Is a sound card worth it?

What differences are there between the stock and PCMCIA-express sound card?

Is there a "real" significant impact in quality output to external speakers (I know internal speakers would make no real effect at all)

Is it worth it? What about the performance gains due to the offloading of CPU needed to do the audio?

I am considering buying one for my 1520.

 

If you have a halfway decent sound system it makes a huge noticeable difference.

 

If you're really picky about the way your music etc sounds, then yes an external sound card when paired with quality speakers will sound a lot better than the built in card.

And you won't see much (if any) performance increase due to offloading of the cpu, but you'll hear better sounds and music.

 

I have a pretty good Altec Lansing 2.1 sound system. So you don't think it will make a huge difference? I use winamp and have the equalizers set to full bass and treble...that already makes a large difference in the quality of the sound.

 

Hi, not to take over the thread or n e thing! but If i bought a external usb sound card and plugged it into my receiver would it sound better? I initially thought it was the receiver doing all the work, but does the signal being sent from the source (laptop) matter that much?

 

The express card will be an improvement from the built-in sound card. However if you are talking about audio reproduction rather than gaming you should look into a dedlicated USB D/A like a
Stello DA100 assuming you have a good stereo system.