Computer music+gaming setup- will this work?

[joysofpi]

I'm going to pump up the audio system on my computer this summer. I've been running onboard audio since my sound card died a while back, definitely not up to the job right now. I'm not afraid to put some money into this, but I want to make a good investment so I want to make sure I'm thinking straight and things will work like I think they will. So here it goes:
 
I want to put a sound card into my pc to deal with some casual gaming so I can get all the eax/surround/other processing junk that goes along with that.
 
However, music playback is my priority. I plan on sending all my music to an asio output going through the sound card's digital out. From there, I want to go into an external dac and a headphone amp, and finally into my headphones (I use headphones 95% of the time).
 
From the impression I get, this would seem to give me the best of both worlds (music+games).When playing games, sound goes through all the sound card internal stuff, but when I want music it'll skip all that and get sent straight out to the higher quality components.
 
Does that make sense? A couple questions/concerns pop into my mind:
 
1) Would audio for my games get sent through a dac twice, once in the soundcard's internal dac and once through the external one? If so, is that bad?
2) Obviously for this to work I need the sound card to support passing bitperfect audio through the digital out. Would this restrict my choice of cards or do most gaming oriented cards (ie X-fi) support this?
 
While I'm thinking about this, I've "rented" a xonar essence stx from fry's (love their return policy . Obviously even this is a huge step up from the onboard audio and I'm tempted to just save my money and accept the compromises of this simpler solution. I'll probably just end up upgrading later if I do that, though.
 
Your thoughts would be much appreciated, sorry for the long post.

 

[mcnoiserdc]

Well what you want to do is what I have. There is no problem at all with your setup.
The choice between creative based cards and asus, is due to cmss-3d or dolby headphones.
Creative cmss-3d seems to be better for me, but there are people who say dolby heaphones are better. It is up to you to decide that.
What happens is that the card will process the audio with all the effects (cmss-3d, eax and so) and instead of sending analogue to your headphones, it will send by pcm to you dac, which will give you analog amplified. That is what I have and it works great.
Creative sound cards normally support bit-perfect. Mine does.
Quote:

I'm going to pump up the audio system on my computer this summer. I've been running onboard audio since my sound card died a while back, definitely not up to the job right now. I'm not afraid to put some money into this, but I want to make a good investment so I want to make sure I'm thinking straight and things will work like I think they will. So here it goes:
 
I want to put a sound card into my pc to deal with some casual gaming so I can get all the eax/surround/other processing junk that goes along with that.
 
However, music playback is my priority. I plan on sending all my music to an asio output going through the sound card's digital out. From there, I want to go into an external dac and a headphone amp, and finally into my headphones (I use headphones 95% of the time).
 
From the impression I get, this would seem to give me the best of both worlds (music+games).When playing games, sound goes through all the sound card internal stuff, but when I want music it'll skip all that and get sent straight out to the higher quality components.
 
Does that make sense? A couple questions/concerns pop into my mind:
 
1) Would audio for my games get sent through a dac twice, once in the soundcard's internal dac and once through the external one? If so, is that bad?
2) Obviously for this to work I need the sound card to support passing bitperfect audio through the digital out. Would this restrict my choice of cards or do most gaming oriented cards (ie X-fi) support this?
 
While I'm thinking about this, I've "rented" a xonar essence stx from fry's (love their return policy . Obviously even this is a huge step up from the onboard audio and I'm tempted to just save my money and accept the compromises of this simpler solution. I'll probably just end up upgrading later if I do that, though.
 
Your thoughts would be much appreciated, sorry for the long post.

 

[anwaypasible]

Quote:

 
1) Would audio for my games get sent through a dac twice, once in the soundcard's internal dac and once through the external one? If so, is that bad?
2) Obviously for this to work I need the sound card to support passing bitperfect audio through the digital out. Would this restrict my choice of cards or do most gaming oriented cards (ie X-fi) support this?

question one should be simple enough for you to comprehend.
if the output from the soundcard is analog, you have used the internal dac.
and if the output from the soundcard is digital, you havent used the internal dac.
it is bad to run through more than one dac, unless the 1 in a million chance occurs where the person who has given you both dacs knows the characteristics of each and therefore knows that combining the two results in a much more linear output.
 
although, it might just be the amplifier circuitry that the person knows about.
combining this with this will equal a more linear output.
 
bit perfect occurs whenever you bypass the windows audio 'card dealer'
asio or kernel streaming have been said to bypass all sorts of normal data routes.
i think all sound cards support asio and kernel streaming as long as the data isnt sent to the soundcard faster than the soundcard can drink up the data.
i suppose some soundcards are 'locked' so that they drink up the data at an odd rate and at an odd rate only.
 
manually writing your own drivers instead of pre-made asio drivers will increase your chances of making the card drink the data at an appropriate rate.
 
being honest.. it should be seen that most of the work from an audio player and soundcard do not use the operating system nor do they need to.
in fact, you can wire your dvd drive directly to your soundcard if the soundcard has the available option.
 
an operating system is like a deck of cards, with each card having its own special value.
then there is the card dealer.
and finally the people at the table playing the game.
 
using asio is supposed to be like one player at the table having a conversation with another player of the table.
the cards do not need to be involved and thus neither does the card dealer.
 
and now that i am done talking about some serious hacking..
kernel streaming are basically special drivers or 'methods' already hacked for you.
 
the appropriate question would be.. does your audio player know which person at the table to talk to?

 

[joysofpi]

Thanks! that clears it up for me.
 
Another question:
since I won't be using the sound card's own dac, does this mean that I should just go for the cheapest card?
ie. if I get an asus xonar there wouldn't be any reason to get a xonar d2 over a xonar ds for the extra $130

 

[anwaypasible]

i'd like to think the difference between soundcards is the sound effects you apply to the audio before it leaves out to the dac.
 
but i suppose it isnt IMPOSSIBLE for the soundcard's processor to provide jitter to the audio data.. but with that said, i dont think it is common since we are talking binary language.
 
you plug the card into the motherboard and the system sets itself up so all the audio data goes to the soundcard instead of through the northbridge chip and onto the central processor and then wherever else it goes.
instead the soundcard gets to use its internal processor to 'read' the ones and zeros.
 
the best things that i can tell you would be to make sure the card is 24bit or 32bit audio processing capable (for the ability of processing sound effects or equalizer.. plus future plans of higher bitrate communication)
 
other differences between soundcards is the latency setting that must be used when using asio.
if you arent recording anything it really doesnt matter a single bit.
 
but maybe one soundcard has a 'feature' or 'option' that you want.
something special like a 3d surround environment or some other special FX would be a reason to consider one card over the other.
 
the people that use a dedicated sound card to output a digital signal to an external dac have it easy.
 
but i guess that means we need more features on soundcards to choose from.

 

[wadec22]

Just to throw my 2 cents in... I've spent a lot of time with both dolby headphone and cmss-3d lately.  IMHO, cmss-3d will help more with online gaming to get more kills.  Dolby headphone is more immersive though.  For movies and single player gaming, I would go dolby headphone (asus card) for online gaming I'd go x-fi.

 

[mcnoiserdc]

Interesting. Why do you say Cmss-3d for online?
 
Quote:

Just to throw my 2 cents in... I've spent a lot of time with both dolby headphone and cmss-3d lately.  IMHO, cmss-3d will help more with online gaming to get more kills.  Dolby headphone is more immersive though.  For movies and single player gaming, I would go dolby headphone (asus card) for online gaming I'd go x-fi.

 

[wadec22]

 
Quote:

Interesting. Why do you say Cmss-3d for online?
 

 

I find it more accurate for locating enemies.
 

 

[mcnoiserdc]

Great. Do you have a clue if your enemies are above or below? For instance when I play using dolby heaphones or even 5.1 discrete drivers, I never know if they are below or above, or same level. 
 
Someone told me with creative you get a clue.
 
Quote:

 

I find it more accurate for locating enemies.
 

 

[wadec22]

Yes, enabling the elevation filter in cmss-3d helps.  When they are directly above you like in the same building it gets a little tougher but it generally works very well.
Quote:

Great. Do you have a clue if your enemies are above or below? For instance when I play using dolby heaphones or even 5.1 discrete drivers, I never know if they are below or above, or same level. 
 
Someone told me with creative you get a clue.