Hello!
I don't understand what you mean with "claps", but I think that there shouldn't be.
In my opinion modern audio chipsets on PCs are not that bad, especially for playing (well, generally): we are not in the SoundBlaster 16 early days!
But if you need more serious stuff for recording/digitizing sounds into your computer, or connecting to a better sound system (eg. a mini-studio), a better audio card is advisable.
SB Audigy are ok, but take a look also to M-Audio cards (pro and semi-pro); I own a Terratec DMX6fire, but I got problems with it, and Terratec does not provide any e-mail support or something (just by phone!)
