[Whitetriton]

Does anybody know of a technical reason that two PCI audio cards couldn't work at the same time in the same computer provided that their digital outputs were sent to different inputs on an external DAC?  I run Windows 7 and have a DAC to which I can route different audio outputs.  For example, I can have Media Monkey output WASAPI via digital optical from an ASUS DG and have Foobar output WASAPI over USB, at the same time, and simply toggle back and forth between the DAC inputs to compare the sound. 
 
I recently purchased a Lynx AES16 to see if the AES connector made any difference.  Unfortunately, I cannot find a way to run the AES16 and my ASUS DG sound card at the same time to switch back and forth quickly to compare the sound.  Every time I try, the music stops, the Lynx Mixer shows "1 Dropout" and I have to restart my system to get music to play.  Is this a limitation of the PCI bus?  Would a PCI-E soundcard have a chance at working at the same time as a PCI card?  Is there something totally different I could be doing wrong?  
 
I think I've tried all possible combinations of "allowing exclusive mode" and I know each device works as I can play music when I only use one at a time.  At this point, I'm more curious than anything else. 
 
Any ideas or education would be greatly appreciated. 

 

[PurpleAngel]

I'm not sure why your having the audio issue.
But i would assume if you just used one sound card (or USB DAC) and only outputed audio thru that one sound device and not have to toggle between audio outputs
Why are you outputing audio thru more then one audio device?
 
Use just one audio device and maybe run that to an Audio Switch Box?

 

[Whitetriton]

Hi PurpleAngel,
 
The goal was to quickly switch between the two sound cards playing the same track to determine if I could perceive a difference in sound between the optical output of one and the AES output of the other.  I don't know how useful that test would have been, but I wanted to find out.