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Do all PC soundcards' digital output (optical / coaxial) produce same quality sound?

I have a ASUS XSONAR Essence STX sound card which can output sound in both Analog (through RCA) and Digital format through TOSLINK. I spent around $200 to buy this sound card but I'm using digital output only. I think this sound card do produce good quality analog sound and has good DAC on it but I am only using the digital output - that is, I am only listening to the sound/music coming out from the TOSLINK port of the sound card.

My Question:
Do all sound cards produce same quality digital sound? The Intel and Gigabyte motherboards on my Windows PCs also have digital/optical output ports. Do they produce exactly same quality digital sound compared to the ASUS XONAR Essence soundcard?

Thank you.

Gary Case

High-end cards often produce higher resolution output ... i.e. more bits of resolution. Think of it like higher-resolution monitors ... some have far more pixels than others; but to continue the analogy, whether or not YOU can hear the difference is very debatable ... just as it's debatable whether or not you can see the difference between ultra high resolution displays and a standard HD panel.

Bottom line: If you're satisfied with the output of the onboard sound, there's no reason to use the extra power & heat to run the add-in card.

ZKM128

ASKER

Thank you for your help garycase,

But would High-end soundcards also produce higher resolution DIGITAL output? Or do all soundcards (even the Low-end motherboard digital sounds) also produce exactly same DIGITAL output?

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Gary Case

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ZKM128

ASKER

Thank you. :-)