Audio Testing

The ASRock X570S PG Riptide keeps the audio separated with traces intended to isolate the electrical noise from other components. This is standard practice for any manufacturer who cares even remotely about quality on-board audio support. Some of you might remember the days when the need for a dedicated sound card was common because the hissing was in some instances incredibly bad. Those early adopters of home computers with on-board audio did not have the luxury of isolated audio components.


The board uses a Realtek ALC897 Codec, which might be the lowest you can go on a modern computer. When looking up information about this Realtek chip, I came across a forum post stating the ALC897 is just for beeps. It gave me a good laugh, and I would tend to agree, but the RightMark results are surprisingly good. Now, the sweep test is only 20 Hz to 20 kHz, which means most things get a pass, and that is about all a human can hear. But if low-end capacitors are used and the audio circuit is not isolated, unintentional static noise can ruin even the best audio components on the market. ASRock gets a pass because even though the ALC897 is near the bottom of audio fidelity listings, it clears the 20 kHz sweep with acceptable noise levels.

RMAA results are below:

RightMark Audio Analyzer