Should I change my sound card?

[Ampersand]

This might seem like a dumb question, but I would like to know what I would
really gain by changing/upgrading my soundcard? I currently have a SB Live!
Value (which I'm satisfied with) and I wondered what would actually change
if I bought a SB Audigy 2 instead. Would I see a difference only if I have
4 speakers or surround sound or really really good speakers? Would the
sound only be better? Would audio processing be faster? Thanks a lot for
your help!

 

[John]

This might seem like a dumb question, but I would like to know what I would
really gain by changing/upgrading my soundcard? I currently have a SB Live!
Value (which I'm satisfied with) and I wondered what would actually change
if I bought a SB Audigy 2 instead. Would I see a difference only if I have
4 speakers or surround sound or really really good speakers? Would the
sound only be better? Would audio processing be faster? Thanks a lot for
your help!

I went from a SB Live Value to the cheapo Audigy . It was kind of an
Audigy Value card - I think it was a basic first version. There were
some limitation like you couldnt load soundfonts or something.

The new Audigys I think have more sound effects for games and better
SN ratios etc. I doubt youll actually hear a big difference though
unless you have some decent speakers etc.

The main area where I really noticed a difference was 5.1 surround
sound. Stuff like DOOM seemed like a whole new experience with
surround sound. If thats not a big deal then Im not sure how
important it is to upgrade.

If you are into recording , Creative has a line of EMU cards that are
selling cheap and are rated very highly. Other cards like the Maudio
2496 etc are all selling much cheaper nowadays too. The slightly older
versions are selling below 100 and the entry level new ones are often
around 99-150.