I have searched but I have a hard time finding anything about ExpressCard sound cards and Linux support, so I thought I should ask you guys.

I am looking into buying a pair of Sennheiser HD595s and would like a good sound card to go with those as well since the on-board probably wont cut it. Since I have an ExpressCard port that I'm not using I thought that would be the best solution. I saw that Creative has their X-Fi Xtreme Audio as an ExpressCard version (yeah I know it doesn't have the emu20k1 chip, but it will still be better than the on-board one I assume), but does it work in Linux with the drivers for the regular version? Or should I just get another card all together?

Any suggestions are welcome :>

You don't say if your laptop support SPDIF out. If so an outboard DAC might satisfy your desire for better sound.

Or a pro spec USB I/O box.

Ah sorry about that. No it does not have S/PDIF out on it unfortunately. Just regular 3.5mm headphone jacks. =/

But I could use a USB I/O box? Would that be better than than using an ExpressCard.. card?
The laptop also has a firewire port btw.

Sorry to bump this. But I'd really need some kind of advice on what to do =/

Notebooks hide SPDIF with a 10 pin connector that looks like an S-Video connector. You can go to the notebook manufacture and get a cable that provides SPDIF.

For audiophile quality, I do not recommend X-Fi. Creative Labs is not all about sound quality. They are all about features, features, features.

I suggest find a IEEE-1394 (aka i.Link or Firewire) or USB based sound devices. The following should work.

TerraTec Aureon 5.1 USB MK II
AuzenTech INFRASONIC Amon

Well this notebook only has an 8-pin S-Video connector, which is just that. S-Video.
But thanks for the advice on USB sound cards. I will look into those.
The TerraTec one isn't too expensive I see. Are you certain it will work fine in GNU/Linux?

It says on their website that it is just plug & play, but will I be able to control it with the volume control settings in Gnome, or even alsamixer? For example, will I be able to adjust bass and treble levels in the Gnome volume control manager?

Couldn't find the AuzenTech one in my country. Only internal cards.

Edit: Never mind. I found this entry on the alsa wiki: http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php/Te...n_5.1_USB_MK.2

Edit2: reading some more about the device, it seems to be impossible to adjust bass and treble levels on it. That is a big reason for why I'm getting a sound card. But I suppose it would be better to just get an amp for that? It doesn't seem like many external sound cards has those controls anyway.