PC without dedicate sound card is not PC for me.
And sound card should be in level with other components.
People pay 3000-4000$ for PC and use SupremeFX sound, no comment.
Sound card is 30-40% of reason why I can't switch to Mini ITX PC.
If someone think that high end onboard solutions are excellent, I notice difference between mid and high class sound card need to say that best audio solutions are not even close to 80$ worth SBZ. And you don't need to have super expensive 7.1 or 5.1 systems. On any normal speakers you notice difference.
Good pair of desktop speakers like A2+ or A5+ or far more then you need to notice extreme difference between mid and high level of sound cards.
A lot of people upgrade from GTX1080 to RTX2080...example, or GTX1070 to RTX2070... Why instead they not buy Audioengine A2+ and EVGA Sound card and delay upgrade of GPU one next year. That's investment for 10-15 year in Desktop sound, excellent quality. You don't need to connect PC to Hi-Fi, recivers, DAC, Amplifiers, 5 surround speakers... Simple PCI-E sound card and pair of active desktop speakers.