[ABoredBirb]

I have an Asus Essence STX II sound card. Paired with decent enough headphones, it is night and day, compared to built in realteks or whatever. It is around 300eur, but this card won't become obsolete (unless it becomes incompatible with some other hw). A very worthwhile investment, if you value music, or even sound in games.

[ABoredBirb]

I have also tried cheaper dedicated sound cards, such as soundblaster z - these don't really differ much from onboard ones and are not worth it.

[piltdownman]

If you can't hear digital switching noises off a standard headphone jack when using good quality headphones plugged in directly, I'm honestly not sure your hearing is up to par.