Sound Cards...big difference?

[Cook1]

Ok, I game, listen to MP3's and watch TV through my PC. I currently own a SB Live 5.1 PCI sound card. Now, I'm at work on a laptop with onboard sound, no speakers listening to an online radio station and the sound is all muffled, so that started me thinking about my own PC. The sound I think is clear, but would I really notice a big difference if I went to a higher end Sound Card or shouldn't I spend the $$ on it because my speakers (Altec $20 special from newegg) would still just limit the sound quality?

Newb Q, I know. Just since I use my computer for everything, I was wondering if I could really notice a difference or to just save my change.

Thanks

*EDIT*

Speakers

Sound Card

 

[whattaguy]

Your system will only sound as good as your weakest link.
So getting a Lynx soundcard (up to $1000) will only sound as good as your $20 speakers and vice versa. You want to keep the signal chain fairly consistent.

But, yes, there is a noticeable difference with a nice soundcard.

 

[Zucarita9000]

Online radio is not a good way to test the sound performance of your system. As far as I know, onboard is ok for every day tasks, such listening to some mp3s, some radio etc.

If you're a gamer, you want a dedicated audio processor, such as the ones from E-MU Systems (the ones used in the sound blaster cards), as they'll offload a lot of processing from the main CPU and add several real-time effects used by modern games.

Having a dedicated sound card has it's advantages, such as higher fidelity and too many others I can't think of right now. However, all of this will be useless if you're using crappy speakers. You'll need at least something like a 2.1 setup to really appreciate higher fidelity sound.

Your Sound Blaster card is OK for the speakers you have right now. If you really want to notice an improvement, change your speakers first.

 

[imported_Gatak]

I'd say that for MP3's it highly depend on the quality of the encoding. But, if you have a good sound system or good headphones (Philips HP890) you will easilly hear the compression artifacts of even high bitrate MP3's if you have a good soundcard. A cheap SBLive will give you good sound for your money and will most likely be enough unless you are into higher end quality music/audio.