I currently use an ALC889. I'm not sure how much better (or worse) it is from the 887 but it has been good enough for my needs. I use a 5.1 surround system and whenever I get the opportunity I use SPDIF (in which case you can have the crappiest integrated audio and you'll still get great quality). For headphone users and audiophiles, I would agree that these cheap audio chipsets are not the way to go. But I'm not either of those and even if I could hear the effects of EMI or the poor quality of the transistors, it doesn't matter since I have the noise of cooling fans to deal with. So, even if I do end up with an ALC887, I'm not really going to care.