Many server boards do not have audio outputs. As of recently, some are starting to include. BUT if the server board does not have audio output. What would you suggest if I did not want to use a PCI lane to get audio out?
You’ve got many options here. Bluetooth dongle to beam sound out to bluetooth speakers. USB sound cards. Streaming audio (e.g. ESounD/PulseAudio/Pipewire) over the network to another computer. USB soundbar. etc.
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tHANK YOU
One overlooked solution that’s usually very cost effective, is plug n play and decent enough are actually the cheap USB-C to 3.5mm dongles you can find from pretty much any laptop / cellphone brand. Apple’s USB-C to 3.5mm adapter is a good example, it’s not he best thing ever but it’ll likely do the job and it’s only 15$ or so and available everywhere.
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If the server has a GPU, you can use that audio device. I had the same audio problem on my server, but you get audio on HDMI so I managed to get sound running. Fallback would be Bluetooth USB dongle.
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In my dual socket Xeon Scalable system I use a SoundBlaster ZXR PCIe card to drive my headphones. I also have a FireWire card to attach my older M-Audio external boxes for audio ingest.
Both solutions have the benefit of providing much higher quality audio output than a simple dongle, and the ability to drive high impedance headphones.
Also, both of these solutions work flawlessly under both Windows and Linux, with the caveat that I could never get either solution to work properly with my AMD Epyc machine. Depending on motherboard compatibility, your mileage may vary.
The DisplayPort or HDMI audio options are a good choice again with the caveat that a monitor’s integrated DAC is unlikely to do a good job driving higher impedance headphones.
Overall your choice will depend on what level of audio fidelity you expect.
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+1 a cheap USB dongle. $10 shipped on Amazon.
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