Most of Gigabyte's Intel Z690 Motherboards Only Features Two Audio Jacks

[eidairaman1]

This is stupid to butcher AC97

 

[nienorgt]

I'm OK with that if they keep the digital out, but removing it... that is a bad move.
Onboard sound should be good for people who don't need high-end sound, but I think it's time to stop trying putting "high-end" audio in motherboards as people who really want it will use external DAC/AMP combo.
More USB ports can be more useful to more people.

 

[AlwaysHope]

Line out and mic in is all one would need for a gaming headset. External USB DACs can be a matter of taste, too.

Your kidding aren't you? I wouldn't touch a mobo without dedicated 5.1, 3.5mm output. I use 7.1 headphones but never the mike. Spatial positioning of sound in game is vital for successful play. Besides its cheaper without compromising sound quality imo.

Weird move by gigabyte, but they have been weirdly ran company for the last year or so... they moved some production to taiwan recently from mainland china, maybe they have supply issues? Does not make sense but once again, nothing about gigabyte decisions lately makes sense...

That's great news they moved some production out of authoritarian CCP land.

 

[jeremyshaw]

[...]
That's great news they moved some production out of authoritarian CCP land.

Probably "forced" to, after Gigabyte made advertising about taiwanese quality over mainlanders'.

Gigabyte Apologizes for 'Made in China' Comment After Losing $550 Million

Several marketplaces had removed its products.

www.tomshardware.com

Of course, Tom's HW isn't willing to post the original advert.

Taiwan computer brand wiped from mainland China’s online shops over ad

Gigabyte Technology, a Taipei-based computer component maker, is in hot water in mainland China over a laptop advertisement that was called out by the Communist Youth League.

www.scmp.com

In the end, Gigabyte probably has no real market position in PRC anymore. Expect their quality to continue sliding down without PRC market money to sustain their engineering teams.

 

[AlwaysHope]

Probably "forced" to, after Gigabyte made advertising about taiwanese quality over mainlanders'.

Gigabyte Apologizes for 'Made in China' Comment After Losing $550 Million

Several marketplaces had removed its products.

www.tomshardware.com

Of course, Tom's HW isn't willing to post the original advert.

Taiwan computer brand wiped from mainland China’s online shops over ad

Gigabyte Technology, a Taipei-based computer component maker, is in hot water in mainland China over a laptop advertisement that was called out by the Communist Youth League.

www.scmp.com

In the end, Gigabyte probably has no real market position in PRC anymore. Expect their quality to continue sliding down without PRC market money to sustain their engineering teams.

In the business world, its adapt or die.

 

[lexluthermiester]

we were struck by something rather odd when it comes to Gigabyte, most of their new boards only have two 3.5 mm audio jacks around the back.

So is Gigabyte actually trying to piss everyone off? Their track record lately leans in that direction rather strongly!

 

[arni-gx]

so, if some user have speaker 5.1 or 7.1, how they will connect that speaker setup into this new motherboards alder lake from gigabyte ??

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

Your kidding aren't you? I wouldn't touch a mobo without dedicated 5.1, 3.5mm output. I use 7.1 headphones but never the mike. Spatial positioning of sound in game is vital for successful play. Besides its cheaper without compromising sound quality imo.

Actually, no, I'm not kidding. I have used various 5.1 speaker systems with my computer in the past and it's amazing for racing games, but for FPS games a quality set of stereo headphones can't be beat. Granted, I have not tried a "surround headphone" set yet.

I too look for 5.1 or 7.1 analog outputs, just in case I have the space again in the future for a surround gaming system.

 

[Minus Infinity]

Adds new meaning to the term "You don't know Jack"

 

[chrcoluk]

Either a technical barrier or $$$.

Remember the new consoles did away with spdif out and the leader of the XBOX brand even stated they were only saving $1 per unit, but that was enough of a saving to make the decision.

 

[TheLostSwede]

The website for the Aorus Xtreme does mention the reason behind using USB DAC instead of the standard front panel jack. Those cables in the pc cases that connect to the front panel audio are too inconsistent, either poor grounding or poor shielding, or even a combination of both. I've had my fair share of poor front panel audio from the cases I've owned so far, and for those who say they don't experience such things, well lucky you. For the rest, this is a viable out of the box solution for those people who do not know much about picking out USB DACs from the multitude of choices available nowadays and just wanna use the defaults that come in the box.

Only the Xtreme comes with the DAC though. What's everyone else going to do?

definetly not a hardware limitation, pretty sure u can just do pin config override in the OS and have them work as independent sinks

Gigabyte states quite clearly you can't use them together.

Oh wow, I hadn't even considered people using unamplified line in/line out. For motherboard audio isn't that just asking for EMI noises in the background? I know isolated traces and higher-end capacitors can help but IME they're still in the same metal box as all the other stuff generating EMI interference that manifests as squeals, whines, and other irritations that even a very cheap USB DAC (built into a cheap headset, or mic) can reduce or eliminate entirely.

Not everyone has as high requirements. I bet a lot of people just use what their PC has in terms of connectivity. There have been other discussions about what ports people use and the conclusion was pretty much that most people use what they're given.

This is stupid to butcher AC97

AC'97 died a very long time ago. All modern boards use the Intel HD audio standard.

I'm OK with that if they keep the digital out, but removing it... that is a bad move.
Onboard sound should be good for people who don't need high-end sound, but I think it's time to stop trying putting "high-end" audio in motherboards as people who really want it will use external DAC/AMP combo.
More USB ports can be more useful to more people.

I tried to use the S/PDIF out on my board with Netflix on my PC, guess what, it doesn't work. Netflix works fine using analogue out, bit refuses to our output audio digitally to my speakers...
It's clearly not an issue of space on most of the boards.

Weird move by gigabyte, but they have been weirdly ran company for the last year or so... they moved some production to taiwan recently from mainland china, maybe they have supply issues? Does not make sense but once again, nothing about gigabyte decisions lately makes sense...

They have a very nice and quite modern factory not too far from the main international airport in Taiwan, so why not use it? They've always made some boards there, plus Japan prefers made in Taiwan and so does the US note. Plus there should be lower duties on made in Taiwan products, so nothing really weird.

so, if some user have speaker 5.1 or 7.1, how they will connect that speaker setup into this new motherboards alder lake from gigabyte ??

You can't without a sound card if the speakers only have analogue input.

I did ping someone at Gigabyte about this, but was told to contact TPU's main point of contact there for an official answer. So let's wait and see what that will be.

 

[AlwaysHope]

They have a very nice and quite modern factory not too far from the main international airport in Taiwan, so why not use it? They've always made some boards there, plus Japan prefers made in Taiwan and so does the US note. Plus there should be lower duties on made in Taiwan products, so nothing really weird.

Thanks for the update, nice to know. Hopefully my Z590 Aorus Ultra I ordered last week comes from that factory.

 

[TheDeeGee]

Creative making Windows 11 drivers for it? My experience with Creative is lack of support and buggy drivers, but I haven't had one of their products since the X-Fi Elite Pro.

It's still being supported yes, infact last year they updated the Command App to support the older Z series as well.

I personally never had issues with Creative Soundcards and their software, and been using them since the Soundblaster 16 days from the 90s. Which probably means i've never used Onboard... like ever.

 

[TheLostSwede]

It's still being supported yes, infact last year they updated the Command App to support the older Z series as well.

I personally never had issues with Creative Soundcards and their software, and been using them since the Soundblaster 16 days from the 90s. Which probably means i've never used Onboard... like ever.

I guess the X-Fi cards, despite having good hardware, were some of the worst supported. They only ever released a beta driver for Windows 7 and it was quite glitchy.
I do miss their press events though, as they were usually really good...

 

[cadaveca]

I dont fully understand why or whats going on here. At least its reason to read reviews

 

[TheLostSwede]

I dont fully understand why or whats going on here. At least its reason to read reviews

I'm not sure either, which is why I wrote it up. Haven't had a proper answer from Gigabyte as yet, so we'll have to wait and see if there's a sensible explanation.

 

[zlobby]

'Spare no expence!'

'OK, spare some expence...'

 

[AusWolf]

I don't really think so, as I can't imagine the physical audio jacks cost much and Asus has clearly implemented a couple of different ALC408x USB codecs will a full set of ports on their boards, so as I said, I don't know why Gigabyte has gone down this route.

I'm not sure either, which is why I wrote it up. Haven't had a proper answer from Gigabyte as yet, so we'll have to wait and see if there's a sensible explanation.

Space saving maybe? Some of these back panels seem to have an abundance of USB ports.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Space saving maybe? Some of these back panels seem to have an abundance of USB ports.

On a couple of models, yes, but not on most.

 

[TheUn4seen]

Oh come on, people, we're talking about a corporation and consumer market. They concluded that they can save 2 cents per board and a "focus group" told them that not many people will care. They probably will, at some point, introduce "full analog audio outputs" as a premium feature on a very expensive board. That's how corporations roll.


Personally I consider low quality onboard audio a waste of space, just like Wi-Fi on a desktop board. USB ports are infinitely more useful.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Oh come on, people, we're talking about a corporation and consumer market. They concluded that they can save 2 cents per board and a "focus group" told them that not many people will care. They probably will, at some point, introduce "full analog audio outputs" as a premium feature on a very expensive board. That's how corporations roll.


Personally I consider low quality onboard audio a waste of space, just like Wi-Fi on a desktop board. USB ports are infinitely more useful.

1. Taiwanese companies don't do focus groups.
2. They still have at least two models, possibly more, as I didn't check all of them, that have the full compliment of audio jacks. Also, some base models have a reduced set of three jacks for mic, headphones and line out.
3. People have different needs, as not everyone can connect their PC to a router with a cable.

 

[AusWolf]

Personally I consider low quality onboard audio a waste of space, just like Wi-Fi on a desktop board. USB ports are infinitely more useful.

Onboard audio is quite useful when you're short on space for extension cards. Not everyone thinks in full size ATX.

Same with Wi-Fi. I'm renting, and my router is at the opposite end of the flat as my PC, so good onboard Wi-Fi is a must.

3. People have different needs, as not everyone can connect their PC to a router with a cable.

You replied faster.

 

[TheUn4seen]

1. Taiwanese companies don't do focus groups.
2. They still have at least two models, possibly more, as I didn't check all of them, that have the full compliment of audio jacks. Also, some base models have a reduced set of three jacks for mic, headphones and line out.
3. People have different needs, as not everyone can connect their PC to a router with a cable.

It's still a corporation selling products on the western market, so they work on the same principles.
Yes, of course people have different needs, that's why corporations decided that enough people want Wi-Fi to waste space on it. Hence why I have to rip this junk out, sell it on eBay recouping a few pennies but have to use USB hubs.

Onboard audio is quite useful when you're short on space for extension cards. Not everyone thinks in full size ATX.

Same with Wi-Fi. I'm renting, and my router is at the opposite end of the flat as my PC, so good onboard Wi-Fi is a must.

I use miniITX boards since they came to the market and exclusively so since LGA1156. I'd much prefer a second or third m.2 socket than crappy audio which can't even come close to an old Maya U5 I got several years ago.

My point is: getting rid of Wi-Fi and TRRS ports frees enough space for several USB ports, far more than you would need for decent audio and Wi-Fi

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I think most boards have too many USB ports, how many do you need? Most people wont need 6 or 8 on the back surely. Imo onboard wifi is a bonus, especially if it is quality Intel though i use a cable connection as i am close enough to my router.

If you are using iTX i understand where you are coming from re the Wi-Fi, i don't need a full size board so am using Matx.

 

[AusWolf]

I use miniITX boards since they came to the market and exclusively so since LGA1156. I'd much prefer a second or third m.2 socket than crappy audio which can't even come close to an old Maya U5 I got several years ago.

My point is: getting rid of Wi-Fi and TRRS ports frees enough space for several USB ports, far more than you would need for decent audio and Wi-Fi

Networking and audio on USB kind of reminds me of the early 1990s when even your keyboard controller was sitting on an expansion card. No, thanks. Maybe it's just me, though.