Sound card question

**Firedog911** · 09-03-08, 11:33 AM

This may be a dumb question but oh well.

I have a fancy SB X-Fi soundcard. Currently I plug my mic and headphones into the back of the card.

If I bought headphones that went into a USB, would I still get the benefits of my sound card?

**Mcstrange** · 09-03-08, 11:39 AM

Nope. Youll get some of the benefits of the creative software but none of the hardware acceleration stuff

**WileECyte** · 09-03-08, 11:59 AM

USB headsets are their own sound device and any sound sent to them is rendered in software. It'll cause your performance to drop nominally. Older systems with single core processors really struggled with this, but it's not as noticeable in multi-core systems.

**BrokenApe** · 09-03-08, 12:10 PM

out of curiousity why would you want to do this... to not have to run cords behind the PC?

**Firedog911** · 09-03-08, 01:44 PM

My old head phones were not working very well. I thought it was either the jacks on the back of the card or more likely the jacks on the headphones.

Bought new headphones and all is well. I saw the USB type at the store and was curious if it would solve both problems. I'm glad I bought regular ones now.

Thanks fellas.

**Mcstrange** · 09-03-08, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by BrokenApe

out of curiousity why would you want to do this... to not have to run cords behind the PC?

A buddy of mine does this. Runs a USB headset and normal 5.1 speakers off the sound card to get as he says the best of both worlds. When not in use his heaset disappears easily into a drawer...