Where did you see that? This is what I found from the Asus website:
It’s from the manual I linked to above:
I guess you get 120dB from the ALC4080 but the SV3H712 amplifier is only 110dB. Either way, I don’t think you’re getting that…
Thanks. Yea, that’s what I was looking at earlier and what was making me nervous about getting something advertising less than that. Logically, I know it won’t matter and I won’t be able to tell. But logic and objectivity isn’t what drove me to purchase this system in the first place. I’m sure I don’t need a 7950X3D and 64GB of Ram. Had the 9950X3D been available 4 months ago, I would have ended up with that. Or if I could have found an RTX5090, I wouldn’t have only an RTX5080, etc.
I went ahead and just got this thing for now. Amazon.com: Cubilux 7.1 USB Surround Sound Card- 48KHz-384KHz Sample Rate for Headphones, Full Aluminum Alloy USB A External Sound Card for Laptop PC-Supports Line-in & Stereo Mic in : Electronics
Hopefully it will work fine enough to rid me of this preoccupation before I spend a couple hundred on a new sound card.
As you should be. If your source data is 16 bit, there’s no way to get better SNR. 16 bit is CD quality. There are sound files and standards that support higher SNR, but they are not commonly used. And double blind testing doesn’t support the idea that it makes a reliably detectable difference at the end point. There are reasons to use higher bit rates in production because when you mix tracks you lose SNR.
There are also lots of people who are very willing to sell snake oil to audiophiles.
Oxygen-free virgin silver snake oil.
I should have said resolution not bit rate, but that’s true too, though for slightly different reasons.