I recommend that you wait until after the new Audigy cards come out before you make your purchase (but if you can't wait that long then go with the Philips AE).
Audigy will be out soon. It will take at least 2-3 months before we even know what all the problems with it are. And there will be problems, there always are with Creative. And if the performance outweighs the problems then we consider a purchase. But instead of waiting for months just for Creative to prove that not much has changed, get the Acoustic Edge and be happy with it!
OR you could get the Philips Seismic Edge if you don't need S/PDIF input. I believe the only difference between the Philips AE & SE is the SE doesn't have S/PDIF input (and SE is cheaper, of course).