Don't believe the SoundBlaster X-Fi thing in the recommended system requirements. I enabled the advanced sound features with my six-year-old SoundBlaster Audigy Gamer (a veteran of three different PCs) and it works just fine. Also, my $500 headphones + amp setup will utterly destroy the vast majority of home theater systems (don't judge headphones by the cheap plastic crap that comes with MP3 players. A good pair of Sennheisers or Sonys for around $200 (NOT BOSE!) is about as good as audio gets unless you're willing to pay several thousand dollars.