Sound Cards

Well, in another thread, I got great advice on this topic, which I am now exploring further. I am looking to be able to record LPs and perhaps CDs.

I found this good link, which tests various sound cards along various technical criteria: http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/compare/index.htm

The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is the highest-rated "consumer" card, rated "excellent" in all areas except signal-to-noise ("very good") and dynamic range ("very good"). This card lists for $80, and costs a mere $40 extra when buying a Dell.

I'm trying to decide if this is good enough.

1. A poster pointed out that the Turtle Beach card doesn't do A/D conversion at 24/96 (it does 18/44), and that even though CDs are only 16/44, the extra headroom allows for digital manipulation of the "image" without loss of quality prior to recording. What if I don't care to manipulate the sound files (I don't imagine having time)? Will there be an audible difference between 18/44 and 24/96 when doing "no-fiddle" copies from LP or CD?

2. The more expensive cards seemed aimed primarily at musicians, and allow mixing signals from various sources, and the like. None of this applies to me. Are these more expensive cards harder to use, or less appropriate for my purpose for any reason?

3. What is S/PDIF? It seems to allow attaching the CD source directly to the sound card (internal to the computer). Is this desirable? Or is it preferable to write the file to hard disk first, then burn it, to avoid timing issues?

4. Since the cost of the higher-end cards is about the same as the cost of a mass-market standalone CD burner stereo component, would I be better off just buying one of the latter?

5. Finally, what higher-end card do people prefer? I've found three internal cards that are listed in the above link as "excellent" across the board, cost $400 or less, have Windows XP support, and do 24/96 A/D conversion:
-- Digital Audio Card Deluxe. $400. Well-reviewed in this forum.
-- Midiman Audiophile 2496. $230. The only one of these three that doesn't support balanced inputs. Also reviewed positively in this forum.
- Echo Audio MIA. "Under $250". Not mentioned in this forum so far.

Thank you for any comments/advice!

- Eric