Audiophiles help! X-Fi with Studiophile LX4 2.1?

[Vip68]

I'm planning to get a new system with the ff specs

A64 X2 3800+ SFF
Thermaltake Lanbox SFF Case
ABIT NF-M2 MicroATX with Realtek HD Audio
M-Audio Studiophile LX4 2.1

Now my question is..

Is it worth buying the X-Fi? I'm not so particular in terms of gaming performance since I game casually. I'm more concerned with the audio quality. Will the X-Fi give me a noticeable difference or is the onboard Realtek HD Audio enough?

I'm also factoring in the cost of the card (99USD for X-Fi Xtreme music) and the limited space of the SFF Enclosure.

Thanks!

 

[astrallite]

If you aren't going for the gaming performance, then there are less expensive solutions that will give you the same utility.

Getting a non-Creative sound card will probably give you even more utility, since Creative happens to resample all sound to 48KHz, which increases intermodulation distortion (IMD) and changes the output sound somewhat.

I'm using a Chaintech AV-710 ($20) for mostly music oriented performance, since it gives bitperfect output.

 

[Vip68]

In my case, with the Realtek HD Audio on the Abit board, will a Chaintech AV-710 make a difference in audio quality or will I be better off with the onboard audio?

 

[astrallite]

I can't say, but generally speaking, electromagnetic interference (EMI) goes down with a PCI card vs an on-board card.

 

[mcgruff]

Since the speakers have balanced 1/4" jacks, an audiophile 192 would be a good match. M-Audio soundcards are excellent and would be my first choice over an x-fi.