[StealthyCow]

I have a little extra money to throw away on audio equipment, and a soundcard was something I've always heard was, simply put, not worth it, unless you have an amazing sound system, or you're listening through headphones. occasionally, I'll put on my RP-21s late at night, but usually I'll just turn down the volume.



I have never been a real audiophile, I guess, so I don't have 80% of my music collection in FLAC or 320 kbps MP3s or whatever, but I'd say a very good portion is 192 or above.


I guess I'd like to have more, because you can never have too much, but I don't want to spend money for no reason.

 

[Enthusia]

I'm not sure what you are asking but a decent sound card will always beat on board sound, which is terrible in my own opinion. You can buy a Creative X-Fi Xtrememusic for less than 80 dollars and modify it with a new op-amp, which will let your z-2300's shine.

 

[GREQ]

I use a Creative X-Fi Music Extreme with my z2300. I used to have it with on-board sound for about a month before I felt sick every time I wanted to listen to music... I use it mostly for iTunes ranging from 128kpbs - 320kps and gaming... The difference in quality is mind boggling.
The logitec bass and treble were both dull, mushy and lifeless with on-board sound and became much more tight, punchy and detailed after putting in a sound card.
I make sure to keep all the special effects and things off to keep the integrity of the sound files, but I do use iTunes EQ to help with the lack of mids and treble.

Here is my EQ curve that best suits my preference and experience of over a year of tweaking this thing.

 

[Duperman]

the xonar dx and it makes a big difference for my z2300s as well. for 80-90$ i think it's highly worth it, especially since it'll be there should you want to upgrade to better speakers down the road.

 

[genclaymore]

Auzentech X-radier is $50ish and auzentech X-studio is 40 something both has replacable op-amps on newegg.com

 

[my.self]

i recently got a xonar d1 and it works wonderfully, my first card!

 

[photo.guy4god]

I do think you'd hear a good difference with a sound card. I too have the Z2300 set and I could hear a difference switching from onboard to an oldish Creative Live sound card, and now a huge difference when I switched to an HT Omega Claro Halo XT. A bit pricey, but worth every penny. I hear the most difference when I listen to music in FLAC, but there is still a distinct difference with mp3s. As for some good sound cards closer to your price range. The HT Omega Striker is a pretty decent card, Also some of the cards in the Asus Xonar line are pretty decent.