YW!!
Unfortunately, most mobo's just don't have really good audio. A dedicated soundcard or USB DAC is the way to go. I have Asus Xonar Essence STX's in both of my PC's & the sound quality from them is on par with the DAC's in my 10k SSP.
That said, you may be able to improve it further, just go back into the Sound Control Panel & set up every active device with the same bit/sampling rates. I suggest you set everything at 24/48 & if you have any issues bump it down to 16/48.
