Sound Card - Yes or No?

[Sir Topham Hatt]

Hot on the heels of the latest news article and a thread I started just days before asking the same sort of question, it seems the issue of a dedicated sound card is up for discussion.

 

So to (hopefully) bring it all together, what's you're vote?

 

Personally, I used to have a soundcard about 10 years ago.  When I built a new system, I missed it out and just used on board which worked fine for my needs.  My latest system doesn't have a dedicated sound card either.

 

Here's where I am:

 

My HTPC uses the on board sound but I might be in the market for a sound card.  However I don't think the ?50+ will be worth it for the difference it will make and it seems spending less than that is a waste anyway.  So I'm not considering buying one really and think they are only good for serious audiophiles or home theatre people (which is out of my league too!).

[Nerd Rage]

I don't think they are worth it for my HTPC, as I dont have a 7.1 setup or anything with that.  However, I do have a dedicated sound card for my gaming PC, and I definitely think that is worth while for all the bells and whistles.

[Astra.Xtreme]

I don't use headphones, but I do have quality speakers (Klipsch 5.1 Ultra), and when I put in my Xonar DX, it made a huge difference over the on-board audio.  I used to have an HT Omega card, which sounded great too, but the software for it was complete garbage.

 

Most notably, the bass sounded much better, so for anybody that likes to hear the entire sound spectrum, a sound card will give those benefits.  Though if you don't have quality/high-powered speakers or headphones, a sound card probably won't make much of a difference.

[Phouchg]

For all outputs that aren't galvanically separated (which is what you'd achieve by using Toslink) the answer is still resounding yes all the way down.

[FiB3R]

I made a somewhat relevant post, here

 

Can't wait to complete my little setup.

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

I dropped my Xonar DS after upgrading my PC, and aside from the crappier graphic equalizer settings, I've not really noticed a difference between the Realtek sound and the discrete sound card. I think sound cards are mostly only relevant to audiophiles now.