It would be nice to hear peoples comments on the different sound solutions here. I know it's all subjective, but there are usually some underlying truths to what people say.
Nobody cares about swappable op-amps on motherboards. Anyone who cares that much about their audio solution will either have a PCI/PCIe sound card, external USB DAC, or will use HDMI/TOSLINK out to a receiver. Everyone else just plugs their headset and microphone into the green and pink 3.5mm jacks or plugs their USB headset into the front ports on their case.
It seems like a waste of engineering and marketing money for Gigabyte to continue to include it and highlight it with each release.
Also, who has a system where your audio or video connectors actually rusted?? These so-called gold-plated connectors (not sure I have enough decimal places for how thin that layer is) are just a waste of resources.
Ones who are buying $300 audio interconnects and think they have "golden" ears are likely NOT the ones who are connecting to the audio ports on these boards. They are most likely getting dedicated sound boards, not onboard sound.
On the rusting front, it seems to be more prevalent in high humidity environments, especially pan-Asia. I would expect that GIGABYTE had it as a request from a large customer and decided to make it a feature across many different models.
Ah... well, that makes more sense. I hadn't considered the humidity factor. I wonder why they don't switch to a different metal (like all steel versus gold-plating) or even just hardened plastic?
Gold is very common on most interconnects all over the world because it works and it's easy to implement. Humidity and the resulting rust is a pain to deal with when connecting different metals. It's actually cheaper than other solutions because everyone does it. The gold has zero to do with sound quality and all about longevity.
But you haven't heard it so how can it be a waste? I used to test and fix DAC's, so I have a pretty good idea at what can be accomplished. If they have the ability to provide a solution that improves sound, why would you dismiss it?
I can't tell - does that mini-ITX board have a M.2 slot perhaps on the bottom of the board? I don't care if I have a 5th or 6th SATA port; give me a M.2 x4 slot instead. My Intel mini-ITX board has a mSATA slot on the bottom, so surely companies like Asus/Gigabyte can expand upon that innovative design.
Very few mini-ITX cases support more than two 2.5" SATA drives (one I do like, the Fractal Design Node 304, does have 4), and most of those who opt for the small size of mini-ITX realize they have some trade-offs. Having only 2 SATA 6Gbps ports is fine with me if I can also get a M.2 x4 slot.
I think I am right in saying that the only system with an M.2 on the rear is the ASRock, and even then it is severely limited in length. I used the ASRock Z77 and Zotac Z77 to make systems with mSATA on the rear, and that worked quite well. I've been trying to coax the other motherboard manufacturers into doing something similar, but accommodating 110mm on a mini-ITX for M.2 is harder than you think. Moving a connector to the rear means that you have to sift through the PCB layers to the other side, which can cause signalling issues.
They're still using those crappy Marvell 9172 controllers. Why can't they even try to use the 9230? The 9230 isn't great, but at least it uses more than one PCIe lane and comes somewhat close to the Intel chipset performance. I've had that 9172 controller on my last two motherboards, and the performance is worse than just using the 3Gb Intel controller.
Finally with H/Z97 Gigabyte has made mini-ITX boards that can take large coolers without blocking PCI-e slot, like Asus' ones. The older Z/H87N-WIFI can't and it's a shame because is a great board, especially considering that the H81N has a better layout in that sense.
Ian, on your last article about gigabyte you said you'd ask them about the problem with their EasyTune software and non-English keyboards. Did you receive any answer from them?
Is there anything that Gigabyte will not copy from ASUS and to some degree MSI? I mean come on, at least show some originality in board design, naming schemes and feature sets.
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TiGr1982 - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
GIGABYTE,How about updating last year's Z87 motherboards' BIOSes for Devil's Canyon support?
Dug - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
It would be nice to hear peoples comments on the different sound solutions here. I know it's all subjective, but there are usually some underlying truths to what people say.WithoutWeakness - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
Nobody cares about swappable op-amps on motherboards. Anyone who cares that much about their audio solution will either have a PCI/PCIe sound card, external USB DAC, or will use HDMI/TOSLINK out to a receiver. Everyone else just plugs their headset and microphone into the green and pink 3.5mm jacks or plugs their USB headset into the front ports on their case.It seems like a waste of engineering and marketing money for Gigabyte to continue to include it and highlight it with each release.
romrunning - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
Also, who has a system where your audio or video connectors actually rusted?? These so-called gold-plated connectors (not sure I have enough decimal places for how thin that layer is) are just a waste of resources.Ones who are buying $300 audio interconnects and think they have "golden" ears are likely NOT the ones who are connecting to the audio ports on these boards. They are most likely getting dedicated sound boards, not onboard sound.
Ian Cutress - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
On the rusting front, it seems to be more prevalent in high humidity environments, especially pan-Asia. I would expect that GIGABYTE had it as a request from a large customer and decided to make it a feature across many different models.romrunning - Friday, June 13, 2014 - link
Ah... well, that makes more sense. I hadn't considered the humidity factor. I wonder why they don't switch to a different metal (like all steel versus gold-plating) or even just hardened plastic?Dug - Friday, June 13, 2014 - link
Gold is very common on most interconnects all over the world because it works and it's easy to implement. Humidity and the resulting rust is a pain to deal with when connecting different metals. It's actually cheaper than other solutions because everyone does it. The gold has zero to do with sound quality and all about longevity.Dug - Friday, June 13, 2014 - link
But you haven't heard it so how can it be a waste? I used to test and fix DAC's, so I have a pretty good idea at what can be accomplished. If they have the ability to provide a solution that improves sound, why would you dismiss it?romrunning - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
I can't tell - does that mini-ITX board have a M.2 slot perhaps on the bottom of the board? I don't care if I have a 5th or 6th SATA port; give me a M.2 x4 slot instead. My Intel mini-ITX board has a mSATA slot on the bottom, so surely companies like Asus/Gigabyte can expand upon that innovative design.Very few mini-ITX cases support more than two 2.5" SATA drives (one I do like, the Fractal Design Node 304, does have 4), and most of those who opt for the small size of mini-ITX realize they have some trade-offs. Having only 2 SATA 6Gbps ports is fine with me if I can also get a M.2 x4 slot.
Ian Cutress - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
I think I am right in saying that the only system with an M.2 on the rear is the ASRock, and even then it is severely limited in length. I used the ASRock Z77 and Zotac Z77 to make systems with mSATA on the rear, and that worked quite well. I've been trying to coax the other motherboard manufacturers into doing something similar, but accommodating 110mm on a mini-ITX for M.2 is harder than you think. Moving a connector to the rear means that you have to sift through the PCB layers to the other side, which can cause signalling issues.gcha0814 - Friday, June 13, 2014 - link
I'm pretty sure the ASUS H97/Z97 mini-ITX boards have an M.2 on the back.dgingeri - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
They're still using those crappy Marvell 9172 controllers. Why can't they even try to use the 9230? The 9230 isn't great, but at least it uses more than one PCIe lane and comes somewhat close to the Intel chipset performance. I've had that 9172 controller on my last two motherboards, and the performance is worse than just using the 3Gb Intel controller.sfuzzz - Friday, June 13, 2014 - link
Finally with H/Z97 Gigabyte has made mini-ITX boards that can take large coolers without blocking PCI-e slot, like Asus' ones. The older Z/H87N-WIFI can't and it's a shame because is a great board, especially considering that the H81N has a better layout in that sense.apertotes - Friday, June 13, 2014 - link
Ian, on your last article about gigabyte you said you'd ask them about the problem with their EasyTune software and non-English keyboards. Did you receive any answer from them?goinginstyle - Saturday, June 14, 2014 - link
Is there anything that Gigabyte will not copy from ASUS and to some degree MSI? I mean come on, at least show some originality in board design, naming schemes and feature sets.