[nextpage title=”Introduction”]

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.

The ALC1220-VB is also a SoC and high fidelity multi-channel audio codec with a bi-lingual interface, supporting High Definition Audio 1.0a and the industry standard I2S and I2C. The ALC1220-VB also offers DRM, 10 DAC channels and two channels for multiple streaming. My mobo have Realtek® ALC892 Codec. I just cant get the Realtek Audio Console to work. With a Realtek ALC1220-VB chip and my UWP panel is working fine after.

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)

Realtek - audio alc1220-vb codec (es9018q2c chip)

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.

Figure 1: Analog Devices AD1988B codec

Realtek Alc1220 Vb Audio Codec Download

ModelChannelsInput ResolutionOutput ResolutionInput Max. Sampling RateOutput Max. Sampling RateInput SNROutput SNR
AD1819B216-bit16-bit48 kHz48 kHz87 dB90 dB
AD1881A216-bit16-bit48 kHz48 kHz87 dB90 dB
AD18825.124-bit24-bit96 kHz96 kHz90 dB95 dB
AD1884424-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz85 dB90 dB
AD1885216-bit16-bit48 kHz48 kHz87 dB90 dB
AD1886A216-bit16-bit48 kHz48 kHz87 dB90 dB
AD1887216-bit16-bit48 kHz48 kHz87 dB90 dB
AD18885.116-bit20-bit96 kHz96 kHz80 dB90 dB
AD19805.116-bit20-bit96 kHz96 kHz82 dB90 dB
AD1981A216-bit20-bit48 kHz48 kHz85 dB90 dB
AD1981B216-bit20-bit48 kHz48 kHz85 dB90 dB
AD1981BL216-bit20-bit48 kHz48 kHz83 dB90 dB
AD1981BW216-bit20-bit48 kHz48 kHz85 dB90 dB
AD1981HD220-bit24-bit48 kHz48 kHz85 dB80 to 85 dB
AD1983220-bit24-bit48 kHz48 kHz85 dB80 to 85 dB
AD1984424-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz90 dB96 dB
AD19855.120-bit20-bit96 kHz96 kHz85 dB80 to 90 dB
AD19865.120-bit20-bit96 kHz96 kHz85 dB80 to 90 dB
AD1986A5.120-bit20-bit96 kHz96 kHz85 dB80 to 90 dB
AD19877.124-bit24-bit96 kHz192 kHz90 dB95 dB
AD1988A7.124-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz90 dB95 dB
AD1988B7.124-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz92 dB101 dB

[nextpage title=”Realtek (ALC, Avance Logic)”]

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.

Figure 2: Realtek ALC888S codec

ModelChannelsInput ResolutionOutput ResolutionInput Max. Sampling RateOutput Max. Sampling RateInput SNROutput SNR
ALC101216-bit16-bit48 kHz48 kHz70 dB75 dB
ALC202218-bit20-bit48 kHz96 kHz85 dB90 dB
ALC203218-bit20-bit48 kHz96 kHz90 dB100 dB
ALC250218-bit20-bit48 kHz96 kHz92 dB100 dB
ALC260220-bit24-bit96 kHz192 kHz90 dB95 dB
ALC262420-bit24-bit96 kHz192 kHz90 dB100 dB
ALC268420-bit24-bit96 kHz192 kHz90 dB95 dB
ALC269424-bit24-bit96 kHz192 kHz98 dB98 dB
ALC6505.118-bit20-bit48 kHz96 kHz85 dB90 dB
ALC6555.116-bit16-bit48 kHz48 kHz86 dB86 dB
ALC6585.118-bit20-bit48 kHz96 kHz92 dB96 dB
ALC6625.120-bit24-bit96 kHz96 kHz90 dB98 dB
ALC8507.116-bit16-bit48 kHz48 kHz86 dB92 dB
ALC8617.116-bit24-bit96 kHz96 kHz82 dB90 dB
ALC861-VD-GR7.124-bit24-bit96 kHz96 kHz85 dB95 dB
ALC8807.120-bit24-bit96 kHz192 kHz85 dB100 dB
ALC880D7.120-bit24-bit96 KHz192 KHz85 dB100 dB
ALC8827.1+220-bit24-bit96 kHz192 kHz90 dB101 dB
ALC8837.1+224-bit24-bit96 kHz192 kHz85 dB95 dB
ALC8857.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz101 dB106 dB
ALC8877.124-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz90 dB97 dB
ALC8887.1+224-bit24-bit96 kHz192 kHz90 dB97 dB
ALC888S7.1+220-bit24-bit96 kHz192 kHz90 dB97 dB
ALC888DD7.1+224-bit24-bit96 kHz192 kHz90 dB97 dB
ALC888S-VC7.1+224-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz90 dB97 dB
ALC888-VC2-GR7.1+224-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz90 dB97 dB
ALC888S-VD7.1+224-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz90 dB97 dB
ALC8897.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz104 dB108 dB
ALC8927.1+224-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz90 dB97 dB
ALC8987.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz104 dB110 dB

[nextpage title=”C-Media (CMI)”]

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.

Figure 3: C-Media CMI9739A codec

ModelTypeChannelsInput ResolutionOutput ResolutionInput Max. Sampling RateOutput Max. Sampling RateInput SNROutput SNR
CMI8738-LX, CMI8738MXController5.116-bit16-bit48 kHz48 kHz80 dB80 dB
CMI8738-SXController416-bit16-bit48 kHz48 kHz80 dB80 dB
CMI8768Controller7.116-bit24-bit48 kHz96 kHz86 dB101 dB
CMI9738Codec420-bit20-bit48 kHz48 kHz72 dB82 dB
CMI9739Codec5.120-bit20-bit48 kHz48 kHzNANA
CMI9761Codec5.120-bit24-bit48 kHz96 kHz90 dB92 dB

[nextpage title=”VIA (VT)”]

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.

Alc1220

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

Audio
ModelChannelsInput ResolutionOutput ResolutionInput Max. Sampling RateOutput Max. Sampling RateInput SNROutput SNR
VT1612A220-bit20-bit48 kHz48 kHz93 dB88 dB
VT1613218-bit18-bit48 kHz96 kHz85 dB82 dB
VT16165.120-bit20-bit48 kHz48 kHz85 dB85 dB
VT16175.120-bit20-bit48 kHz96 kHz85 dB95 dB
VT16187.120-bit20-bit48 kHz96 kHz86 dB83 dB
VT1702S424-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz98 dB100 dB
VT17055.124-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz93 dB100 dB
VT1705CE5.124-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz93 dB100 dB
VT17087.124-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz97 dB93 dB
VT1708A7.124-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz97 dB93 dB
VT1708B7.124-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz98 dB95 dB
VT1708S7.124-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz90 dB100 dB
VT1718S7.1+224-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz90 dB100 dB
VT1802P424-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz98 dB100 dB
VT1812S424-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz98 dB100 dB
VT1818S7.124-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz98 dB100 dB
VT1819S7.124-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz98 dB100 dB
VT1828S7.1+224-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz100 dB110 dB
VT20207.1+224-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHzNA110 dB
VT20217.1+224-bit24-bit192 KHz192 KHz100 dB110 dB
ModelChannelsInput ResolutionOutput ResolutionInput Max. Sampling RateOutput Max. Sampling Rate
Envy247.124-bit24-bit96 kHz96 kHz
Envy24HT7.124-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz
Envy24HT-S7.116-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)16-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)
Envy24GT5.116-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)16-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)96 kHz96 kHz
Envy24MT224-bit24-bit192 kHz192 kHz
Envy24PT7.116-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)16-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)
Tremor5.116-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)16-bit (AC97)24-bit (I2S)48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)48 kHz (AC97)192 kHz (I2S)

[nextpage title=”Other Manufacturers”]

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.”

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

Realtek Alc1220-vb Hd Audio Codec

Another popular controller/codec manufacturer from the past was ESS, which had chips starting with the letters “ES.”

Realtek Alc1220 Vb Audio Codec K-lite

Another brand that you can see around is IDT.