http://tinyurl.com/2x9hhx
HD Audio Realtek ALC880 demonstrates rather good audio quality for integrated audio. It sounds very much like Creative Audigy. If you strain your ears to hear the fragment details, you may notice the slightest difference (a bit better transparency at high frequencies for Audigy). However, if you extend the interval between HD Audio and Creative Audigy auditions to five minutes, it will be impossible to hear the difference.

Comparing the audio quality of HD Audio Realtek ALC880 with that of Live!5.1, the superiority of Realtek ALC880 is obvious: better-balanced and smoother playback without the abrupt, rough tones. Note that the difference between ALC880 and Live!5.1 is much more pronounced than with Audigy. While Audigy and Realtek ALC880 sound almost alike, the Live!5.1 playback differs even in tembre of some instruments.

AC'97-audio Realtek ALC650 playback also differs from that of HD Audio Realtek ALC880. Their divergence is of a different nature, than in two previous comparisons. HD Audio performs in a more pronounced and detailed manner in the low and medium frequencies range, but the high frequencies are subjectively better in ALC650. Nevertheless, AC'97-audio, unlike HD Audio, possesses a rather flat stereopicture with blurred details. Surely, everything is known in comparison, but a closer match to the reference playback is HD Audio Realtek ALC880.

Thus, the subjective comparative tests demonstrated that the audio quality of HD Audio Realtek ALC880 is of an evolutional rather than revolutional nature. The achieved level of audio quality is right up to such sound cards as Creative Audigy. Don't forget though, that the today's HD Audio sample was based on the top Realtek ALC880 codec.