Maximum PC

I've noticed the last few Dream Machines no longer include sound cards and use the on-board audio.
Yet they are paired with high quality speakers.

And even the mag reviews of PCs no longer seem to ding a PC for using on-board Realtek sound anymore.

Seeing how Dream Machine isn't geared toward saving $$$.
Is it because MaximumPC feel that the quality of the on-board Realtek ALC898 has come far enough that a dedicated sound-card is no longer a justified expense of a non-audiophile pc?

Yeah, pretty much. Plus there's a divide whether or not to get a card meant for audiophiles (which audiophiles tend to say just get a receiver/amp and some large passive speakers) and a card meant for gaming (or jack of all trades) like Creative's.

The only problem is Creative's EAX software relied on DirectSound, which Microsoft obsoleted back with Vista. I'm not sure if Creative actually got their EAX to fully work with OpenAL or if any developer really cares anymore.