soundcard upgrade?

[jtf2]

hello.
i am presently using an auzentech prelude card,using a digital output from an onkyo 5.1 receiver,with a 5.1 system,which is a mix n match
soundstage sub,with 2 jamo bookshelp speakers,and 2 onkyo speakers-left from the 7.1 system that i use for home use.
quite happy with the setup,but am curious if the advances made in soundcards the last 2 years would make a noticable improvement.
thanks

[BootlegUsher]

Unfortuneately soundcard tech doesn't advance nearly as fast as other computer tech, and the card you have now would continue to do just fine. The only thing really that has changed is that more cards these days have headphone amps to help drive more expensive headphones.

[Slik]

You already have one of the best cards available.

[neojjjk]

that is one of the best card mate..keep it and update the available drivers .

[jtf2]

thanks for the input.
will update the drivers as i checked and the drivers in use now are from 09.

[Jackquelegs]

In the case of Creative drivers, don't change it unless it stops working.

The only thing really that has changed is that more cards these days have headphone amps to help drive more expensive headphones.

You can only use so good of a DAC until the law of diminishing returns kick in. It's the fact that going higher up in the ladder doesn't really translate into better sound quality until you invest just about as much into the sound reproduction hardware.

Hence, soundcard manufacturers stick with that works right now, and bring out these cards with better OPamps for the mid-end consumer level headphones, which may or may not benefit so well from them. I personally would rather get a good sound card equipped with a decent set of chips, and invest in a separate desktop amp if I wanted good power.