I'm not convinced new sound cards are that much better than old ones either. I have an ancient SB16 MCD that I've moved from a 8086 to a 386 to a 486 and now into an AMD K6-2 500 machine. I had it sitting next to a brand new pentium III with a SBlive card in it. The two machines were networked, so I could play the exact same music files on either.
It was very simple to rig up an audio switch. I brought both analog outputs (line out) from these sound cards into this switch, and then could pick which source I listened to thru earphones OR a amplified home stereo speaker set.
The Live could add some "3D" sound distortions to the stereo music. I turned that OFF.
My SB16 has the WAVEBlaster daughter board attached, so it also plays midi files with sampled instrument sounds.
The SB16 has a stronger internal AMP. It's rated at 7watts. It can sound reasonably loud using unamplified speakers. It has a volume control on it's back plane. VERY NICE.
Other than the obvious technoligical advances, the sound quality coming from both cards playing the same source material is nearly the same. If I had to give one an edge, I'd pick the SB16 for a subtly fuller and richer sound.
That's why every PC motherboard I've upgraded to has HAD to have at least one ISA slot. My SB16 MCD sounds as good today as it did the day I bought it. It had been rated the best sounding card (of the year it was introduced) in a PC Magazine comparison.
Would a NEW bottom-dollar SB16 clone sound as good today? I doubt it. Do you have audiophile ears? If not, it probably won't matter.
