Argh, reply-fail...was trying to say this to stv014:   Wow, that's exactly the kind of explanation I was hoping for!   This will take me awhile to digest, so I wanted to say thanks right away for all of this effort, and I'll come back with followup questions if I have them.   Great job...

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  That really hits the nail on the head, I think. As far as onboard audio goes, I've got a good one so I probably won't see much benefit from a cheap card, and I'm not ready ready to take the plunge for a more expensive sound card yet. So I will just try the headphones for now and go from...

Hi everyone, total noob here but I've been reading audio threads on this site & others for a few days so I can try to ask an intelligent question...I will give you my scenario and am hoping somebody can give an answer which helps me understand a bit deeper than "sound card beats onboard audio...