Onboard Audio vs dedicated sound card

[Gamevet]

Umm, that makes no sense. If none of the people you know who build PC's have used dedicated sound cards, how do you know that onboard sound is actually as good? I mean, there's so much more to sound processing than the number of channels that are supported. I've seen some of my online friends get budget sound cards (Asus Xonar DG, which costs about $30 USD) and then tell me that it makes a world of difference over their onboard sound. It's the same as that person who refuses to build a computer and tells everyone that the $800 HP with a low-end GPU is "good enough" for them.

The problem with dedicated audio isn't that some don't support 5.1 or 7.1. It's crosstalk, and lack of other features. I'd never own a gaming PC without a dedicated sound card.

Don't you think it's kind of odd that a publication like Maximum PC builds all kinds of gaming rigs, yet they don't bother with sound cards?

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fea...d_best_pc_ever