While CPUs, GPUs and other components of a computer have come a long way and continually move at a face pace, computer speakers haven't evolved too much over the past several years. But, that's the nature of sound.
Sound cards themselves, haven't developed much recently either. With onboard sound the norm, and Creative not doing much, we've pretty much reached a plateau in the growth curve. However, that's not to say you can improve your listening experience with a great set of speakers. For me, I attach the digital output from my sound card into a receiver. From there, I use a customized home theater setup.
The question of the day is: What speakers do you use for your PC?
2? 2.1? 5.1? 7.1?--Or something even more insane?
I remember attaching my first pair of Labtec speakers back in the early 486 days, when the term "multimedia" just started becoming popular. It put such a smile on my face to have real sound coming out of my computer, instead of just those lame beeps. Sometimes though, I miss those beeps!