OT Best Quality Sound Card - Least Amount of Money

[Rick Walker <looppool@cruzio.com>]

In every field,  there tend to be fantastic deals on gear that gives the 
most bang for the buck.

In percussion, for example  you could, for years,  buy a certain brand 
of the budget CP conga
that would be as good as the professional (and highly overpriced) LP 
congas.   Sure,  the
LPs were Cadillacs and had the heavy duty 'comfort rims',  but, 
essentially,  the budget conga
produced completely professional sound at half the budget.    The 
reputation of these cheap
congas got so good that LP (CP's parent company) quit making the congas 
in Natural Wood
colors (the most popular conga color) just to force professional 
drummers on a budget to
buy the more expensive ones and , eventually, they phased the cheaper 
ones out altogether to
eliminate the competition.

Are there any similar stellar deals in Audio cards for PCs (running Win 
XP)?

Or does one have to buy the bullet and plunk down the big bucks for 
boxes like the RME ones?

Do the latest M Audio cards really tank heavily when compared to the 
pricier sound cards?

Are there PCI cards that sound comparable to more pricey breakout boxes?

Is anything made for the Prosumer Gamers of the world that are close in 
fidelity to
the most expensive breakout boxes?

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I'm building a second PC desktop so that my wife and I can both work, 
simultaneously on our
respective album projects and I don't have an unlimited budget.

I picked up a Mackie ONXY satellite system that got good reviews and I 
got it hella cheap.
Now my funky old Creative Labs sound card seems to be biting the dust.   
I'm wondering if I should
buy a second ONXY while they are still available and relatively 
inexpensive (around $175).


*All you audiophile pros out there:      what are your recommendations?*

*What's the best bang for the buck,  financially,  for a Sound Card for 
a PC these days  (including
older gear that is no longer made but still readily available through 
places like E Bay)?

What can you recommend for a person who loves to live a champagne 
lifestyle on a beer budget?
*