Riekopo wrote:
Why are we being asked to pay more for worse audio? Motherboards this expensive should have all of the latest DTS and Dolby audio technologies built in.

TR4/X399 ("HEDT") motherboards have a lot more technologies built in than their lower-cost AM4/Z370 ("mainstream") siblings. Lots of extra hardware components, mostly stuff like VRMs and PWMs and increased PCB trace density - stuff which imposes added hardware costs of its own but also occupies lots of space on the motherboard and raises the (inside-chassis) EMI/RFI noise floors. So not as much "free" space available for embedding high-quality high-complexity audio hardware onto a crowded mobo, and not as easy to do anyhow in such a noisy environment, at least not within the desired price point.

Short answer is that the "cheaper" mobos have less stuff on them and more space to fill up with gamer-centric features like extra audio circuitry. While most people will buy (or not buy) TR4 platforms (instead of AM4 platforms) for reasons other than onboard audio.

To be honest, the pimped-out onboard audio on CROSSHAIR/MAXIMUS mobos is really just the same old Realtek ALC1150 or S1220(A) plus a handful of cheapish parts to amp up and clean up the headphone outputs. But if you want "best" quality then you'll need a dedicated audio card, and if you want "audiophile" quality then you'll need an external DAC/AMP (which is unaffected by all the signal noise in your chassis) - the mobo-integrated audio is really only meant to provide "basic" audio functionality, and it's really only ramped up as far as it needs to be while keeping mobo costs down and keeping mobo profits up - still gotta outsell all the competitors!

So, all other things being equal, I would choose the mobo with better onboard audio. But TR4 and AM4 are not equal, not at all. And if audio really mattered then I would focus on an external audio device and not even care much about whatever audio is provided onboard.