AMD and Intel in PC4uMusic and listening tests

Listening tests with new drivers from Advanced Micro Devices and older ones from Intel produced interesting results. More details from music recordings and a more balanced music listening experience provided Intel's CPU with a manual setting for the the system bus to 384 kHz. The illustration above helps interpret this, that with AMD it's like being at the beach on a windless day with bright sunlight, which can be too much after a while, and with Intel it's like a light sea breeze, which allows you to relax longer. However, the processor brand was not the most important thing here, but the system bus setting.

The tested motherboard with CPU processor from Intel works with an optimal setting for music playback and has been used for many years as a reference in PC4uMusic configurations .

 

Later, parallel tests were also done with a more modern motherboard A88X with High Quality Onboard Audio Design , which has a separate Audio Noise Guard section and Nichicon hi end class capacitors for sound processing . An integrated circuit with OP preamplifier for the analog output can be replaced yourself and choose the one that suits you best. In addition, all minijack outputs have gold-plated contact surfaces to function trouble-free for years. 

The tested configuration with Intel performs a little better with music, despite the AMD processor working at 4.8 GHz and the RAM at 2.4, which is the optimal setting for recordings made in the studio at 48 kHz, to be converted to a analog signal with oversampling, to guarantee the highest precision. The reason is that the system bus for AMD could not be adjusted properly, but PC has better performance and that means that you can get a little more music out of recordings and with the new driver that was released on 26.03.2024 you get even more. Both motherboards have roughly the same sound processors from Realtek with signal-to-noise ratio 110dB, but the one with AMD system bus could work with much newer (28.05.2024) driver 6.0.9689.1, which could not be installed with Intel's.

The High Quality Onboard Audio Design motherboard with Intel's CPU was also tested and presented with the PC4uMusic configuration at AmberExpo . However, there were missing correct drivers that would work optimally with built-in sound processors from Creative Labs , which became famous with Sound Blaster . It made the PC4uMusic configuration with the old motherboard do much better and now could probably be even better with modern drivers, but only a 4 year old one could be used.

The lack of new drivers from Intel has an easy explanation. They are now working full time with new processors and removing what is unnecessary from them. Thanks to this, the processor will be able to work even better. It will also provide positive effects with music playback. Already in 2020, Intel removed support for 16 and 32 bits in Windows 11 .

 

AMD has also introduced changes with x64 that have ramifications with Windows 11 and newer drivers are only available for it. Microsof HD Audio 10.0.22621.3810 for 23H2 is from 18.06.2024 and soon for 24H2 will start with 10.0.26100... Latest for Windows 10 22H2 is 10.0.19041.4355 from 12.04.2024. Microsoft's driver from 19.10.2023 for Realtek processor has in Windows 10 no. 10.0.19041.3636 and in Elevan 10.0.22621.2506. For 24H2, ma can count on new ones.

 

Driver cleanups for better performance are reminiscent of the British-Norwegian concept of New Acoustic Dimension , which inspires configurations PC4uMusic