Discrete sound card or a DAC? I personally chose a sound card because desk space is a premium for me due to a 34" monitor and a set of GigaWorks T40 Series II speakers. Moreover, having owed an Auzentech X-Fi Prelude, i am a firm convert of discrete sound card audio being superior to onboard audio even if the onboard audio is a good one (my old rig was a Gigabyte Sniper 3 Intel Z77 motherboard which had a Creative Sound Core3D™ quad-core audio processor). The AE-5 is Creative's latest card and since i was building a new rig this year, I decided to go for broke and get it. Immediately, after installing it and hooking it up to the GigaWorks T40 Series II speakers, with my layman ears, i could immediately tell the difference between the AE-5 and the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude which i was still using with the T40s just a few days prior. Testing the AE-5 with just a few songs from Sarah Brightman, Tsai Chin and Metallica, the sound from the T40s which i had also used with the X-Fi Prelude were richer, definitely clearer and just a little "warmer". Attaching my aged Grado SR-80s and playing more tracks, i was in audio aural bliss. The X-Fi Prelude never delivered quite the same hauntingly beautiful details which the AE-5 did. Gaming audio, which the AE-5 was marketed at, proved to excellent as well. In my T40 review, i mentioned that the T40 could not quite deliver the warmth and power of a 2.1 system insofar as bass is concerned but with the AE-5, that shortcoming evaporated and i was simply blown away. The Sound BlasterX AE-5 is a revelation and nothing short of phenomenal.