Are sound cards still relevant? - A Blog @ TechReport

There is an interesting blog post over at TechReport that touches on the extremely old subject of sound cards and if they are worth your time.  From a sound quality standpoint it depends on how the discrete card was constructed and if it offers the digital connections you are looking for.  In most cases discrete is the way to go for HTPC and high end gaming, not because the sound quality is better but rather the digital audio options (for HTPC) and offloading sound processing for smoother gameplay (for Gaming).

At the end of the day, the Xonar DX's audio quality is just enough of an improvement over the old integrated solution to make me keep the sound card around. I can live with manually selecting the headphone jack, but I really shouldn't have to considering that an entire motherboard supporting this feature can be purchased for the cost of the $82 Xonar.

This paragraph jumped out at me as being a rather poor excuse to put a positive spin on a bad experience.  

Oh and if you do happen to read the blog post be sure to read the Editors comment at the bottom, trying to save face are we?

Related Web URL: http://techreport.com/discussions.x/21742