Hey.

I'm currently the owner of a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS and i'm really concidering selling my stationary computer and replacing it with a notebook instead, since i never play games. Being able to sit wherever i want (even outside) whenever i want wirelessly connected and do what i want is becoming tempting.

I'm looking at a ASUS A6Ja notebook currently, that uses the latest Centrino technology (Napa? Core Duo and stuff like that) and features a Realtek ALC880 Intel High Definition Audio onboard soundchip.

How is this soundchip compared to my Audigy 2 ZS? I've got a bad experience with integrated soundchips before (AC'97 and Nvidia's SoundStorm i think it was called). The AC'97 was just bad. The SoundStorm had good audio quality and decent software, but i got electrical noise in the sound whenever the HDD's worked hard, which just messed it all up.

So is HD Audio any good? Does anyone have experience with HD Audio chips?

I have built in HD audio (by Realtek) in my PC, and it's very excellent. I would recommend it. However, I have nothing much to compare it to, other than an AC'97, a Dell, and a Creative PCI128 Soundblaster from the 90's. To me, it sounds excellent, and I'm using LTB AC'97 surround headphones. I would recommend the system, as it just sounds beautiful. That's my opinion.

Got the notebook now. Realtek ALC880 HD Audio provides good audio quality output, and even though this is a notebook, there is _no_ eletrical noise or interference at all o_O

The software isnt half bad either, although not as good as the Creative software ofcourse.

Overall very satisfied with HD Audio!

I have been using on board sound for years since I first bought a shuttle system with nvidias soundstorm2 which was excellent. I play music from my server though and used the onboard sound in that thinking it would have been as good as the shuttles onboard, wrong! I always thought my speakers weren't up to the job until I recently bought a creative x-fi. I have used several motherboards in the server with audio codecs ranging from VIA VT1616 to realtek ALC850

I have been critical of creative in the past but I have to admit the difference is amazing. The difference in clarity is like when your ears finally pop after an 10 minutes of been in a rail tunnel. The speakers sound crisp, clear and powerful.

If your serious about music and using onboard sound I highly recommend a proper hardware based soundcard immediately

How is the digital out of the ALC880? Is it comparable to that of a USB device such as the m-audio transit?

Hi There,

I use Realtek ALC850 7.1 channel AC'97 audio codec on Asrock K8NF4G-sata2 motherboard.
No complaints but nothing to compare with (1st time user). Though I read a lot of good reviews of Audigy.
Why change to something you seriously doubt?
Succes with your purchase

V