Sound card / DAC (internal / onboard)

Framework Laptop 16
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Hello there,

Do we know / will it be shared what kind of an internal sound card will the Framework 16 motherboards feature? It would be great if this already powerful laptop would feature an equally good sound card.

I’m one of (probably many) audiophiles that currently run a dedicated amplifier + digital-to-analog converter, however as it’s a known fact many of the hi-fi headphones can be easily driven from the computer itself. The only noticeable difference in practice is that of a mediocre sound card and a decent sound card, which serves as computer’s own DAC.
Good examples of solid DACs are the ones contained within the MacBooks produced after 2020 (those featuring Apple Silicon chips). These devices have no audible difference when running hi-fi headphones from their internal DAC vs dedicated DAC, as their sound card is decent enough to handle that.

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As long as you keep it under 210w you can make a baller expansion bay audio card XD

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The Framework team mentioned the 3.5mm expansion card would have a far better DAC then the 13" I believe!

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I’ll miss the dedicated 3.5mm jack. I’m looking to replace an old tower machine and run a set of mid-range speakers that are well short of audiophile but a lot better than any laptop speakers I’ve ever heard, so I’ll routinely have speakers plugged in, so from my perspective that means that we’re only getting 5, not 6 available modules. I’d be happy to use a 3.5mm module for high quality sound but for most purposes a simple built-in port would just fine.

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