Hi there,
I had a SB Audigy 1 Platinum, and there were two things that really annoyed me: First, there always was a terrible *POP* from the speakers when I turned off the PC without turning down the volume or amplifier first; Second, it was always a hassle to unplug the primary speakers and swap to headphones when I wanted to.
Because I got it at Fry's for $40, and because I remembered that my Montego II never popped, I decided to give the somewhat aged but top rate Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz a spin. Indeed, it doesn't pop, and I can leave all 4 speakers and the headphones hooked up at the same time. A menu option will activate either the 4 speaker setup or the headphones (in the Versa jack). With this one click you not only switch to headphones but also activate Sensaura's customizable (!) HRTF technology with a profile you defined earlier. No more plugging and unplugging for me...
The only two gripes I see are that the Audigy had a Firewire port, which I don't have on my MOBO, so I am losing that. However, I never used it, and I doubt I will anytime soon.
The other gripe is that even the Santa Cruz won't encode Direct3D audio into a DolbyDigital stream, to be then decoded by an external home theater system. Only pass-through could work, i.e. playing a Dolby DVD. Oh well. As far as I know, only the Soundstorm MCP-T onboard system has that Direct3D --> Dolby DTS conversion ability... at least as of this writing. Licensing issues, I presume...
So there. I will be selling my Audigy on Ebay tomorrow, unless I find another fault or someone convinces me otherwise. Just played Unreal 2004 and it was just fine.