XP was horrble for sound. Even using all the tweaks. They fixed it all since Vista onward. Actually I think windows 8 is even better than 7 and is the best so far for sound. You're going to be blown away by how much better the sound is with the newer OS.
Anyway please please try the Creative Sound Blaster ZxR SBX. It has a much higer signal to noise ratio of 124db compared to the ESI Jui@. I haven't heard the Jui@ so I can't comment on the sound. But I can say that I am totally blown away by the sound of the Zxr SBX. I mean blown away. It's unreal how amazing it sounds. I would put it against dacs costing thousands any day. I get a totally 3D sound from it. That's of course going to depend on your power supply and how well everything plays nice in your case no matter what card you get. But get it right and it's magic. Also don't forget a good powercord for you PC. It made a big difference on mine. And run it straight to the amps leaving out the preamp (like you want to do, makes a huge differnce)
You'll have to turn off the affects they have on by default too first though.
Anyway please please try the Creative Sound Blaster ZxR SBX. It has a much higer signal to noise ratio of 124db compared to the ESI Jui@. I haven't heard the Jui@ so I can't comment on the sound. But I can say that I am totally blown away by the sound of the Zxr SBX. I mean blown away. It's unreal how amazing it sounds. I would put it against dacs costing thousands any day. I get a totally 3D sound from it. That's of course going to depend on your power supply and how well everything plays nice in your case no matter what card you get. But get it right and it's magic. Also don't forget a good powercord for you PC. It made a big difference on mine. And run it straight to the amps leaving out the preamp (like you want to do, makes a huge differnce)
You'll have to turn off the affects they have on by default too first though.