Looking for a soundcard again

[Speciale]

I use to have an audigy 2 with the front drive...it worked well and everything, but when i got my NF2 system, the soundstorm stuff was good enough that when i needed some cash i sold the Audigy.

Now i've moved on to an NF4 system and i can see that Nvidia has dropped the whole "caring about sound" thing and i'm sick of trying to tweak the equalizer to get it to sound decent.

I'm smarter now and although i know the Audigy's are good cards i think they are vastly over priced considering i know you can spend less and get just as good sound. That is my assumption at least.

So my question would be, is my assumption correct? If so...what should i look into?

[OnDborder]

Here's a good card in the classy http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=454577

[Route44]

I got myself an M-Audio Revolution 5.1 sound card based off their 7.1 version. Very nice card. Do a Google search and look up the reviews. Its nice to know that there are some good alternatives to Creative.

[Makaelin]

I've also been looking at getting the M-AUDIO 5.1. I loathe Creative, after the whole Aureal scandal I swore I'd never buy one of their products again. Might be silly, but oh well.

How have you liked the M-AUDIO for gaming? I know their professional stuff is top-notch, just wasn't sure about consumer.

[Speciale]

One thing i forgot to mention about creative is their software. I never understood how a company that makes such quality hardware cant invest a bit in software that works as well.