[LAU] How much does my new SB Extigy suck and why?

[Bearcat M. Sandor]

Folks,

I had a house fire a few years ago in which i lost my beloved audio equipment.  
Since then i have been building an audio system as money allows.  I now have 
a pair of Anthony Gallo Acoustics 3.1 reference. They are *very* transparent 
and tell me a lot about what is happening up-stream.  I also picked up a 
Carver TFM-15CB. My aim is a pair of Bel Canto Ref 1000 amps but this will do 
for now.  I run my audio from computer to Carver with no out-board preamp in 
between.

My computer, which was also through the fire, has been having motherboard 
problems lately (what a surprise!).  Since i was replacing the sound card 
anyway (on board nvidia chipset via an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe), i got a Sound 
Blaster Extigy on ebay. I knew it was cheep but it's what i can afford now.

I'm confused by what i'm hearing. It's very nice not to hear the whir of my 
fans (especially the damned chipset fan) through my speakers, but things 
sound shallow in comparison to running my audio straight from the 
motherboard.  I get a little more detail and it's a lot quieter, but the 
weight of things are gone.

Some things sound alright, but when i listen to a track of 4 cellos playing, 
the feeling of the layered harmonics is gone. Things sound flat. Not flat in 
a sound-stage sense, but pianos while having the depth don't have the body. 
They sound like toys or as if i'm playing an MP3.  There is a fatiguing bite 
to things as well.

I tested the frequency response with some warble tones and i can hear much 
deeper bass tones then i could with the motherboard. I presume that is an 
effect of not having the fan noise smear things.

It's just not emotionally engaging and i don't know where to go from here. 
Would a SB  Audity 2 NX help or would it just be more of the same for more 
money? I don't want to spend a lot as this is just a stop-gap till i can 
afford something better, but can someone tell me if this is the extigy in 
particular, all SBs sound like this or is this the nature of all cards at 
this level?

Thank you,

Bearcat M. Sandor