Audio [Rant] Why are Realtek onboards still so crappy?

greenhorn

greenhorn

Patron
It's been a while since i used a realtek onboard. Most of my music listening is through my Atrix 2 + ES18 - they sound divine, and my laptop, which has an IDT codec.

I remember Realtek's AC'97 codecs from back in the day sounding pathetic, but their newer ones were slightly better, and figured the current ones should be decent. I recently ordered an Inspiron 15R for my sister, and got it yesterday, and despite whatever maxxaudio it had, it sounded PATHETIC. I was underwhelmed by how it could sound so lame. My own 2010 Inspiron R's built in IDT chip made it sound like crap. There was absolutely no highs, and the lows were positively anaemic.

I thought Realtek codecs had started improving. Seems they are just as sad as they used to be.
 
Laptop buyers usually don't care how the audio sounds.

And if they do, they buy Apple. For all the ranting I do against them, they still manage to get a few things right, like using a nice audio implementation that is almost good enough to be used with GarageBand OOTB.

And seriously, why would you want to put a dent in Michael Dell's retirement plan by asking for the extra $5 they could have spent on audio? Seriously, you are too demanding.

And it's not only about Realtek - which OEMs continue to stubbornly use because it's the cheapest in every sense of the word. The OEMs have a lot of options available to tune the implementation to get the best out of a even a basic codec. They refuse to do so primarily because of the bean counters. To give you an idea, I have 4 x86 PCs and only one has its onboard sound even enabled, and that is a headless server with temperature and system alarms playing over a small speaker. All the others use third-party sound solutions.
 
Which are the other onboard sound chip makers besides Realtek? Who is the best amongst them and can we find mobo's with their chips here in India?
 
Every sound chip manufactured by any manufacturer can be used on motherboards. The problem is Windows, which needs a driver to recognise and work with such solutions. In the days of old and to this day, the correct method was to have an audio controller and a separate DAC chip or chips.

Realtek was one of the first to start integrating the controller and DAC onto the same physical chip, and later the same die. The other was Conexant and to a smaller extent, Via. Creative remained stubborn and lost the motherboard market around this time. A few years later Intel swallowed IDT (Conexant) and developed the ubquitous 'HD Audio bus', the worst thing to happen to audio since cavemen banged on rocks.

Basically, if you are on x86 you are screwed. Cirrus still makes codecs but more or less compatible only with MacOSX. IDT does not do much commercial sales to motherboard OEMs any more. Creative has a few solutions which Asus implements in some of their boards (as does ASrock, IINM - a result of their capabilities of writing a driver for this sort of controller). Pretty much every other OEM buys all they need from Realcrap.
 
Mine uses IDT/Sigmatel. It sounds much better. Not sure if AD codecs are still around. I extended my completecover for my 15R for another 2 years - and hang onto it as long as possible!
 
rocky_jvm said:
C- media is the other one, good chips, used even by ASUS in their high end sound cards, wonder why yamaha isn't producing ICs anymore?
Click to expand...

C-media chipsets (CM6631 for the Essence One and the AV100/AV200 in the Xonars) used by Asus are just controllers, not the total solution. They still need a DAC and following opamp stage. I'm not aware of the structure of the DG/DGX, maybe they use an all-in-one chip to save cost. It's highly improbable for a part at that cost to have a 3-stage structure, maybe just two.

AD still manufactures codecs and are properly licensed for the HD audio bus. No one uses them anymore, though.

Greenie, thanks for pointing out that Sigmatel became ID, I said Conexant wrongly.

I'm not sure the emphasis on the chip itself is right. The implementation by 99% of motherboard manufacturers is to plonk it into one corner of the board and treat it like dirt. Very few even go beyond a 10p cost on the voltage regulator, so the chip usually ends up battling tremendous odds. As a result, the output sounds like garbage. It is possible to get great sound from very basic chips. We've seen hundreds of times how a simple DAC chip can sound very respectable when treated with respect and some basic care taken during design. Sound is a very low priority for a motherboard manufacturer. Only in desperation or ignorance should you use their provided solution.
 
Back
Top