Measurements pointless? Is this some kind of joke that I'm not getting?
Would you (or other users here) be OK with W1zzard saying for example "Yeah, those benchmarks, and temperature and noise measurements are a hassle and seem redundant. I'm gonna judge the gaming performance, temperatures, and noise levels by using my eyes, fingers, and eyes, respectively, from now on"?
Granted, loopback tests aren't all that useful to begin with, but it's still better than nothing. Or maybe use a separate sound card as reference.
Not having measurements basically defeats the purpose of a review. Let users cling to whatever number they want. The job of the reviewer is to provide proper information about the product. How users (mis)interpret it is their problem. The same can be said for CPU and GPU reviews here on TPU.
And numbers actually do tend to be meaningful. Depends which ones of course, but to say they don't mean anything is just strange for a reviewer.
Also, considering that all speakers and headphones should sound the same if the DAC/Amp is designed properly, means you are actually describing/reviewing the sound of the speakers or headphones, not the performance sound card. To measure the latter, proper equipment is required.
I had a feeling this discussion is going to pivot in this exact direction
The CPU/GPU measurements cannot be compared to audio ones, the analogy doesn't stand. While you'll definitely see and should care about a difference in CPU/GPU heat dissipation or the framerate you're getting in the game you're playing, the same is not true for the numbers generated by RMAA tests (and many other audio-related tests for that matter). A THD of 0.0079% vs 0.0074%, or a 0.0003 IMD difference, or a 0.2 dB dynamic range difference, etc. - these don't mean anything for the overall listening experience, but might make it seem like a product A is better than product B, while that doesn't have to be the case in practice at all. I ran into tens, if not hundreds of audio products that measured good, but sounded worse than their competitors which measured worse. The way I see it, my job is to tell to the reader that the Sound Blaster X4 sounds indistinguishable from the more expensive GC7, and that it makes no sense to spend more money if getting a better sound quality is the goal. Some arbitrary measurements could take away from that conclusion.
With that being said, I have a plan to introduce a reference sound card for my upcoming sound card tests, but only if I find a good way to use it, and deem the numbers meaningful and relevant to the actual performance of the device.
The sound quality comments in my review are written after plugging the same headphones/headsets/speakers to the X4 and other sound cards and DAC/amps mentioned in the review. Commenting on its performance without direct comparisons, while using the same headphones/speakers, would be absolutely pointless (and quite stupid), as you've said yourself.
Thanks for the reply, but I have no idea what I said that made you think I'm re-amplifying the signal! I'm not!
..but I could. In fact, given how quiet the sound from the onboard is probably I should. I even thought about it and actually made plans for it if I sold my Z and couldn't get some other like the X4.
And there actually are headphone amplifiers out there. Similar could work for amplifiers too, simply raising the incredibly poor signal.
If you have a Z and a X4 could you compare the volume for some hard-to-drive self amplified speakers?
Also, I see what the other user said could be true: it doesn't support 44.1 or 88.2 Khz!!! That's probably a deal breaker for me!
I'm seeing the page for those products and I see NO reason to buy those shits.
Tell me, do you understand what are products like the X4 for? Tell me what are those for.
Sorry, perhaps I understood your original post wrong, you've mentioned connecting the speakers to the front port so that made me think you're connecting them to the (amplified) headphone output
I don't have a Z-series sound card at my disposal but the loudness depends on the amplifier in your speakers, not your sound card. Assuming your speakers are connected to your sound card's analog line-out port, then the sound card takes your audio "file", coverts it from digital to analog (with its integrated DAC), and sends it the converted audio signal, now in analog form, to the amplifier in your speakers. The amplifier then amplifies the signal and reproduces it through the speaker drivers (this is a simplified overview of the audio chain). If your speaker system is connected to your sound card digitally (USB, TOSLINK, coax), then the sound card only serves as a transport (it "forwards" the audio signal to the DAC found in your speakers), but still does no amplification of the signal sent to the speakers. I'm not able find much info about the speaker system you've mentioned (was it Edifier C200?) so I'm not sure how you're connecting it. Some devices use a higher line out level but you won't generally find those in the world of PC audio (google consumer vs pro audio levels).
As for the Schiit products, they're an excellent choice for users who want a great headphone amplifier/powered speaker preamp (some models), and don't need other features a "real" sound card would offer, such as an microphone input, and a software driver with an EQ, audio profiles, virtual surround, Dolby processing, etc. For example, for $190 you can get the iFi Audio Zen DAC V2, a fantastic DAC/headphone amplifier, which sounds audibly better and is significantly more powerful than any Sound Blaster. But it's a one-trick pony, as it doesn't do anything other than output audio.
I believe what Inle meant is that comparing the measurements from audio gear (that require very specialized equipment to even be meaningfull) where we're way past diminishing returns (can you hear 0.001% vs 0.0004% vs 0.0008% THD from the x4 vs x3 vs schitt hel? doubt it) is not very useful - because it isn't...
Cpu/Gpu for example have very meaningful and, not only measurable, but easily measurable differences.
Audio gear reviews are always very hard and subjective. You have the list of headphone and other equipment used for comparison, take from that what you will.
That's exactly what I mean, sorry if I wasn't clear enough in my previous reply
