As for my knowledge , Nahimic is old outdated type of drivers. UAD is latest drivers that get updated frequently by both M$, OEM and 3rd party enthusiasts. WHQL means micr0soft tested and certified and it doesn't mean it may sound fantastic. Everything depends on testing and know it yourself. You are free to test UAD versions by PAL generic releases, Erpsterm35 Asrock specific releases or micro$oft generic or OEM releases along with Realtek Audio Control front end. You won't miss any features. But remember this, before install just disconnect from net and after driver fully installed with 2 reboots then only connect net.
I think that Nahimic, or Sonic Studio III, or Creative X-Fi MB3 / MB5 etc. etc. are Audio Processing Objects (APO) that work with and on top of the audio driver of your sound card. "Equalizer APO + Peace Equalizer" is another combo, which is free.