# Kernel sound Vs. ALSA

## richw

I've got the onboard sound on my mainboard to work (its a SIS PCI jobbie) using the kernel driver, but it doesn't sound to good compared to my sb live! Yes i know the sb live is a good card, but i've heard better from the same sound chip on a different board, is there any advanage to me getting the sound to work under ALSA?

If not i'll have to buy a SB128 or another Live!   :Rolling Eyes: 

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## alec

ALSA sounds much, much better than kernel.

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## mglauche

with SBLive i can't tell the difference between kernel and ALSA driver (besides ALSA being MAJOR hassle, and none of the mixer programms work, despite snd-oss-mixer  :Wink: 

for me, they sound quite the same  :Wink: 

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## metalhedd

I've got an SB Live and the kernel Driver sounds like ABSOLUTE CRAP.  and its not just because I have a good ear.  its *CRAP*  incredibly staticky and gets muffled sounding at higer volumes.  I've heard other people say it worked great. maybe something is conflicting.  Right now I'm using a kernel with alsa support built in (its from the 2.5 series kernel but is available in the JP13 patch along with supermount and other goodies.

http://www.infolinux.de/jp/

this sounds better than the kernel module but i'm not convinced that it is as nice as the separate alsa driver.  maybe i'll leave the kernel alsa support off and use separate alsa drivers which seemed to give me the best sound quality so far.

PS.

WOOHOO! I'm an apprentice now!! Look out Guru's I'm on my way up the food chain!!

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