It's been quite a while since we have seen any major activity in the sound card arena. It was around 15 years ago that Creative came out with the first SoundBlaster product and completely changed the way we experienced audio on our computers. Since then, SoundBlaster has gone through multiple iterations and has been improved numerous times, but even the most recent sound cards are based on a platform derived from the original SoundBlaster Live! which debuted approximately seven years ago. In the meantime, motherboard and chipset manufacturers have completely revolutionized integrated audio for the most budget conscious users.