Last year, after reading comments here and on the net, I bought an M-Audio Audiophile 24/96. While it produces noticeably better sound than a SB Live, especially using soft synths, with minimal latency and 24 bits/96 KHz quality, I consider it a "professional" card. It lacks things that can be useful in everyday life, like a headphone jack, or a mic input, so I can connect a $10 headphone/microphone gizmo and try to talk to you on Skype for example.

Also, it has a severe drawback (for me), and please don't laugh: It doesn't provide hadware 3D acceleration, so you can't play games with it.

I am not a musician per se, so my one PC must be used for everything I do, including surfing the internet, playing games and so on. Before you ask, yes, I want to continue playing games, as time permits. I like them and I like tinkering with the keyboard also and I have to find a solution.

I can't afford a second PC as a "music only" PC as Frank Rosenthal and some others of you do, so the card that could replace the audiophile, must have hardware 3D acceleration.

I am an amateur, playing at home and the budget is very limited. Can I use a later generation Soundblaster card like the SB Audigy 2 or 4 or even better the X-Fi that supposedly (creative says so) provide ASIO 2.0 compatibility and fulfill my dreams?

Anyone has experience with this?

P.S. I haven't (REALLY HARD) tried to tidy things up in the PC, like trying hard to see if a borrowed SB Live and the Audiophile can coexist in peace and serve my purposes. If they do, I probably don't really need a new soundcard, but then I would probably have to look for a mixer to sum up all those outputs.

Wishing a Happy New Year to everyone here,
Theodore