"So can a sound card retailing for only $99.00 actually outperform Creative's $199.00 Platinum Series? A year ago, the answer would have clearly been no. However, with the advent of the Hercules XP Gamer, we have seen excellent sound quality and performance for much less than the cost of Creative's Live! Platinum. Since I have tested the two other high end gaming cards available, the Hercules XP Gamer, and the Sound Blaster Live! Platinum 5.1, I thought it would be interesting to see how the Philips Acoustic Edge compares."