[Stealthbr]

Hello everyone. I recently bought an Ibasso D4 DAC/Amp and a pair of Denon D2000's. These will be used solely on my computer. I already have a soundcard installed (Creative Xtreme Gamer). What I need help with is setting up my D4. Should I remove my soundcard? How should the wiring look? Should I use the AUX OUT/IN? Basically, it would be great if anyone could guide me step by step on setting up my sound system for I am quite the novice.
 
BTW, for some reason, changing the volume on my Windows volume panel seems to do nothing at all when using the D4. Need help with this too!
 
Thanks everyone!

 

[kitkat12012]

i don't have any experiences with amps so i'm not 100% sure, but feel free to give this a try if you want.
 
if the d4 can work as a usb dac, you should be able to connect that to your pc using usb, then connect your cans to the dac.  you shouldn't need your soundcard this way.
 
another option would be to take the out signal from the soundcard and connect it to the aux in/out on the d4 using a 1/8 to 1/8 cable i'm guessing.  then connect your cans to the headphone out on the d4. 
 
 
in both cases, since the d4 has it's own volume knob, the windows sound control shouldn't be able to control it's volume.  i'm guessing you're gonna have to manually twist that knob.

 

[Stealthbr]

Is there any way to retain some of the soundcard's features? Such a setup is working great for listening to music but playing games took a hit.

 

[Stealthbr]

Here's a thought. If I use the battery option with the D4, connect my headphones to the Headphone jack, connect a cable from the AUX IN/OUT to the sound card, would that allow me to use the sound card's features?

 

[b0klau]

the d4 comes with a DAC chip, that bypasses your soundcard. Sorry to say, but if u were going to use your soundcard in the first place, you should have not bought the ibasso. trying to use the soundcard with the ibasso defeats the purpose of the included DAC. As of now I don't know any way you could use the ibasso together with the soundcard. In any case, try using the d4 through the USB. I've got a friend who also has a d4 and the d2000s. just use the included USB cable to connect to your computer. It automatically bypasses the soundcard. But again the amp section of the d4 is going to waste.

 

[PolloLoco]

I don't know about the last sentence - since the dac is bypassing the sound card, you're still using the amp in the D4 mamba. :-/  It's just that you're not applying the amp to the sound card.
 
I've got both the Creative Extreme Gamer and the D4 mamba painlessly switching on my PC.  I connect the D4 to the PC via the USB cable.  That means all sound defaults through the D4 - and I have my headphones connected to it.  I have my surround sound speakers connected to the Gamer card.
 
In Vista Ultimate - I go into the start menu, then "control panel", then "sound".  This lists your sound devices.  I keep this up on my screen at all times, though you don't have to.  Any time I want to switch to hearing stuff from the speakers (X-Fi Gamer) - I right click and disable the item labeled "3-USB Audio Dac".  Immediately - the next item to be enabled would be "Creative SB X-Fi".  Anytime I need to switch between the items I just have to right click and enable or disable.  It's totally painless.
 
Once you enable the sound card, I suppose you could disconnect the D4 and connect it to the audio port of the sound card with a 3.5mm cable - but I hate swapping cables so often.

 

[roob]

I tried to do something similar when I first got my D4. However, the X-Fi need some kind of I/O module to be able to send it's signal to the D4 via AUX (it says the cards got I/O but it's appearantly som kind of dumb solution by Creative). I game with my D4 DAC and it's not for the worse, maybe in terms of CPU power but the sound is as good as it gets.

Anywhoooo... If you decide to get the I/O module I the D4 AUX IN/OUT has a bypass that allows you to use the amp with an external sound card