Meh. Hanging onto quasi-open-wannabe (DEY TOOK OUR DRIVERS!!!!) ideals, placebo and purchase justification work for some. Not for me. The Creative entry card is adequate for general purpose duties. Beyond that, I suggested a proper soundcard.
I thought soundcards were recently proven to be bad value if you have a modern motherboard with a decent built in sound? For an audiophile, DACs are the best thing for you.
I recently bought and am returning (Monday) an Asus Xonar U7 as I could not find any difference in the quality of sound from the speakers with or with out the USB DAC. It has been suggested that I would have noticed the difference when using a headset but this is something I rarely do so I could not justify the 65 quid purchase price. I have just ordered the UFO202 which is a quarter of the price but has some excellent reviews.
