My on-board sound card does all my usual day-to-day computer stuff fine. Voip, voice messaging, PC sounds, background music etc.

However, I am setting up a system to record LPs to CD and hard disk from my high-end hi-fi setup (Linn LP12, naim pre-power amp) and need a better ADC than provided by the on-board sound card.

I am thinking of getting the M-Audio Delta Audio 2496 soundcard to do the job, particularly because of its RCA phono inputs. However with only one line-level input using RCA phono connectors and one output, it is not a lot of use for my front mounted head-set connection and for my powered PC speakers if I have the system setup to copy LP to CD.

Will the 2496 live happily alongside my on-board audio? Or would I be better to go with an external USB card such as the E-MU 0202 for the purpose? Thanks for any help.

In general there is no problem with tow or more soundcards in one computer. There can be resource conflicts but this is the exception rather than the rule. You may fine that you need to resent the built-in as Window’s default (to continue using it for the tasks you described) after installing the other card, but -- in general -- that is likely to be the limit of any hassles.

I have read post stating that some motherboards will turn off the onboard soundcard if another soundcard is installed, and that the onboard cannot be reactivated without removing the second soundcard. I’ve never played with such a system, so I don’t know how true this is or what hardware works that way.

Indeed, it may be automatically disabled. In Award BIOS there is an option to Always Enable on-board video, yet sound can only be configured as Auto or Disabled. On 'auto' the motherboard will provide audio if no real soundcard is connected. It is beyond my understanding which "multimedia devices" the mobo can recognize as actual soundcards.

Windows surely can use multiple soundcards. Only boards of the same type might not work, if support is not provided in driver itself.

Just checked my motherboard, an Abit NF7-M with Nvida sound chip, and the two options in the BIOS are just "Enabled" and "Disabled" - there is no "Auto" option. I could be in luck then and I should be able to make the Nvidia sound chip work alongside the M-Audio one. Thanks for the information.

Cross fingers!