I still have a DOS-capable PC in the garage (PII300 or so) but the last time I set it up in about 2010, it was a big pest.
Figuring out the right combination of CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT for different soundcards and games was so time consuming, by the time I got one or two things working I was fed up with it.
In particular I remember Boom (the Doom source port) needed some really fiddly unusual setup, perhaps due to using the Allegro library for graphics and sound.
I’ve also seen opinion that the op-amp ICs on old soundcards have started to degrade now, so listening on a genuine Soundblaster can sound a bit muffled. I’m not sure how true this is?
These days I am very thankful for DOSBox and generally for emulation.
