Games are more than just an interactive visual experience. The time and effort that developers spend in creating and incorporating immersive audio and soundtracks are not experienced to their fullest ...

I just inserted an Asus Xonar SE ($69) sound card. It works in a new Intel i5-12400 boxen. I spend enough time in the office to listen to sound and music through a more than decent Yamaha / Dynaudio ...

If these were the early 2000s. We would have said that having a sound card is a flex. With good reason, too. You'd slap one into your PC, crank up a media player, and pretend you were mastering audio.

So I've had my trusty old SB Live and 2.1 speakers for almost 5 years now, and I'm thinking it's time for an upgrade. Brace yourself, cuz' I've got a lot of questions... I'd like to stay around US$100 ...