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Home » Audio Codec Comparison Table

Audio Codec Comparison Table


Audio codec is a small chip measuring 0.25 x 0.25 inches (7 x 7 mm) located on the motherboard in charge of the analog audio functions. Knowing the specs of a codec will permit you to compare the audio quality of different motherboards, allowing you to choose the right product for your needs.
For further details on audio codecs, including an explanation of the specs we are publishing, please read our tutorial “How On-Board Audio Works.”
We will separate the codecs according to the manufacturer.
Analog Devices (ADI/SoundMax)
Analog Devices are also known as ADI or SoundMax, and their codecs use names starting with “AD.” In Figure 1, you can see an example of an Analog Devices codec.

Analog Devices AD1988B codec

Figure 1: Analog Devices AD1988B codec

ModelChannelsInput ResolutionOutput ResolutionInput Max. Sampling Rate
AD1819B216-bit16-bit48 kHz
AD1881A216-bit16-bit48 kHz
AD18825.124-bit24-bit96 kHz
AD1884424-bit24-bit192 kHz
AD1885216-bit16-bit48 kHz
AD1886A216-bit16-bit48 kHz
AD1887216-bit16-bit48 kHz
AD18885.116-bit20-bit96 kHz
AD19805.116-bit20-bit96 kHz
AD1981A216-bit20-bit48 kHz
AD1981B216-bit20-bit48 kHz
AD1981BL216-bit20-bit48 kHz
AD1981BW216-bit20-bit48 kHz
AD1981HD220-bit24-bit48 kHz
AD1983220-bit24-bit48 kHz
AD1984424-bit24-bit192 kHz
AD19855.120-bit20-bit96 kHz
AD19865.120-bit20-bit96 kHz
AD1986A5.120-bit20-bit96 kHz
AD19877.124-bit24-bit96 kHz
AD1988A7.124-bit24-bit192 kHz
AD1988B7.124-bit24-bit192 kHz
ModelOutput Max. Sampling RateInput SNROutput SNR
AD1819B48 kHz87 dB90 dB
AD1881A48 kHz87 dB90 dB
AD188296 kHz90 dB95 dB
AD1884192 kHz85 dB90 dB
AD188548 kHz87 dB90 dB
AD1886A48 kHz87 dB90 dB
AD188748 kHz87 dB90 dB
AD188896 kHz80 dB90 dB
AD198096 kHz82 dB90 dB
AD1981A48 kHz85 dB90 dB
AD1981B48 kHz85 dB90 dB
AD1981BL48 kHz83 dB90 dB
AD1981BW48 kHz85 dB90 dB
AD1981HD48 kHz85 dB80 to 85 dB
AD198348 kHz85 dB80 to 85 dB
AD1984192 kHz90 dB96 dB
AD198596 kHz85 dB80 to 90 dB
AD198696 kHz85 dB80 to 90 dB
AD1986A96 kHz85 dB80 to 90 dB
AD1987192 kHz90 dB95 dB
AD1988A192 kHz90 dB95 dB
AD1988B192 kHz92 dB101 dB


Realtek is probably today’s most popular audio codec manufacturer. Old codecs from Realtek can be found marked as “Avance Logic,” and both old and new codecs use model names starting with “ALC.” In Figure 2, you can see an example of a Realtek codec.

Realtek ALC888S codec

Figure 2: Realtek ALC888S codec

ModelChannelsInput ResolutionOutput ResolutionInput Max. Sampling Rate
ALC101216-bit16-bit48 kHz
ALC202218-bit20-bit48 kHz
ALC203218-bit20-bit48 kHz
ALC250218-bit20-bit48 kHz
ALC260220-bit24-bit96 kHz
ALC262420-bit24-bit96 kHz
ALC268420-bit24-bit96 kHz
ALC269424-bit24-bit96 kHz
ALC6505.118-bit20-bit48 kHz
ALC6555.116-bit16-bit48 kHz
ALC6585.118-bit20-bit48 kHz
ALC6625.120-bit24-bit96 kHz
ALC8507.116-bit16-bit48 kHz
ALC8617.116-bit24-bit96 kHz
ALC861-VD-GR7.124-bit24-bit96 kHz
ALC8807.120-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC880D7.120-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC8827.1+220-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC8837.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC8857.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC8877.124-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC8887.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC888S7.1+220-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC888DD7.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC888S-VC7.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC888-VC2-GR7.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC888S-VD7.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC8897.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC8927.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz
ALC8987.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz
ModelOutput Max. Sampling RateInput SNROutput SNR
ALC10148 kHz70 dB75 dB
ALC20296 kHz85 dB90 dB
ALC20396 kHz90 dB100 dB
ALC25096 kHz92 dB100 dB
ALC260192 kHz90 dB95 dB
ALC262192 kHz90 dB100 dB
ALC268192 kHz90 dB95 dB
ALC269192 kHz98 dB98 dB
ALC65096 kHz85 dB90 dB
ALC65548 kHz86 dB86 dB
ALC65896 kHz92 dB96 dB
ALC66296 kHz90 dB98 dB
ALC85048 kHz86 dB92 dB
ALC86196 kHz82 dB90 dB
ALC861-VD-GR96 kHz85 dB95 dB
ALC880192 kHz85 dB100 dB
ALC880D192 kHz85 dB100 dB
ALC882192 kHz90 dB101 dB
ALC883192 kHz85 dB95 dB
ALC885192 kHz101 dB106 dB
ALC887192 kHz90 dB97 dB
ALC888192 kHz90 dB97 dB
ALC888S192 kHz90 dB97 dB
ALC888DD192 kHz90 dB97 dB
ALC888S-VC192 kHz90 dB97 dB
ALC888-VC2-GR192 kHz90 dB97 dB
ALC888S-VD192 kHz90 dB97 dB
ALC889192 kHz104 dB108 dB
ALC892192 kHz90 dB97 dB
ALC898192 kHz104 dB110 dB


C-Media used to be very popular, especially on low-end motherboards, and they manufactured both codecs and complete audio controllers. Audio controllers usually need an external codec to do the analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversions, but C-Media’s low-end audio controllers have a codec embedded inside the chip, which is why we will include them in the table below. Because of that, we included a column called “type” to let you know if the chip is just a codec requiring an external controller (e.g., connected to the south bridge chip) or if it is a complete controller with an embedded codec (usually connected to the PCI bus). Chips from C-Media use names starting with the letters “CMI,” as you can see on the example shown in Figure 3.

C-Media CMI9739A codec

Figure 3: C-Media CMI9739A codec

ModelTypeChannelsInput ResolutionOutput Resolution
CMI8738-LX, CMI8738MXController 5.116-bit16-bit
CMI8738-SXController 416-bit16-bit
CMI8768Controller 7.116-bit24-bit
CMI9738Codec 420-bit20-bit
CMI9739Codec 5.120-bit20-bit
CMI9761Codec 5.120-bit24-bit
ModelInput Max. Sampling RateOutput Max. Sampling RateInput SNROutput SNR
CMI8738-LX, CMI8738MX48 kHz48 kHz80 db80 db
CMI8738-SX48 kHz48 kHz80 db80 db
CMI876848 kHz96 kHz86 db101 db
CMI973848 kHz48 kHz72 db82 db
CMI973948 kHz48 kHzNANA
CMI976148 kHz96 kHz90 db92 db


VIA manufactures both codecs and complete audio controllers. Their controllers (Envy24 series and Tremor) require an external codec, and usually, the motherboard manufacturer that chooses to use a VIA external controller also picks a VIA codec. Since VIA audio controllers got some popularity in the past, we are including their main specs on a separate table. VIA uses names starting with “VT” for their codecs.

VIA Envy24PT controller and VIA VT1618 codec

Figure 4: VIA Envy24PT controller (on the right) using a VIA VT1618 codec (on the left)

ModelChannelsInput ResolutionOutput ResolutionInput  Max. Sampling Rate
VT1612A220-bit20-bit48 kHz
VT1613218-bit18-bit48 kHz
VT16165.120-bit20-bit48 kHz
VT16175.120-bit20-bit48 kHz
VT16187.120-bit20-bit48 kHz
VT1702S424-bit24-bit192 KHz
VT17055.124-bit24-bit192 KHz
VT1705CE5.124-bit24-bit192 KHz
VT17087.124-bit24-bit192 kHz
VT1708A7.124-bit24-bit192 kHz
VT1708B7.124-bit24-bit192 kHz
VT1708S7.124-bit24-bit192 KHz
VT1718S7.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz
VT1802P424-bit24-bit192 kHz
VT1812S424-bit24-bit192 kHz
VT1818S7.124-bit24-bit192 KHz
VT1819S7.124-bit24-bit192 KHz
VT1828S7.1+224-bit24-bit192 KHz
VT20207.1+224-bit24-bit192 KHz
VT20217.1+224-bit24-bit192 KHz
ModelOutput Max. Sampling RateInput SNROutput SNR
VT1612A48 kHz93 dB88 dB
VT161396 kHz85 dB82 dB
VT161648 kHz85 dB85 dB
VT161796 kHz85 dB95 dB
VT161896 kHz86 dB83 dB
VT1702S192 KHz98 dB100 dB
VT1705192 KHz93 dB100 dB
VT1705CE192 KHz93 dB100 dB
VT1708192 kHz97 dB93 dB
VT1708A192 kHz97 dB93 dB
VT1708B192 kHz98 dB95 dB
VT1708S192 KHz90 dB100 dB
VT1718S192 kHz90 dB100 dB
VT1802P192 kHz98 dB100 dB
VT1812S192 kHz98 dB100 dB
VT1818S192 KHz98 dB100 dB
VT1819S192 KHz98 dB100 dB
VT1828S192 KHz100 dB110 dB
VT2020192 KHzNA110 dB
VT2021192 KHz100 dB110 dB
ModelChannelsInput ResolutionOutput Resolution
Envy247.124-bit24-bit
Envy24HT7.124-bit24-bit
Envy24HT-S7.116-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)16-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)
Envy24GT5.116-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)16-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)
Envy24MT224-bit24-bit
Envy24PT7.116-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)16-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)
Tremor5.116-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)16-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)
ModelInput  Max. Sampling RateOutput Max. Sampling Rate
Envy2496 kHz96 kHz
Envy24HT192 kHz192 kHz
Envy24HT-S48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)
Envy24GT96 kHz96 kHz
Envy24MT192 kHz192 kHz
Envy24PT48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)
Tremor48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)


There are some other audio codec manufacturers, but codecs from them are rarely seen on motherboards. A good example is Cirrus Logic, a company that manufactures very high-end codecs used mainly by home theater receivers. One of their codecs, CS4382, was used on a few very high-end motherboards from MSI (K8N Diamond Plus and K9N Diamond Plus, for example), providing a state-of-the-art audio quality for these products (signal-to-noise ratio of 114 dB). In the past, they also provided low-end audio codecs and controllers using the brand “Crystal.” Cirrus Logic and Crystal products start with the letters “CS.”

Cirrus Logic CS4382 codec

Figure 5: Cirrus Logic CS4382 codec and Creative Labs controller on an MSI K9N Diamond Plus motherboard

Another popular controller/codec manufacturer from the past was ESS, which had chips starting with the letters “ES.”
Another brand that you can see around is IDT.

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