Should You Buy a Sound Card? An Enthusiast's Perspective
 

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.

http://www.techspot.com/article/751-...-a-sound-card/