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Sound quality of GL502VS with headphones vs. external sound card?

Jabarkas
Level 7
Hey!

Im planning to buy a new headphones of slightly above average quality (most probably Audio-Technica m40x or Yamaha HPH-MT5). But I just dont know, if the integrated GL502VS audio solution is any good or if I should rather count with an external sound card (I would not want to buy one for over 100 eur btw).

Thanks in advance for the replies. 😉
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5 REPLIES 5

FastM
Level 8
Jabarkas wrote:
Hey!

Im planning to buy a new headphones of slightly above average quality (most probably Audio-Technica m40x or Yamaha HPH-MT5). But I just dont know, if the integrated GL502VS audio solution is any good or if I should rather count with an external sound card (I would not want to buy one for over 100 eur btw).

Thanks in advance for the replies. 😉


i’ll chime in since no one else has an opinion.. I own the*Sennheiser G4ME ONE headset, pretty decent quality from my research.*

I’ll admit the built in sound on these laptops is just strong enough to push these headsets, I play PUBG on max volume.. In fact the Sonic Studio software makes a huge difference, turning off SS the game sounds like trash.

my opionin is, if your buying these for a solid gaming experience, I would find a headset that comes with a USB amp/sound card like the hyperx cloud II. I believe you’ll get a much better gaming experience vs a higher end set of cans plugged directly in the laptop.

I’ll end up buying this*https://www.amazon.ca/Sennheiser-1200-Gaming-Audio-Amplifier/dp/B01LDTP46G/ref=pd_sim_147_3?_encodin... one day, too bad it’s really expensive.

Korth
Level 14
Embedded sound hardware is never as good as dedicated sound hardware, especially on a laptop (with a smaller mainboard which has to make more compromises on component bulk, cost, and power consumption).

GL502 audio is probably based on ALC1150 or S1220/S1220A codec parts (or something similar), and probably also has a few ASUS-added filter caps or op-amp chips to provide clean amped headphone output, so it's probably an adequate laptop-integrated audio solution (and it's probably not as good as the best desktop-integrated audio solutions). Quite excellent for gaming and streaming and stuff like that, but I doubt it could output "audiophile" sound quality regardless of how fancy your headphones might be. Also note that ASUS audio software (like all other ASUS software) can be very hit-or-miss.

Any decent external DAC/AMP device will offer much better sound quality. Partly because it just packs more audio hardware components. Partly because it's isolated from the crowded and electrically-noisy laptop internals. External sound devices (especially USB-based ones) also have the advantage of being portable self-contained units which can easily be moved from place to place or machine to machine, easily carried around and plugged into your laptop when needed.

I use an O2+ODAC - a truly excellent device and I just can't praise its quality, performance, reliability, and simplicity enough. It compares very favourably vs the popular FiiO Olympus E10K. It even has cleaner sound (in a couple of my machines, anyhow) than Creative's top-end ZxR cards.
The M-Audio 24/192 Reference DAC is almost as good and it's priced closer to your €100 budget.

Don't be seduced by raw hardware specs (which are essentially over-technical and already beyond the extreme thresholds of human hearing resolution anyhow), and don't be seduced by audiophile jargon (which is essentially non-technical and could just as easily describe the subjective experience of drinking a wine vintage as that of listening to an musical masterpiece) ... what really matters, the only thing that matters, is the actual clarity and fidelity of the sound output.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Jabarkas
Level 7
Thank you guys! At first I thought, that I would simply buy HyperX Cloud Alpha. I asked around on one forum and got attacked by a bunch of domestic audiophiles (they are circling there around HyperX Cloud threads to remind everyone, that Cloud gaming headphones suck). I already have a gaming headset (Asus Cerberus - it was provided with the GL502VS for free). This one is good in some games. But even I can hear, that it is bad for music (and even for some movies). So I thought, that I will try normal headphones to "hear" the difference. Well... I guess I might just make it easy on me and get back to Cloud Alpha. 🙂

I find that audiophiles tend to automatically dismiss anything which isn't already recognized as a professional-/audiophile-grade brand - Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Audio Technica, Grado, Boss, Turtle Beach, etc. They especially disdain mainstream stuff (like Skullcandy, Beats by Dre, and "low-end" Bose/Sony stuff) and reserve particular scorn for anything at all which is marketed specifically to gamers.

Many audiophiles are indeed sound engineers, musicians, professionals, or amateurs with serious passion and expertise, they know their stuff better than I ever will. But most audiophiles (on the internet) are basically non-critical half-ignorant brand whores who will blindly endorse or condemn products (they've never even used) in agreement with their peers. Audiophile/enthusiast sites can be a great reference, but only if you're able to filter out the noise.

No single audio product can be perfect in every way for every thing and every one. If a single perfect audio product did exist then there would not be a huge variety of products on the market, they would all be the same. I sometimes use different headphones and different audio devices for different things, even for different moods and whims, because they each have their own merits. Your iCloud product might be great for whatever you use it for, maybe not as good as some other product, but if you think the audio already sound great to your ears then there's really no reason to buy something else "better".
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Jabarkas
Level 7
Well they did not know KRK for exapmle. So therefore it must be a terrible crap. 🙂 Cloud Alpha was crap just because it is a gaming headset (even though it is actually a rebranded Takstar 80 pro headset).