Realtek ALC 1150 or possibly the ALC 898 . And there are others I can ' t think of right now . Mine has a lowly Realtek 892 . But it really comes down to how well they are implemented and shielded from interference on the motherboard . Just having one of the newer codecs doesn ' t mean they are done well . Getting an E 10 K will definitely eliminate poorly made or poorly shielded onboard sound from being a factor . If you get both the HD 558 and the E 10 K , you should do a few tests to see if you can see a difference between the Fiio and the onboard sound . <| sep |> Autismos can post here if they ' re sledging out . Smugposting is reserved for people I agree with <| sep |> This whole situation was pretty crazy <| sep |> So lets make a list of reactions this no POL thing got going . no trust in leakingno trust in donatingno trust in files that could be compromiseI do not think it could ever be in their favor to do so .