If these were the early 2000s. We would have said that having a sound card is a flex. With good reason, too. You'd slap one into your PC, crank up a media player, and pretend you were mastering audio.

A sound card allows computers to have sound. Pretty simple, right? But let’s dig deeper. Here’s a closer look at the tech that defines a sound card, and what to know if you want to buy one. Today’s ...