[Breach]

First off, I'm really new to amps, DACs, etc so please bear with me
 
That said, I'm considering getting an x-can v8p amp to power my HD 650 headphones. I'm a 100% PC user my source is my FLAC collection. Here's my question - so far I've been using my Creative X-Fi (Fatality champion bla-bla) card. If I do get the x-can, I understand this amp has some semi-decent DAC which I can use if I go via USB? So I can either:
 
a) Hook the soundcard to the amp directly via coax (bypassing the amp's DAC?) or
b) Switch to the x-can's DAC over USB, bypassing the X-fi entirely.
 
Would the x-can's DAC produce better quality than the X-fi's?
 
An additional problem is that I do play games, so I make use of the X-fi's EAX etc. which I assume would be all lost if I bypass the card. In that configuration I suppose I can connect to the amp over both USB and linein and use the little switch the x-can has to switch between both inputs...? Whew. I hope I've managed to explain the situation, any advice? Thanks.

 

[pekingduck]

 
Quote:

Would the x-can's DAC produce better quality than the X-fi's?

 
I doubt

 
 
Quote:

An additional problem is that I do play games, so I make use of the X-fi's EAX etc. which I assume would be all lost if I bypass the card. In that configuration I suppose I can connect to the amp over both USB and linein and use the little switch the x-can has to switch between both inputs...? Whew. I hope I've managed to explain the situation, any advice? Thanks.

 
No idea what EAX actually does but I guess it's some kind of digital processing technology so your assumption is likely to be right. Yes you can connect both inputs at the same time and use that little switch.

 

[hazardous]

Yeah you want to use the x-fi over using USB into the X-can. It should not only be better quality, but you get stuff like EAX as well.
 
I'm confused as to how you would hook the x-fi to the x-can though. X-can only supports analog inputs (besides usb), and in your post you said "to the amp directly via coax" output. Also, I think the x-fi champion only has a toslink output right? So you would need x-fi (for processing) > separate dac unit > x-can?