Soundcards

Well, now that I have my Klipsch speakers, I'm looking for a sound card!

As mentioned in the other thread, my interests run generally towards classical music, gaming, and watching dvds, usually in that order.

I thought I'd found the perfect card in the X-Fi Xtreme Notebook expresscard that's targeted towards music rather than gaming, but I'm also into other options, especially since I'll have 1 expresscard slot at most (and possibly none if I don't need it and get a different laptop instead of the one I have in mind), and I might well end up using that slot for an expresscard ssd.

So my questions are:
1. Based upon my inclination towards music instead of gaming, what options are there besides the expresscard mentioned above? (pc card, usb, etc.)

2. How do each of those compare? Are there any definite advantages to plugging in a soundcard to the expresscard slot as opposed to usb or pc card?

3. More specifically, what are some good usb soundcards?

Thanks!

 

M-Audio and Echo Indigo are reputable names.

 

Agreed, and Terratec is another if you can get them in your country.