[2020] Hoping Surround Sound is On the 'To Do' List

Actually there are multiple issues with the sound even on properly configured sound setups.
Sound is not impacted or occluded based on objects.
Sound over distance is randomly as loud or louder than nearby sounds.
Sounds randomly swap direction as one turns (example, a very slight turn will cause a sound that is currently playing in the left speaker to play on the right channel {same for front/back} and then swap back again with a further slight turn or reversal of that slight turn.

Even the developers have acknowledged the sound system needs work (once they stopped playing with the magic blips {funny I mentioned it months prior but I had been playing with No Enemy Map Icons for a while})

Here are some comments from the developers acknowledging the sound issues:
http://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?13797-Positional-audio-would-be-good&p=118394&viewfull=1#post118394

Originally posted by madmole (developer): Yes the sound engine needs some love.

http://7daystodie.com/forums/showthread.php?13794-Did-the-minimap-disappear&p=118629&viewfull=1#post118629

Originally posted by The Fun Pimp (developer): We do need a lot of work on the sound engine so hearing zombies positions and footsteps should be improved.

Originally posted by EvilKlown: This is exactly why I posted what hardware I use, and software, and asked about the OP's too. So you, and the devs can look and say "Well isn't that strange, it works great for one player with this hardware, but not so great for others with this other hardware..." ;) The world of gaming is loaded with mysteries like this, but if we shut it down with out so much as a single peep of what kind of hardware are people using... The issue will remain unresolved for longer than it should.

Well, from personal experience I can attest to every one of the listed sound issues on both the same hardware you listed (Realtek 889 built-in to MB) and an Asus Xonar DSX.

I'm not even going to argue the point. The code is broken, even the developers acknowledge there are sound placement issues with the current code. The sound issues I listed are all confirmed issues that are possible within the current code for the sound engine with the way distance and range for the audio is calculated.