Chas, of course you make sense more then anyone but all the sound quality comparison in todays audio cards is ireleveant and theoretical only. I own at least 4 different high end audio cards, from a 3000$ Apogee Rosetta 800 to a basic 300$ Emu 1616m. I know I am not dumb but used in a day by day applications there is no difference between the two in sound. Latency also, cannot play a part in the sonical qualitY of the sound itself except being early or late. As I know of the MS has high quality audio interface which won't really make any difference how Goliath sounds thru my Audio card or thru MS. In this example I am using a 6000$ Mac G5 but that still has nothing to do with sound quality...it all deppends on the actual sound. I bet you if this example was hear and recorded thru Rosetta or Emu none of you can tell the difference and I stand on it.