John: the highend soundcards truly are worth the cost to an audiophile I have the soundblaster Gold that is the same card as the soundblaster platinum. Soundblaster also sells the "livedrive" that fits in a 5 1/4 bay in the front of the computer. on the digital inputs, most newer devices like minidisc and Cdroms use an optical input. You can't use optical devices on S/PDIF input/output without and expensive adapter. for which you need an additional bracket for approx. $35 See this link for info and brackets: http://www.hoontech.com/english/products/Brackets/product6_9.html I got the SB DB III bracket cause in has optical in and out. Soundblaster also sells the "livedrive" that fits in a 5 1/4 bay in the front of the computer, but it's a little on the pricey side. I beleive the livedrive 2 has optical in and out. I use it to record to my minidisc from MP3 files/CD on the computer and vs versa. This is a good resource for all things Soundblaster: http://alive.singnet.com.sg/ | --|--------------------------- | ><> Larry Fisk <>< | Fisk Computers | Fruitvale, Idaho ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Chin" Subject: [PCBUILD] Please recommend a Sound Card with digital in/out > A friend has a monster stereo system and would like to connect this to his > Dell 1GHz multimedia computer for CDR recording and MP3 playback. > Apparently, his PC doesn't have any digital input/outputs. > Please recommend a Sound Card with digital inputs and outputs, something on > the performance level of a SoundBlaster Platinum or better. PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download visit our download web page at: http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml