Is my on board Soyo Dragon KT333 audio better than..

[excelscior]

I just got 2 Soundblaster 5.1 OEM cards for free from a couple friends of mine for Xmas. I was wondering if that sound card is better than what I have on my Soyo Dragon KT333 mobo? The Soyo has what they call CMI 8738 audio chipset. Is this one better than the soundblaster 5.1? I am going to install another Soundblaster 5.1 on my FIC AN11 Stealth mobo. That one has what they call AC97 VIA VT1611A audio chipset. I believe the Soundblaster is better than that one. At least I've already heard the FIC's onboard audio. It's ok but the high pitched range sounds get kinda muddy at high mid levels. The Soyo mobo I still have not heard until I complete the assembly. I use mainly headphones ( They costs me $150.00! ) My speaker sound set-up is a Logitech Z560 THX 4.1 system. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks. Happy holidays all! Laterz. :t :D

[tony_j15]

As a rule, add on cards are better than onboard. I would use the Soundblaster.

[NDD]

Live! is much, MUCH better then both o/b codecs :)

[Amd4ever]

Use the Soundblaster.

[sm8000]

Cards for sure. Only decent onboard sound I've ever heard of is on motherboards sporting nForce2 chipsets.

[Peter M]

C-Media 8738 is a PCI single chip sound solution. It's a capable device, but whether or not it sounds good is up to the mainboard's design care.

Chipset integrated sound with companion codecs like that VIA 1611 fall under the same rule - design good, sound good; design bad, sound bad. That's not inherent to whether the sound solution is onboard or even chipset integrated, on a card, single-chip or separate codec.

That said, VIA 1611 is just basic stereo, so the SB!Live 5.1 will certainly give you more features. CMI 8738 is at least 4-channel, if not six, and it's on PCI too, so there might be no gain in using the SB!Live. (Creative seems to have a lot of driver issues lately, C-Media are doing quite a bit better in that area).