Not that I would encourage buying from creative, but you could try Audigy2NX.
Not sure if it supports openAl, though it should as it's Audigy 2.
Second hand one from Ebay FTW.

Afaik external soundcards are even below onboard sound qualitywise. You should consider working on the problem you have with the PCI card.

That's not entirely true, although the good external soundcards are intended for musical applications and will therefore usually not accelerate gaming features (also, they're usually firewire instead of usb).

No there are no PCI-e soundcards.
if you have to use USB go for the Audigy2NX

1) You did test your soundcard (line out) with other speakers or headphones?

2) you are sure that in the "volume control" panel in windows that "balance" is in the middle and not all the ways on the left?
Start > Programs > Accessories > Entertainment > Volume Control

3) You did re-install the audio drivers?

4) you did ask someone (friend) who has some computer hardware knowledge to have a look?

Just asking because I find it hard to believe that the "right side" suddenly does not work. It is not likely the onboard sound chip just breaks (unless you were busy modding your computer and somehow physically damaged it). IF you are sure it is a hardware problem and you still have warranty get your shuttle replaced. Either way contact Shuttle (phone, website). I am inclined to think it is a software problem, but it is hard to do a remote diagnostic.
btw which Shuttle do you have?

gl.

Its God-Missy, she lives in a house full of geeks ;)

<3 missy

My sound has been like this ever since I bought it, but I didnt realize it because what I did was put my headphones jack in half way and then I could hear sound in both ears. However, Ive been told that doing that only makes it left sound in both ears. I never really used speakers, but yes it does them with speakers as well... and it's not something as simple as something in my volume controls.
It is definitely a hardware problem, I have formatted several times, and also replacing the shuttle is not an option.

It is an xpc shuttle, afaik there are only 2 kinds with pci express, so it is one of those.

I would need a super geek to do a house call and fiddle with it or something... but in the meantime I just want sound, I need an external sound card.

ON MY WAY!!

Hello QuakeCon champion. Buy a new one, the new one.

Creative have the new Audigy Zenith PCI-E 1x out in March 2005...
thats what ppl said last year..looks like theres no pci-e soundcard available yet

maybe u got a driver problem... also try inserting your headphone plug directly into your pc instead of connecting your headphones to the speakers... otherwise buy/win a new pc..or ask your hardware guru for a solution to your problem.. lol

What about X-Fi's?

this is what creative said..

As far as PCI Express (PCIe) is concerned, which is the next bus, what we found is that the performance of PCIe is truly bad for audio. We are seeing four times degradation on the bus for audio.

PCIe is designed for graphics and high data transfer, but audio sends very small packets and the overhead can be very big! Moving the data across PCIe is much, much higher than PCI. So what we have to do is go back to the drawing board and work on the transport part of the chip and re-design it to add more silicon to overcome some of the problems we had with PCIe. So for us to come up with a PCIe solution is going to take a while because we have to overcome the problems we're facing with that bus.

Try connecting something via coaxial/optical output, maybe its just fucked up jack so it would be easy to fix.

Ye the SNP26 should have Coax out?