Re: Mike Russel Video Review
2019/01/24 13:21:50
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A few things worth noting...
Onboard audio of his ASUS X470 Pro is very basic. Just the standard S1220A codec, no discrete DAC, no headphone amp. Comparing that to a $250 sound card makes little sense. If he wants to compare to onboard audio, at least he should use a higher-grade motherboard that has a decent audio solution. That said, the noise he mentions is probably not the fault of the motherboard.
The noise is likely due to mis-wired front panel connectors. Case manufacturers often incorrectly connect HDAudio ground together with USB ground at the front panel, resulting in a ground loop and noise. I think he's using a Fractal Meshify C, which has a single PCB for all the front panel stuff, so there's a good chance that the grounding is wrong. Also worth noting, in the video comments, he says he didn't try front panel connected to the NU Audio because he wanted to use the nice connectors on the back of the card.
His comment about Playstation driving headphones is truly bizarre. A PS4 doesn't even have a headphone jack other than the headset jack on its wireless controller, which is obviously not intended to produce high-quality audio. It was never meant to drive studio headphones, so of course it doesn't do it well.