The actual sound with 4 speakers is not as spectacular as the adverts would have you believe - perhaps a lot of it is psychological, believing you can hear things behind you and so on. I'm not particularly fond of racing games, which is a pity - on the few games that I've played with my Live, the roar as cars whiz past you is definitely noticeable and rather cool. I was gleefully anticipating my first deathmatch after installing my Live, thinking of the advantage of being able to locate sounds in 3-dimensional space, but in reality a room full of gamers all with their own speakers does little to enhance the quadraphonic effect. Even simple things like listening to CDs or MP3s can be enhanced by the Live's features. Bump up the reverb setting or change it to a preset like Auditorium or Concert Hall, and most music genuinely does benefit.
Value is an excellent choice of sound card.
Certainly if I was building a system I wouldn't consider anything less, and the few quid you'd save by opting for a cheaper card like an AWE64 is merely fool's gold. All rights reserved.