Realteak 5 channel any good?

[Tordek]

I'm planning to buy a a64 and pretty much every mobo for them has that Realtek ALC655 6-Channel Audio Codec as onboard sound.
My question is:
Is this any good with a 5.1 speaker setup?

I think my speaker system has some sort of sound improving thingy inside... For it i have to connect the outputs in the pc with some inputs on the subwoofer and then out of some outputs in the woofer the 5 speakers are connected.
I guess that inside the woofer some sort of decoding or improvement is being made...

Thanks

 

[KevC]

The ALC655 is a VERY good audio solution. They improved performance and quality above the already good ALC650

 

[oqvist]

Originally posted by KevC
The ALC655 is a VERY good audio solution. They improved performance and quality above the already good ALC650

Well I wouldn´t call the AL650 good. I got that junk on my mainboard or the analogue codec that is and it sucks.

 

[leukotriene]

Well I wouldn´t call the AL650 good. I got that junk on my mainboard or the analogue codec that is and it sucks.

The sound "quality" of a CODEC on a motherboard varies depending on implementation IME. I have a Shuttle with an ALC650 that has satisfactory ouput, and an MSI that sounds atrocious (nasty interference) with the same CODEC.
CPU% utilization also seems to vary on implementation, which doesnt make a lot of sense to me intuitively.

All in all the ALC650 is mediocre, while the 655 should be a good improvement, provided the board manufacturer implemented it properly.
The ideal CODEC would be an ALC658, a VT1617, or a CMI 9780, which all feature SNR's above 95dB, 96KHz sampling rates and support 7.1 output. AC97 revision 2.3 is a good thing

Of course, such CODECs will cost the motherboard maker at least $0.35 more than a 5.1 CODEC of lesser capability, so don't hold your breath waiting for widespread use.