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11-04-2021, 12:38 PM
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Dell XPS 8940 - Should I Connect External Sound Card

My Dell XPS 8940 PC has a Realtek ALC3861 audio controller with Waves Maxxaudio Pro as the user interface. The facilities and performance of the latter have proved surprisingly inadequate for a high-end PC.

Uninstallation of this pre-installed software is, apparently, pointless, since it will re-install at the earliest opportunity, so it cannot merely be replaced.

So, I'm considering the purchase of an external sound card. This one seems to suit my requirements:

Creative Sound Blaster X3 Hi-Res 7.1 Discrete External USB DAC and Amplifier Sound Card with Super X-Fi for PC

https://uk.creative.com/p/sound-blas...und-blaster-x3





It's not much to look at but, allegedly, it's laden with powerful software .....

Has anyone utilised an external sound card on a PC ..... ?
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11-04-2021, 02:35 PM
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Re: Dell XPS 8940 - Should I Connect External Sound Card

why not just use earphones then you wont disturb anyone else
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11-04-2021, 02:52 PM
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Re: Dell XPS 8940 - Should I Connect External Sound Card

Originally Posted by realspeed ->
why not just use earphones then you wont disturb anyone else
I rarely use headphones, earphones, earbuds or similar on my PC and there is no-one to disturb .....

..... but it's the sound generation and conversion interface between PC and speakers that I'm interested in .....
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11-04-2021, 03:23 PM
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Re: Dell XPS 8940 - Should I Connect External Sound Card

Originally Posted by Omah ->
Has anyone utilised an external sound card on a PC ..... ?
In 40-odd years of building my own, never.

What exactly are you trying to achieve?
I ask because the card you're thinking of is (being honest) a bit extravagant if you've not got a decent 5.1 sound system as a minimum (the card handles up to 7.1) and I mean as in receiver and speakers, not some sort of soundbar or PC speakers.

The Realtek ALC 3861 is a dell-specific soundchip which is used in some of Dell's Inspiron and Alienware Area-51 systems too, from what I've been reading.
There have been a few less-than complimentary reports regarding it's inadequacies.

Your system has the following PCIE expansion ports:
One PCIe x16
One PCIe x1
One PCIe x4

Personally I would fit a PCIE soundcard and save yourself a few bob - it's very easy to do & if you haven't done it before there are plenty YouTube videos showing you how.
But it is very straightforward to do yourself.

Which one you might want depends upon your needs (hence my asking exactly what you want to achieve with your sound card) but for example a similarly-capable PCIE card such as the highly-regarded Asus Xonar SE 5.1 with headphone amp is available for around £40 at places like overclockers.co.uk plus delivery.
That's well under half the price for very similar results at your speakers.
(FYI the Soundblaster Audigy RX 7.1 with headphone amp is £40 on Amazon too.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-So...8150831&sr=8-4 )

If you're just looking for better quality audio & don't need a dedicated headphone output there's the "old faithful" Creative Sound Blaster 5.1 from just over £20 on Amazon.

But it does depend upon what you need from your soundcard.
HTH.


* On my own system when I need "oomph" the sound is via HDMI to my amplifier.
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14-04-2021, 12:25 PM
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Re: Dell XPS 8940 - Should I Connect External Sound Card

Well, the X3 arrived today - plugged it in, downloaded the software and played some MP3s ..... the improvement was immediately noticeable ..... I hadn't realised how bad the Realtek/Waves was .....
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14-04-2021, 04:15 PM
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Re: Dell XPS 8940 - Should I Connect External Sound Card

Originally Posted by Omah ->
Well, the X3 arrived today - plugged it in, downloaded the software and played some MP3s ..... the improvement was immediately noticeable ..... I hadn't realised how bad the Realtek/Waves was .....
MP3's?

You grumble about poor sound quality, and then play compressed music files?
Not lossless like FLAC or even WAV files?
Okay................. as long as you're happy.
 

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