Does Music Creator sacrifice sound quality?

Yes and no john, the 24/96 card, the same one i use, does have the ability to render files in 24 bit and 96khz sampling, that allows you to record with a far greater headroom, and less likely to clip digitally. MC does not work in anything but 16 bit and 41.4 or 48 khz so obviously less headroom. However that can work just fine depending on how hard one pushes the input and output of the wave tracks. So you can get fine results from the standard MC, ultimately you can get better results from MC Pro or even better yet HS sonar since they allow one to push the envelope a bt and expand the bit rate and sample rate of the tracks one records. If I were going to upgrade I would go all the way to at least Sonar Home Studio 4, since not only do you get the better sampling rate, but the better audio engine and VSTi support as well. Oh and MCPro and HS allow ASIO drivers which I have found to really help the latency of many synths, depending on the sound card and drivers of course

That is so true, I think 24/48 is a great medium, 96 for a sample rate is hard to work in, due to the size of the files and the loss in CPU to process it. However 16 44,100 lack quite a bit in the digital process, and can reall be much more difficult to control clipping. I do alot now in 32 bit float and it gives me such flexability with the headroom.

JD lok at it this way if what you have is working for you then why change. If something is limiting you then let's discuss that issue.