Sound card

8-channel DAC Cirrus Logic CS4382 placed on Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty

The AdLib Music Synthesizer Card, was one of the first sound cards circa 1990. Note the manual volume adjustment knob. ISA-8 bus.

Echo Digital Audio's Indigo IO – PCMCIA card -bit 96 kHz stereo in/out sound card

A VIA Technologies Envy sound card for PC, 5.1 channel for PCI slot

Three early ISA (16-bit) PC sound cards showing the progression toward integrated chipsets

A pair of professional rackmount audio interfaces

Professional audio interfaces often have industry-standard inputs in addition to analogue audio, in this case ADAT, TDIF, and S/PDIF

Internal expansion card that provides input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs.

- Sound card

285 related topics

Direct memory access

Feature of computer systems and allows certain hardware subsystems to access main system memory independently of the central processing unit (CPU).

Motherboard of a NeXTcube computer (1990). The two large integrated circuits below the middle of the image are the DMA controller (l.) and - unusual - an extra dedicated DMA controller (r.) for the magneto-optical disc used instead of a hard disk drive in the first series of this computer model.

Many hardware systems use DMA, including disk drive controllers, graphics cards, network cards and sound cards.

Audio interface

Piece of computer hardware that allows the input and output of audio signals to and from a host computer or recording device.

Professional audio interfaces often have industry-standard inputs, such as XLR and 1/4" audio jacks, in this case ADAT, TDIF, and S/PDIF

Audio interfaces are closely related to computer sound cards, but whereas sound cards are optimised for audio playback an audio interface is primarily intended to provide low-latency analog-to-digital and digital format conversion for professional audio applications.

Digital-to-analog converter

System that converts a digital signal into an analog signal.

A simplified functional diagram of an 8-bit DAC

Top-loading CD player and external digital-to-analog converter.

DACs are therefore found in CD players, digital music players, and PC sound cards.

Phone connector (audio)

Family of electrical connectors typically used for analog audio signals.

A 6.35 mm (1⁄4 inch) two-contact phone plug used for various signals including electric guitar, loudspeaker, microphone and line-level audio. The tip is insulated from its adjacent sleeve and body.

A pair of phone connectors: A plug (right) is inserted in a socket (jack, left). Note the flat open contact spring parallel to and inside the tip contact spring. When the plug is removed, those contacts close to connect a circuit; such a connection is said to be "normal". Inserting the plug connects its tip to one part of that circuit instead.

Phone connectors:
<ul>
<li>2.5 mm (1⁄10 in) mono (TS)</li>
<li>3.5 mm (1⁄8 in) mono (TS)</li>
<li>3.5 mm (1⁄8 in) stereo (TRS)</li>
<li>6.35 mm (1⁄4 in) stereo (TRS)</li>
</ul>

A dual 310 patch cable, two-pin phone plug

Aviation plug type U-174/U or Nexus TP120, commonly used on military aircraft and civil helicopters

Old-style male tip-sleeve connectors. The leftmost plug has three conductors; the others have two. At the top is a three-conductor panel jack.

A 3.5 mm 4-conductor TRRS phone connector

A 3.5 mm 5-conductor TRRRS phone connector

3.5 mm jacks for microphone, audio out, and line-level audio in

A 3.5 mm headphone socket (TRS) on a computer

Stereo devices which use "plug-in power": the electret capsules are wired in this way.

All iPhone models from the first generation to the 6S and SE (first generation) use a four-conductor (TRRS) phone connector (center) for a wired headset.

Miniature phone plugs and jacks. All are 3.5 mm except the gold-plated plug, which is 2.5 mm. One of the 3.5 mm jacks is two-conductor and the others are three conductor. In this collection the tan-colored jacks have normally-closed switches.

Examples of jack configurations, oriented so the plug 'enters' from the right. The most common circuit configurations are the simple mono and stereo jacks (A and B); however there are a great number of variants manufactured.
<ol type="A">
<li>A two-conductor TS phone connector. The connection to the sleeve is the rectangle towards the right, and the connection to the tip is the line with the notch. Wiring connections are illustrated as white circles.</li>
<li>A three-conductor TRS phone connector. The upper connector is the tip, as it is farther away from the sleeve. The sleeve is shown connected directly to the chassis, a very common configuration. This is the typical configuration for a balanced connection. Some jacks have metal mounting connections (which would make this connection) and some have plastic, to isolate the sleeve from the chassis, and provide a separate sleeve connection point, as in A.</li>
<li>This three-conductor jack has two isolated SPDT switches. They are activated by a plug going into the jack, which disconnects one throw and connects the other. The white arrowheads indicate a mechanical connection, while the black arrowheads indicate an electrical connection. This would be useful for a device that turns on when a plug is inserted, and off otherwise, with the power routed through the switches.</li>
<li>This three-conductor jack has two normally closed switches connected to the contacts themselves. This would be useful for a patch point, for instance, or for allowing another signal to feed the line until a plug is inserted. The switches open when a plug is inserted. A common use for this style of connector is a stereo headphone jack that shuts off the default output (speakers) when the connector is plugged in.</li>
</ol>

<ol><li>Sleeve: usually ground</li><li>Ring: Right-hand channel for stereo signals, negative polarity for balanced mono signals, power supply for power-using mono signal sources</li>
<li>Tip: Left-hand channel for stereo signals, positive polarity for balanced mono signals, signal line for unbalanced mono signals</li><li>Insulating rings</li>
</ol>

The Sony Walkman NW-ZX300 has a balanced 4.4 mm output alongside a 3.5 mm unbalanced

Personal computers, sometimes using a sound card plugged into the computer. Stereo 3.5 mm jacks are used for:

Surround sound

Technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener .

Some AV receivers, stereophonic systems, and computer sound cards contain integral digital signal processors or digital audio processors to simulate surround sound from a stereophonic source (see fake stereo).

Creative Technology

Singaporean multinational technology company headquartered in Jurong East, Singapore, with overseas offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Dublin, and Silicon Valley .

The success of this audio interface led to the development of the standalone Sound Blaster sound card, introduced at the 1989 COMDEX show just as the multimedia PC market, fueled by Intel's 386 CPU and Microsoft Windows 3.0, took off.

Audio codec

Device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream that encodes or decodes audio.

This is used in sound cards that support both audio in and out, for instance.

Audio mixing (recorded music)

Process of optimizing and combining multitrack recordings into a final mono, stereo or surround sound product.

Digital Mixing Console Sony DMX R-100 used in project studios

For example, a DVD player or sound card may downmix a surround sound program to stereo for playback through two speakers.

Sound Blaster

Sound Blaster 1.0 (CT1320B); C/MS chips in sockets (labeled U14, U15) are seen.

Sound Blaster 1.5 (CT1320C); C/MS chip sockets (labeled U14, U15) seem empty.

Sound Blaster 2.0 (CT1350B), without C/MS and FM chipset

The Sound Blaster MCV (CT5320B); note that the card has a greater width and thus lacks the typical MCA sled.

Vibra based card with FM radio: SoundForte RadioPlus SF16-FMP2 by MediaForte

Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro

Sound Blaster is a family of sound cards designed by Singaporean technology company Creative Technology (known in the US as Creative Labs).

Motherboard

Main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems.

Motherboard for a personal desktop computer; showing the typical components and interfaces which are found on a motherboard. This model follows the Baby AT (form factor), used in many desktop PCs.

Mainboard of a NeXTcube computer (1990) with microprocessor Motorola 68040 operated at 25 MHz and a digital signal processor Motorola 56001 at 25 MHz, which was directly accessible via a connector on the back of the casing.

The Octek Jaguar V motherboard from 1993. This board has few onboard peripherals, as evidenced by the 6 slots provided for ISA cards and the lack of other built-in external interface connectors. Note the large AT keyboard connector at the back right is its only peripheral interface.

The motherboard of a Samsung Galaxy SII; almost all functions of the device are integrated into a very small board

Block diagram of an early 2000s motherboard, which supports many on-board peripheral functions as well as several expansion slots

A motherboard of a Vaio E series laptop (right)

A microATX motherboard with some faulty capacitors

As the name suggests, this board is often referred to as the "mother" of all components attached to it, which often include peripherals, interface cards, and daughterboards: sound cards, video cards, network cards, host bus adapters, TV tuner cards, IEEE 1394 cards; and a variety of other custom components.