You can't make crap sound good

And onboard audio Is.Still.Sucky.

Every once in a while, someone in the forum you frequent will post something related to soundcards, and there will be a few know-it-alls saying that the "new" (few years ago maybe) Realtek ALC888/889 is as good as decent entry-level soundcards from eras ago to perhaps even now.

The basis of this is that ALC888/889 is new(er), compared to old technologies of e.g. Audigy. Or something else, lets say..., ..., ...there wasn't really much competition for Creative back then.

Newer = better? NO! It's like saying a 2010 Toyota Corolla can outspeed a Porsche GT2.

Firstly, the most important part of the digital-analog conversion process is seldom the DAC chip, as the wide range of devices using the AK4396 DAC chip clearly shows. And although things like PCM1796 and CS4398 are better (?) the devices they are on do not necessarily sound better than the CD players using ol' classic AK4396. In fact, many a times they sound much worse.

They sound much worse because the devices are cheaper, of course. And yet they use the newer components, why? Of course, because they're newer. And also, if I can spend just a few dollars more to increase the manufacturer rated specs of the DAC chip and fool lots of people into thinking better performance, why not.

That concludes the first part: good DAC =/= good performance

Then the next,

Lets say we ignore everything else and look at the DAC chips alone

Who ever gave them the idea that ALC888/889 are good or even comparable to other decent sound cards? Manufacturer rated specs?

The next, apparently you can use modded X-Fi drivers on the Realtek, too lazy to post a link. And it will make the sound better and clearer.

I tried that, and my laptop's onboard still sound very bad, hence the suckiness isn't in the driver.

I haven't mentioned how my laptop's sound is bad, it's just loads of overpowered and undercontrolled bass, nothing else.

You know something is wrong when you can enable SRS WOW to max and hear only a slight difference. The removal of space by the onboard is probably a function of (output space) = (source input space) / 20 - 200.

And woo, some people claim they can hear the difference between the modded and original drivers, yet cannot hear the difference between this and any sound-reproducing product that deserves to be sold. I think I covered this in a previous post.

And the way Realtek or Acer decided to use to make their product seem to sound better, is by adding bass. Apparently more bass = always good. To all the suckers out there that's been tricked. To the people who think a change of/on their sound card makes their Creative T20 suddenly have a subwoofer.

Result? Even worse. You can't make crap sound good.