James that review is much better than the other one previously mentioned. I think my +3dB was a little over the mark but I still stand by my view on the actual 'sound' of the card. It's not musical to my ears.
Again, I want to re-iterate the personal nature of musical equipment (in this case sound cards) which I think to a DEGREE, cant be accurately portrayed verbally or by a review. I appreciate the numbers are sound (no pun intended) but we must briefly think about how, where and when we listen to music.
How?
What equipment are we using? How good is the intial production? Is the SPL high or low (volume)? Are our monitors accurate to the original source? Is our D/A - A/D conversion on the money? What leads are we using? Compared to what we are used to - how does this new gear sound?
Where?
What are the acoustics like of the listening environment? Is it a large/small room? What is the natural reverb time of the room? Are there standing waves? etc
When?
Music sounds different to our ears depending on a number of things. Are we drunk? Have we lost 18kHz+ if we are? Are we tired? Same effect. Have our ears got used to EQ? This DOES happen. Spend enough time trying to mix a track and you'll know what I mean.
Anyhow. Aside from my massive tangent, the point I am trying to make is that you can try and measure something scientifically like this and lose the whole 'essence' (again, no pun intended 95trifles) of what it is that makes something sound pleasing to the human ear.
How our brain interprets soundwaves proprogating through mediums (like air) and hitting our ear drums to be music is a bit of a mystery. Why does organised patterns of sound produce such a wide range of emotions within us?
All that I am trying to say is that I think in a way, it is kind of pointless to review soundcards not because of the technology, which is obviously aiding our lives to better achieve the goal of listening to music, but because 'good quality' is SO personal.
I hope I've sort of made sense here It's quite late and I've found this thread to be interesting and informative.
Regards
Tom