I'm running an old(?) SB Live! and am considering upgrading to the new Audigy 2 or Audigy. I'm curious to know, if it makes a real world difference, mostly for MP3's or CD's. I'm running Klipsch 5.1's, so the speakers are up to snuff, just wondering if it makes a noticable difference in the quality of your audio. After too many years of Black Sabbath, Ozzy, WASP, etc... my hearing isn't what it used to be, but I do like my tunes....

What's that you say? ;)
I wish I knew more about my computer, or computers in general, maybe then I could help. For now I'll just keep this up top [img]smile.gif[/img]

At least your honest :D

The SBlive is a damned good card, sound quality wise. I can't remember if it's 5.1 surround compatible or not (probably not). If the Audigy supports 5.1, I'd go for it just on that basis. Heck, you already have the speakers for it! :D

I doubt the actual card will make much difference in sound quality. I'm not an expert on sound cards but I do have common sense. The quality will depend on the quality of the sound source and the quality of the speakers you're playing it on. The only thing about more expensive cards is that they tend to have more features. For example more channels: this just means you can take advantage of sound sources recorded for a greater number of channels but it will make no difference for your average stereo CD music. Also on better cards the instrument synthesizer bank will be bigger so if you are composing music you get more instruments to play with. This may mean that MIDI files sound better as well because they are just a code that tells your computer to use the nearest instrument it has. However, all other sound files, like WAVs and MP3s will sound the same as they are a direct encoding of the original source.

The point is, you don't need a better sound card unless you have very specialist music sources to listen to or you are composing music on your PC.

Agreed.