know they're aimed at professionals but still a cut-down consumer audiophile version would be nice, give the AE-5 some competition.
I wanted to buy Topping DAC D50s and guess what ? OLED burn in issues. And Tons of QC issues with them not only them. But SMSL as well. And the AMPs they have all suffer with high output impedance which will cause Freq Response change to Low Impedance gear.
The SQ is analytical on all the Chi Fi. Esp they all use ESS chips which are hard to implement. LG did a fantastic fucking job in that unfortunately no one recognize them as the best.
So I got myself a Modi with AK4490 stunning rich textured sound, loses DSD (no need tbh) and other fancy BT features which I never use. As for AMP Liquidspark was excellent choice that I made.
Im curious on the NU Audio card. The Peak Meter (?) in Blue color would look stunning imho.
The old version of this (without the RGB or secondary card) is $350 CAD where I'm located ($260 USD at the time of writing). I thought it was a bit expensive but seeing this makes it obvious how overpriced the thing is locally.
I would have ran right out and bought one of these, but two things killed it:
First, the optical output. Why would they put an output that only supports 5.1 audio on a 7.1 card? This makes no sense. In fairness, there are very few cards with a coaxial output, but it makes no sense on those cards either.
Second, no DSD support even though the DAC supports up to DSD512.
I'm waiting for one of the audio-over-IP technologies to break out of the professional realm and go mainstream. AES67 has the best chance since that has originated from a standard's body followed by the privately controlled but very popular Dante protocol. AVB is still in the game and has been one of those hidden features in Macs for years now but hasn't had the breakout many were expecting. Still my Aquantia AQ107 card can move 1024 channels of audio at 32 bit, 192 kHz PCM quality with bandwidth to spare. Several Intel NICs also support AVB over 1 Gbit and can pass 128 channels at that same quality. Windows just needs drivers for AVB support, the hardware is already out and relatively wide spread.
I have a feeling too many companies are afraid that audio matrixing over the network is too complex for consumers and the lack of wireless support is a deal breaker.
Sadly, most of the integrated audio on motherboards now is worse than it was 15 years ago. Back then you could get Envy24-class (VIA, Cirrus Logic, etc) equivalent codec's and Wolfson DAC's integrated into a board. Now it seems 99% of the market has some basic Realtek BS.
Its a product of reaching a state of good enough and a general sense of apathy among the broader market. A small number of people concern themselves with audio quality and are this interested in computer technology (and happen to own a desktop PC) that would lay down additional money for a dedicated audio solution. Products like these would be available from a larger number of companies and get more press attention if they were more mainstream. Don't get me wrong - chasing better audio quality is fine if that's someone's interest, but I'm just saying it simply isn't a big deal for most of us beyond getting a decent pair of headphones or an okay sounding set of speakers.
Same. These cards are less than useless. On my old system I had a cheap $15 USB sound card, and the quality improvement of getting the DAC part of the chain outside of the case made me happy as a clam. Last year I bought a phone without a headphone jack, so I got a fairly nice BT headset, and while the quality is frankly not as good as wired, it is still very nice. But most of the time I am outputing my audio through my GPU's HDMI out, through the TV, and ARC to a sound bar. There is just no 'sound card' in the chain, and the audio is clean and good quality. Again, happier than I have ever been with any $250 Audigy card that I ever owned in the past where I could still point to specific audio issues in the chain. Down side, is that both the headphones and ARC limit me to stereo... Really hoping my next TV/monitor and sound bar will have eARC with true surround sound options, and that Windows gives it proper support.
CaedenV " These cards are less than useless" for you... for others.. they are worth it to them. " But most of the time I am outputing my audio through my GPU's HDMI out " that works for you.. but for me, i'll stick to the DD/DTS surround sound my creative Soundblaster Z, and various Auzentech cards are able to encode to.
Next time can we please get at least one picture showing the outputs? We don't really need two pictures of the top or two of the side if there's not even one showing the arrangement and types of outputs.
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39 Comments
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hehatemeXX - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
Stop with the RGB crap.. Do people really buy parts for RGB colors? You're making us normal geeks look bad.ahtoh - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
This, and also windowed PC caseslilkwarrior - Saturday, January 11, 2020 - link
Strongly disagree on windowed PC cases; this is especially true for systems w/ liquid cooling & so on. Nonetheless, there's plenty more non-windows PC cases in the market.Operandi - Monday, January 13, 2020 - link
The problem is tempered glass and RGB is very specific "loud" look. I don't really have a problem with it and I think it can look good when done correctly if thats what you are going for but the issue is it seems to be the default and thats whats annoying about this "trend". As someone who likes minimalist design and dosn't give a shit about RGB its frustrating that is actually hard to find quality components that are not aimed at this segment of market.Drkrieger01 - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
As an avid 'geek', IT guy, and PC gaming enthusiast, I welcome our RGB overlords. Bring on the RGBeez.JeffFlanagan - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
They seem to be marketing to children, which is odd for a pro card.jordanclock - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
Stop with the gatekeeping crap... Do people really come here just to complain about RGB colors? You're making us normal people look bad.The Chill Blueberry - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
+1PeachNCream - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
Why does it matter so much to you? It seems like you go on the attack when someone has a totally non-threatening difference of opinion about a computing product which was not in any way specifically directed at you or intended to offend you. Yet here you are attacking someone, accusing them of abnormalities, and taking it upon yourself to be the comments section thought police. Give it a rest and learn some self-control before overreacting over someone's opinion of some random computer part. There are bigger things in life out there and most of them aren't even really worth getting fired up about.jeremyshaw - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
... no self awareness, lol.PeachNCream - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
jordanclock ... jeremyshawI'm not sure I should suggest you try harder or point out that you're already trying too hard.
Qasar - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
with all due respect peachncream... i have seen you do the same thing as you are accusing jordanclock and jeremyshaw of doingPeachNCream - Saturday, January 11, 2020 - link
That is undeniably a true statement and I take no offense in reading it. Although, I don't generally invest genuine emotion when doing so. That arguably could be considered trolling as well and I acknowledge that too. What I don't get (or actually, decline to factor in at all even though I understand the perspective and likely hypocrisy argument being made) is why it matters at all if I do or not. It doesn't invalidate the point I was making about the person behind jordanclock+jeremyshaw's keyboard.Billy Tallis - Sunday, January 12, 2020 - link
Please don't be a jerk in our comment threads. There are plenty of other places for you to go be wrong.Retycint - Saturday, January 11, 2020 - link
The same question could be posed to the original commenter: "Why does the presence of RGB matter so much to you?"Anyway you seemed to have missed the point, because jordanclock was parodying the original comment by using the same style of writing.
FullmetalTitan - Saturday, January 11, 2020 - link
Rich coming from a user who PRIMARILY comments on articles to complain about something trivialPeachNCream - Saturday, January 11, 2020 - link
Whoosh!ingwe - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
I think it is annoying to see the full spectrum (which is always in marketing photos) but when setting everything to one color, they can look nice. That said, I don't have any RGBs on my case so maybe I don't actually think they look nice hahaRetycint - Saturday, January 11, 2020 - link
How about you just leave the RGB off? Nobody is forcing you to turn on RGB, ya knowCaedenV - Sunday, January 12, 2020 - link
I was always annoyed by the RGB thing, but never understood about why people get so militantly upset about it until I rebuilt my system last fall... the things don't default to 'off' and you often have to install half-baked and untrustworthy software in order to turn it off.This really does need to stop. Either ship the product with it off, and allow people to install crap software to turn it on, or give us a switch to toggle the lights on and off. Outside of that, who cares if a vendor wants to spend $2 on crappy lighting that they could otherwise take as profit. I am not exactly seeing the prices of products rise because of the addition of the lights.
Alexvrb - Sunday, January 12, 2020 - link
I mean people can do whatever makes them happy, but for my personal builds I'd rather buy a non-RGB variant if available. Regardless, I'm not going to use it.That aside these cards are up there in price with the new AE-7 and AE-9 so ouch. I know they're aimed at professionals but still a cut-down consumer audiophile version would be nice, give the AE-5 some competition.
Vitor - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
Forget this shit and invest on a topping dx3 pro. Great dac with a good headphone amp. Also very boot bluetooth with Ldac.p1esk - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
Soundblaster G6 is much cheaper + same quality + surround sound.Quantumz0d - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
I wanted to buy Topping DAC D50s and guess what ? OLED burn in issues. And Tons of QC issues with them not only them. But SMSL as well. And the AMPs they have all suffer with high output impedance which will cause Freq Response change to Low Impedance gear.The SQ is analytical on all the Chi Fi. Esp they all use ESS chips which are hard to implement. LG did a fantastic fucking job in that unfortunately no one recognize them as the best.
So I got myself a Modi with AK4490 stunning rich textured sound, loses DSD (no need tbh) and other fancy BT features which I never use. As for AMP Liquidspark was excellent choice that I made.
Im curious on the NU Audio card. The Peak Meter (?) in Blue color would look stunning imho.
Hopefully its good.
29a - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
The two are nothing alike.evilspoons - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
The old version of this (without the RGB or secondary card) is $350 CAD where I'm located ($260 USD at the time of writing). I thought it was a bit expensive but seeing this makes it obvious how overpriced the thing is locally.austinsguitar - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
and it performed poorly against creative's ae5 which is basically the best sound card on the market for the price.prime2515103 - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
I would have ran right out and bought one of these, but two things killed it:First, the optical output. Why would they put an output that only supports 5.1 audio on a 7.1 card? This makes no sense. In fairness, there are very few cards with a coaxial output, but it makes no sense on those cards either.
Second, no DSD support even though the DAC supports up to DSD512.
Kevin G - Saturday, January 11, 2020 - link
I'm waiting for one of the audio-over-IP technologies to break out of the professional realm and go mainstream. AES67 has the best chance since that has originated from a standard's body followed by the privately controlled but very popular Dante protocol. AVB is still in the game and has been one of those hidden features in Macs for years now but hasn't had the breakout many were expecting. Still my Aquantia AQ107 card can move 1024 channels of audio at 32 bit, 192 kHz PCM quality with bandwidth to spare. Several Intel NICs also support AVB over 1 Gbit and can pass 128 channels at that same quality. Windows just needs drivers for AVB support, the hardware is already out and relatively wide spread.I have a feeling too many companies are afraid that audio matrixing over the network is too complex for consumers and the lack of wireless support is a deal breaker.
sorten - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
Wow, I haven't bought a dedicated audio board in more than 15 years. Do they offer significant advantages?willis936 - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
If you’re looking for a low noise, low bandwidth oscilloscope, they’re great.Samus - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
Sadly, most of the integrated audio on motherboards now is worse than it was 15 years ago. Back then you could get Envy24-class (VIA, Cirrus Logic, etc) equivalent codec's and Wolfson DAC's integrated into a board. Now it seems 99% of the market has some basic Realtek BS.PeachNCream - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
Its a product of reaching a state of good enough and a general sense of apathy among the broader market. A small number of people concern themselves with audio quality and are this interested in computer technology (and happen to own a desktop PC) that would lay down additional money for a dedicated audio solution. Products like these would be available from a larger number of companies and get more press attention if they were more mainstream. Don't get me wrong - chasing better audio quality is fine if that's someone's interest, but I'm just saying it simply isn't a big deal for most of us beyond getting a decent pair of headphones or an okay sounding set of speakers.CaedenV - Sunday, January 12, 2020 - link
Same. These cards are less than useless. On my old system I had a cheap $15 USB sound card, and the quality improvement of getting the DAC part of the chain outside of the case made me happy as a clam.Last year I bought a phone without a headphone jack, so I got a fairly nice BT headset, and while the quality is frankly not as good as wired, it is still very nice. But most of the time I am outputing my audio through my GPU's HDMI out, through the TV, and ARC to a sound bar. There is just no 'sound card' in the chain, and the audio is clean and good quality. Again, happier than I have ever been with any $250 Audigy card that I ever owned in the past where I could still point to specific audio issues in the chain.
Down side, is that both the headphones and ARC limit me to stereo... Really hoping my next TV/monitor and sound bar will have eARC with true surround sound options, and that Windows gives it proper support.
Korguz - Monday, January 13, 2020 - link
CaedenV " These cards are less than useless" for you... for others.. they are worth it to them." But most of the time I am outputing my audio through my GPU's HDMI out " that works for you.. but for me, i'll stick to the DD/DTS surround sound my creative Soundblaster Z, and various Auzentech cards are able to encode to.
tygrus - Monday, January 13, 2020 - link
You still have the part of a sound card that matters, the DAC in the sound bar to it's internal amplifier(s).jeremyshaw - Friday, January 10, 2020 - link
Why wasn't this just a dual slot card, instead of two cards that each require a PCIe slot (or some part of)?Desierz - Saturday, January 11, 2020 - link
Because they sell them separately.Kakti - Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - link
Next time can we please get at least one picture showing the outputs? We don't really need two pictures of the top or two of the side if there's not even one showing the arrangement and types of outputs.