One would assume that if you spend money on an audio interface that it’s going to give you better audio performance than the standard sound on a Windows PC. But is that true?

If you’ve not discovered Julian Krause on YouTube yet, then his YouTube channel sets out to test audio equipment in ways that make the average CSI look shoddy. He goes into forensic detail and gives an objective assessment.

In a recent video he compares the sound quality of several PC audio cards with a multitude of audio interfaces, the results are enlightening.

Only Half The Story

An audio interface serves many purposes, better sound quality is only one reason one would choose to buy one. Other reasons for buying an audio interface include;

• More extensive connectivity

• Professional connectivity

• Lower latency

So, the video is not suggesting that one can use the sound on a PC or Mac and not ever need an audio interface.

However, there are plenty of times when we may find ourselves, especially with mobile devices, where we need to listen to some audio, or mix on the go. In these situations, knowing if the built in audio is giving us a decent representation of the sound is worthwhile.

In this video he tests three Windows PCs, but there’s no reason to think that modern Apple desktops and MacBooks are any worse. One area highlighted in the video is how different headphone impedances can affect quality. Apple claim to have addressed this in their newer Apple Silicon MacBooks. Apple Explains High Impedance Headphone Tech On New MacBook Pro

To be clear, we are not suggesting you sell your audio interface, but there may be times when you might need to use the internal sound on your computer. It seems it may not be as bad an option as one would have thought.