Platinum was intended for high end machines, also you need to have a decent set of speakers that can support the audio output. This is by far the best soundcard I've ever had. Some people complain because it doesn't have powered output, but this is to improve the sound quality, and it does. Some people have problems when used with some ISA cards, but it is the old cards fault - ISA is dead anyway. My pc has no ISA slots, and they will be phased out completely soon.
Some people complain about the dos support.
It's dead also, and will be removed completely when Windows whistler is released. Creative tech support is lousy, and the software isn't perfect yet, but this is a fine card. Stay away from it if you have a VIA chipset, otherwise I highly recommend it. No problems at all. I got the SB-LIVE platinum thinking it would be a good compramise between gaming and audio work.