Comparison Asus Xonar U7 MKII vs STLab M-330

— Regular. This category includes all sound cards that do not have a clear specialization and do not belong to any of the types described below. Generally, they have a set of basic or mid-level characteristics and are intended for simple everyday tasks: listening to music and game sound through regular speakers or headphones, online communication via microphone, etc. Regular sound cards are equipped with both digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters and can be either internal or external.

— Audiophile (Hi-Fi). Sound cards designed for lovers of high-quality sound; they may also be useful for professionals engaged in professional audio processing who require the most accurate reproduction of the received signal. Accordingly, models of this type are distinguished by high build quality, advanced components, and additional equipment, a variety of interfaces, and extended configuration capabilities (both software and hardware, including even the possibility of replacing individual components of the circuit). However, such cards are priced accordingly.

— Gaming. Sound cards originally created as components for advanced gaming systems. Accordingly, the main purpose of such models is the high-quality transmission of game sound, including 3D and multi-channel sound. Usually, gaming sound cards are equipped with advanced DACs and support various special...standards (see below); furthermore, they may have additional equipment like external control modules (see below). The vast majority of models of this type are internal, but they often have rather original designs (which will be useful for modding enthusiasts using transparent cases).

— DAC. Abbreviation for "digital-to-analog converter." This term usually refers to a component of a sound card, but in this context, it refers to a separate type of sound card, whose distinctive feature is the lack of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Consequently, DACs can only transmit sound from the computer to headphones, speakers, etc., and cannot be used for sound digitization from a microphone or other external signal sources. Note that this category includes a variety of models — from basic "USB-headphone" adapters, the size of a flash drive, to advanced audiophile-class solutions.

— Audio Interface. A kind of opposite to the above-described DAC: audio interfaces are primarily intended for digitizing incoming sound (e.g., from a microphone or electric guitar). Consequently, they are not only necessarily equipped with analog-to-digital converters — generally, these ADCs have very advanced characteristics and extensive sound adjustment capabilities (and some models even provide hardware switches for this). At the same time, audio interfaces can also work in the mode of converting digital to analog sound (simply put — outputting sound to headphones/speakers). The cost of such devices is usually quite high, so it makes sense to purchase them only for those who plan to work a lot with sound recording.

Brand of the audio chip installed in the sound card.

The audio chip is one of the most important parts of a sound card, a kind of "heart" of the whole circuit, and it is on its characteristics that the sound quality and other capabilities of a particular model largely depend. Knowing the brand of the chip, you can easily find various information on it — official specifications, test results, reviews, etc. — and based on this, draw a conclusion to what extent this sound card is able to meet your requirements. Of course, for ordinary video cards (see "View") there is no need to delve into such details, but when choosing a gaming or audiophile model, they can be very useful.

Various standards and special digital audio technologies that the sound card is officially compatible with. For example, the Dolby and DTS standards in various variations are used primarily for multi-channel audio tracks in films, while DirectSound and EAX provide high-quality “surround” sound in games. In fact, the ability to work with one or another standard is largely determined by the software part of the system, and not by the characteristics of the sound card; however, official compatibility means at least the full compliance of the card with the requirements of the standard and the minimum risk of conflicts at the hardware level.

Sound card compatible with ASIO standard.

ASIO (an abbreviation for Audio Stream Input/Output, i.e. “audio stream input-output”) is a technology designed for professional work with sound in the Windows environment; in particular, it reduces latency and improves the accuracy of the audio stream. If you do not plan to seriously engage in recording, mixing tracks, etc., most likely you will not need this function, but for musicians, sound engineers and other similar professionals, it can be very useful. The ASIO standard provides both software and hardware requirements; therefore, to fully use it, you must have a compatible audio card.

The bit depth of the digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) of the sound card. In this case, DAC refers to a part of the circuit that converts digital sound data (machine code) into analogue pulses that are fed directly to an external device — speakers, headphones, etc. The bit depth is one of the main parameters (along with the sampling frequency) that describes the quality of the DAC: the higher it is, the more reliable the sound will be reproduced, the less distortion will be introduced into it during conversion.

16-bit DACs usually have entry-level sound cards — this is enough for good sound quality. In other cases, 24-bit converters are most common, and even for advanced models, in particular gaming ones (see "View"), they are almost mandatory.

The highest sampling rate provided by the digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) of the audio card. For more details on the role of the DAC, see paragraph "Bit depth" above. Here we note that the quality of its work directly depends on the sampling frequency: the higher it is, the less distortion occurs when converting sound.

Usually in sound cards there are standard values for the maximum sampling rate:

44.1 kHz — corresponds to the sound quality of Audio CD;
48 kHz — DVD;
96 kHz — DVD-Audio 5.1;
192 kHz — DVD-Audio 2.0 (two-channel audio has a higher sampling rate than multi-channel audio for a number of reasons), the highest value in modern consumer-grade sound cards.

Another specific point is that the quality of sound played on a computer cannot be higher than the capabilities of a sound card. In other words, if an audio file is recorded at a higher sampling rate than the audio card can provide, its sound quality will be reduced: for example, on a 44.1 kHz card, even DVD-Audio sound will sound like an Audio CD. Therefore, if you want to fully enjoy high-quality sound, you should choose a model with a high sampling rate.

The dynamic range of a DAC is the ratio between the loudest sound that the converter can produce and the quietest. The wider the dynamic range — the richer the sound will be, the lower the likelihood that quiet sounds that complement the overall picture will be muffled during conversion. At the same time, it is worth noting that almost all modern sound cards provide a dynamic range that is quite sufficient for comfortable everyday use, and in many models this parameter may not be indicated at all. It is worth paying attention to it when choosing an advanced specialized audio card — for example, a gaming one (see "View"). The minimum for professional models is 90 dB, but in fact, among similar solutions, this figure is usually 120 dB or more.

This parameter determines the ratio of the "clean" sound produced by the DAC at the output to all extraneous noise. As such, it is a pretty strong indicator of sound purity. According to the signal-to-noise ratio, DACs in modern sound cards can be divided as follows:

up to 90 dB — initial level;
90-100 dB — average level, advanced "home" models;
more than 100 dB — professional level.

The bit depth of the analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) of the sound card. An ADC is a module that encodes an analogue audio signal into a digital format; it is he who is responsible for transmitting sound "to the computer" — for example, through a microphone when communicating via Skype or from a guitar pickup when recording a track. The bit depth is one of the main parameters that describe the quality of the ADC: the higher it is, the less distortion will be introduced into the digitized sound and the higher the maximum possible quality of its recording. Of course, the properties of the actually recorded sound will depend on many other things (hardware, software, settings, file format, etc.), but for high-quality recording, you will definitely need a good ADC.

A bit depth of 16 bits is considered quite sufficient for everyday use, however, even fairly simple models of audio cards are increasingly acquiring 24-bit ADCs.