There is probably not a person more in favor of using external interfaces running ASIO drivers than me.

Having said that, sometimes a factory card WILL do the job just as good as the aftermarket interfaces.

As far as sound quality, just check the specs on the factory cards and compare that to the external interfaces. Not much difference. And digital is digital...sample rates, word depth.... no matter the hardware. There may be differences in the audio output circuit that colors the sound a bit, but even that is minor in the factory cards.

The biggest difference between the factory card and the aftermarket cards is the after markets use the much better ASIO drivers and can therefore run the softsynths more efficiently and keep everything synced up at the speakers. There are more reasons to use the aftermarkets and I am a big proponent of people using them, but there is a time and a place to use the factory card and the sound quality you get will be just as good.

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