i have had a Creative sound blaster live value card in my puter for a few years now, never really had many complaints about it (until)...

i just tried out my new MOBO with built in sound called "Intregrated Audio C-media 8738" and it blows my old sound blaster live away! the volume is lower, but the quality is much higher... the C-media 8738 supports 5.1 speakers but i just use two and notice a big difference..

I was so surprised by how much worse my creative sound blaster live value card sounded that now i will not get a "audigy" sound card from creative unless i listen to it first with my own ears to make sure it isn't crappy like the sound blaster live is....

another sound gripe i have.... there are all these products for like $500 us dollars to that are pieces of hardware that let u listen to your mp3's through your stereo, but i've been doing this for years using a $2.99 cable from radio shack! These products are a mystery to me...