Hi,
I have *just* added a Vista PC to my Naim NVi and B&W XT4 + XTC set up
Vista PC has Realtek chip on motherboard ( ALC883 Value 7.1+2 HD Audio Codec ) going to digital optical output which plugs into the NVi

If I re-rip my CD collection using a lossless format (trying to work out which ) to repro quality sound, should I stick with the current chip on the motherboard or will I get a much better output by using a separate sound card? If so do you have any advice on which card I should look at?

If it makes any difference to advice, ultimately I want to use the music files in iTunes (& my iPod) , WMP and Media Centre too - all on the same PC

I am aware I have posted a similar question on the lossless forum but that was related specifically to which format to use re ripping said music!
regards
Rupert

No.
You won't hear a difference between onboard or highend unless you are using analogue, which you aren't.

There could be some trouble if you set your digital output to a frequency (48kHz for example) other than the source files (CD is 44.1kHz). The lousy realtek might degrade the sound while resampling.
To possibly avoid this, either set the card digital output to 44.1kHz or use a player with a high-quality built-in resampler (Foobar 2000 for example) and set it to match the chosen output frequency.