On-board sound versus dedicated/standalone sound card ???

[Vincent Trouilliez]

Today I went to demonstrate X-Plane v8.06 for Linux on a friends machine
(Mandrake 10.1c). I flew my favourite Bell 430 helicopter, and I noticed
that the engine and rotor noises were much more realistic on his
computer than on mine, crisper and richer ! In particular, the turbines
made a more realistic sound, and I could hear the noise change under
some flying conditions, like when about to touch down when landing.

He has a "Soundblaster live" sound card, and I have only a cheap AC 97
compatible sound device, that's embedded into the motherboard 'nForce'
chipset.

Could it be that my sound system does not allow X-Plane to produce as
good a sound as it would like, but can do it on sound blaster live ?

I really do'nt think it was a "placebo" effect, because I really wasn't
"watching" for sound on his machine, I only wanted to check graphics
quality, because he has a better video card than mine. So I really
wasn't focused a tall on sound, yet it striked me how much better/richer
it sounded !

Does anyone experience the same, or has enough tecnical knowledge to
confirm (or not) that propert sound cards can produce better sounds than
cheap AC 97 codecs ??

I am now really thinking of getting a proper sound card !


--
Vince