🚀 go-pugleaf

      So, do the subsequent changes in the software and improvements in hardware
      really make a difference in the quality of the end product? Given that
      I could presumably install an older and better sound card and duplicate
      my previous results, and that the added functionality of 3.0 is of marginal
      significance to what I do, what's the case for upgrading?




If the software really does do all you want, then there's no point in upgrading, certainly. As for the hardware - well, I have to say that the later converters, and higher-quality clocking, that we now have on soundcards does make a significant difference - when you compare them side by side. I have an E-Mu 1820m, and with that, I didn't even need to do the side by side comparison - it clearly sounded 'better' (less veiled, more depth to the soundstage) than what I'd been listening to before.

If you use external D-A converters specifically designed to do just that, (ie converting digital audio back into the analog domain) they are reputed to sound even cleaner - but only by a gnat's whisker. And as far as I can make out, that's because they use even more precise clocking. So what it comes down to is that we are now listening to signals that are so clean that issues that previously didn't raise their heads very much because they were marginal, are now the things of significance.

But I'm afraid that there's no way on earth that you will get that level of performance from a TB gamer's card, whatever you do. In that area, things really haven't moved on at all, even though the top-class converter ICs have dropped very considerably in price.