How improtant is the sound card?

[kane2g]

I am still unsure if there is a valid reason why i would care to get anything better than pci128 SB board. They are old, and seem to work fine for me. I dont need any 6.1 because i use it to connect to my home stereo, which has only 2.1 setup (5.1 possible, but not hooked up)
I personally use it sometimes to play MP3s. and no games.
the only thing that i can say about the audigy2 card (from what i've seen) is that it has the firewire ports and is 6.1 what else is so great about them???

[Mr.Tweak]

The Audigy 2 has many new features such as hardware DX audio, EAX, A3D etc with all improve sound quality in games a lot without having a hit on FPS.

[kane2g]

I dont think any of them would improve MP3's I play.

I do understand that if you have 6.1 system and you play UK3 or whatever that FPS is called. But i dont. so is there any other reason why i would bother???

PS i dont play any DVDs either. Pretty much MP3s, and sometimes some Divx rip.

[Wiggo]

I've been usin' the onboard sound on my latest ones and onboard sound has now come along way since the early days (but the last 2 are 5.1 equiped).
<center>:cheers:

[Mr.Tweak]

The Augidy 2 has better signal quality, so you can notice better sound quality listening to MP3s.

[Mr. C]

I guess mostly you answered your own question.
Find a card that supports hardware playback of MP3's and get a player that uses the Directshow API and you should be real happy.