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What Is The Best Soundcard For Gaming in 2021? Internal & External Soundcards – WePC | Let's build your dream gaming PC
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What Is The Best Soundcard For Gaming in 2021? Internal & External Soundcards

We Select The Best Sound Cards Available For Gaming

What is the best soundcard for gaming 2019 top reviews
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In days of yore (i.e. the 1990s) soundcards used to be much more of a requirement. Today however they aren’t really necessary for your average gamer, as the integrated audio which comes built into your motherboard generally does an adequate job (for desktop users anyway).

There are certain situations however where getting yourself a dedicated soundcard would be a good idea: if you play competitive first person shooters to a serious level, you are running off a laptop with less than ideal onboard audio, you are a content creator who works with audio, you want to set up a home cinema type system, or if you’re just a dedicated audiophile!

In the list below you should find a card which covers your needs, whichever of those brackets you fall into, and whatever your budget happens to be. Make sure you read through our ‘Things To Consider’ section below to get a quick understanding of what you’ll need to know before making your purchase.

Our Top Picks

01
WePC Awards Best In Class
The Best Gaming Soundcard On The Market
Find Out More
02
A Quality Gaming Soundcard With 7.1 Surround Sound
Find Out More
03
A Fairly-Priced Mid-Range Soundcard
Find Out More

The Best Gaming Soundcards Available Right Now

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In-depth Review

01
The Best Gaming Soundcard On The Market
WePC Awards Best In Class

Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5

Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5

Editor's Rating
★★★★★ 4.9/5
How we review
Pros
Cons

The Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 comes with a superb level of audio quality. Though the card does not match the absolute premium selections out there in terms of having the very best processing abilities or control system, but these are for those who dabble in audio workflows; for most gamers the BlasterX AE-5 will be more than enough. The sound card comes with the latest 32-bit 384-kHz playback Sabre DACs, offering superb range and depth to the audio signal. The sound clarity on this card is also terrific, coming with an SNR of 122 dB.

The Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5 comes with Sound Blaster’s proprietary headphone amplification technology called XAMP, which supports headphones with a range of between 16 – 600 ohms and amplifies both headphone channels. The latest version of Scout mode: Scout 2.0, is included to give the user the edge during competitive gaming.

The sound card comes with its own Aurora Reactive Lighting System which controls RGB and links it to your overall system; though unfortunately this does require an additional Molex power connector to run (which for many buyers might not be abundantly clear until after they’ve bought it!).

The biggest drawback of the card as far as we can see is that it does not feature true 7.1-channel surround sound support, only ‘virtual’, though this isn’t really that surprising at this price point. The card does however support true 5.1 surround sound if you have the headphones / speakers to set this up. Still, a great sound card for gamers, and you can also upgrade it further with the separate audio control module for an additional $50.

02
A Quality Gaming Soundcard With 7.1 Surround Sound
Asus Logo

ASUS Xonar Essence STX II

Asus Logo

ASUS Xonar Essence STX II

Editor's Rating
★★★★★ 4.8/5
How we review
Pros
Cons

The ASUS Xonar Essence STX II is, unlike some others on this list, an internal sound card. This particular card comes with a main board, which carries most of the features and a detachable ‘daughter board’. The main board of the card comes with the S/PDIF, line-in and headphone-out ports, as well as the headphone amp with a 600 ohms impedance – an excellent range for those who have high quality headphones.

The daughter board carries 6x RCA jacks to connect your surround sound system. If you aren’t interested in surround sound you can also buy just the main board on its own and potentially save some money. The soundcard as a whole is powered by a 4-pin Molex connector.

The quality of the DACs on this board are great: the main board comes with PCM1792A DACs and the daughter board has PCM1796 DAC, both of which have a 24-bit depth, a 192-KHz sample rate and an impressive 122dB SNR.

You’ll note that the bit-depth and sample rate on this card, whilst impressive and quite enough for gaming, aren’t quite as high as the Creative Sound BlasterX AE-5, despite it costing more money. Really what you pay for on this card is the true 7.1 channel surround sound, as well as the aforementioned headphone impedance and also the tweakable software controls: you get the usual mixer and output selection, with effects, and also various DSP modes and headphone amplification ranges.

Ultimately this card doesn’t come cheap, but it’s one of the best out there if you’re looking for an internal gaming soundcard capable of 7.1 surround sound and studio-grade headphone support.

03
A Fairly-Priced Mid-Range Soundcard
Asus Logo

ASUS Xonar DSX

Asus Logo

ASUS Xonar DSX

Editor's Rating
★★★★★ 4.7/5
How we review
Pros
Cons

The ASUS Xonar DX is a midrange internal soundcard, and provides a generally great audio experience.

First and foremost, it supports 7.1 surround sound, which is perfect for high-end home theater audio setups.

Secondly, it significantly boosts Sample Rate and SNR over cheaper sound cards. This means a clearer, higher-quality listening experience overall.

However, where the soundcard suffers is in a lack of portability and extra features. It’s strange to move up in price and lose some features in contrast to some of the cheaper sound cards out there, but that’s the trade you make with Xonar DSX to get good sound quality at this price. In exchange for these bumps in SNR and 7.1 surround sound, the Xonar DSX sacrifices Dolby Headphone support and a Headphone Amp. Obviously you can still use your headphones and enjoy good sound quality, and you do still get GX 2.5, but it doesn’t come with any of the other bells and whistles that competitive gamers may be looking for.

Still, overall you get a good amount for your money here, and if you fancy running a surround sound speaker setup as well as basic headphone gaming then this card may be the one for you.

04
A Terrific Value Soundcard With Great Features
Asus Logo

ASUS Xonar DGX

Asus Logo

ASUS Xonar DGX

Editor's Rating
★★★★★ 4.8/5
How we review
Pros
Cons

Not to be confused with its very similarly named cousin, the Xonar DSX, the ASUS Xonar DGX is a budget soundcard which nevertheless comes with a good sample rate, solid SNR and large number of extra features.

First and foremost, it has a built-in headphone amp to bring out the fullest potential in your headphones. Unlike the more expensive DSX, the DGX also supports Dolby Surround for your headphones, allowing improved spatial awareness in games.

Speaking of spatial awareness in games, GX 2.5 is included too. This improves and enhances in-game audio, especially for enhancing your awareness of your surroundings in-game.

Obviously the card comes with all the positives and negatives associated with having an internal sound card as opposed to an external one.

Overall then, whilst you won’t get the best sound quality out of it, the ASUS Xonar DGX is still a good sound card for the price and the included extra features also alleviate this somewhat.

05
A Solid Value Offering

StarTech USB Audio Adapter

StarTech USB Audio Adapter

Editor's Rating
★★★★★ 4.7/5
How we review
Pros
Cons

The StarTech USB Audio Adapter is a pretty basic external sound card available for a budget price. At only $30, it’s probably a better audio experience than your laptop’s onboard audio.

Unfortunately, unless you’re dealing with terrible laptop audio or your internal sound is broken altogether, we find ourselves pretty hard-pressed to recommend this one. That’s because it doesn’t have a lot of extra features to incentivize the purchase: it’s a basic external soundcard that isn’t quite as good as internal options.

If you’re using a laptop or replacing broken onboard broken audio on a budget, the StarTech USB Audio Adapter may be what you’re looking for.

But if you want to enhance your gaming experience in any meaningful way, you may want to keep looking.

Final Word

After spending 48 hours testing 9 of the most popular sound cards, we finally concluded that the ASUS Xonar Essence STX II is still the best sound card for gaming. This is a 7.1 channel sound card that’s perfect for audiophiles out there. Among the sound cards we tested, this is by far the best, and if you’re not sold with the 124dB sound to noise ratio, its own heatsink will. Yes, this has its own heatsink. Learn more about this premium sound card below.

The Author Who Worked On This Article

Ben Atkins Chafer
Staff Writer
at
WePC

Ben Atkins Chafer

Ben’s interest in video games started as a result of his intense need to be better than his sister at something. It didn’t work but it started a lifelong passion in gaming, which then evolved when he built his first PC. He completely botched it but it was fun and he hasn’t stopped since. He’s currently fighting an embittered battle to get even slightly competitive at Apex Legends. He has a particular interest in peripherals and loves messing around with his setup.

Independent, transparent, rigorous and authentic, our reviews are the most thorough and honest in PC gaming. Learn about our review process.


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