I"ve been on the fence about buying a discrete sound card since building my first PC in 2002. The equation for buying most desktop parts is pretty straightforward: a video card can handle your games or it can"t, a hard drive has enough storage for your data or it doesn"t, memory is compatible with your platform or it isn"t, and a chassis can accommodate your hardware or it can"t. Audio gear is trickier.
There"s no clear-cut metric to use as a guideline if you"re shopping for a sound card. Lengthy audiophile reviews are available, but they generally don"t offer a quantifiable takeaway if you have a limited point of reference and don"t know much about the subject to begin with. I fall into that category. I"ve never had anything except onboard sound and my knowledge of acoustics couldn"t fill a thimble.
From that position, buying a sound card has always felt more like a gamble than an investment. At the same time, I know audio snobs with thousands in equipment and all-FLAC libraries, and I"d like to believe they aren"t delusional -- surely there"s something to be experienced beyond my basic setup. But I mean, just how much better can music, movies and games sound? Enough to prevent buyer"s remorse?
Read: Should You Buy a Sound Card? An Enthusiast"s Perspective
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