I just read that Toms Hardware article. Nothing new there but it was very interesting. As far as it relates to us on this forum it substantiates what most of us have been saying (and I just wrote) for years.

The number one most important thing is your speakers. The electronics are so good now even the cheapest amps and a PC's onboard soundcard sound so good these expert listeners could not tell the difference between the onboard Realtec chip and high priced DAC's when using high quality expensive headphones.

The related part of this is people keep asking if they need an interface to run the audio out from a laptop to their PA for example. That answer is no but, the key word is output. Not input for recording. A PC's onboard audio is really good to send sound out but the input if you want to record a vocal or instrument is pure crap. Recording and/or playing live through the computer is where you need a good audio interface.

Bob

Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.