Soundcard Query

[-h2o-]

I recently purchased the Logitech Z-5400 speakers for my room and I must say I am extremely impressed by the performance of these speakers. To complete my sound setup I am considering in purchasing Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music - OEM version for £51.00 to ensure i stay within my £200 budget.

This will be my first time purchasing a soundcard as I have never really felt need to, so you could say my knowledge is somewhat lacking. When the family is around i am always forced into wearing my headset and mic combo, the current issue i currently face is I have to unplug my speakers to be able to use my headset. I was wondering if it would be possible to run my speakers from my soundcard and use the existing onboard sound to use my headset and mic. I am unsure if there will be obvious conflicts as I have never used a soundcard before with my computer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[schapman]

It would work but you would have to keep switching which audio device you want to use all the time. A better bet for you would be either the XFI eXtreme gamer or the XFI Platinum.

The gamer will hook up to the front ports on your case and the platinum adds a 5 1/4 bay that has headphone/mic hookups on it. When you plug in your headphones you can have it auto-mute the speakers and switch you from speaker to headphone mode.

 

[alg7_munif]

The speaker has an output for headphones on the receiver, just buy an extension for the mic and place it next to the receiver, when you need to use the headset, just connect it to the receiver and extension.

 

[-h2o-]

thanks for the replies

the far left connection is where I believe I could connect my headset (the other connections are for 6 channel surround sound) could I connect my headset into the soundcard and then (because it's a headset combo) plug the mic into the onboard mic jack. I think it should still work as long as I select the mic’s source.

 

[schapman]

If that's an extreme music (which it looks like) then that far jack is the digital out/mic in

So you won't be able to hook up the headphones there. The output from it is the same as the one you'd use for your front speakers.

The extremegamer lets you hook up your card to your cases built in mic/headphone jacks on the front. the platinum adds a front bay with all the hookups.

 

[-h2o-]

adds a front bay

i currently own the thermaltake tsunami case and the front bays are shielded which causes a bit of an issue unfortantly the top headphone and mic jacks have became damaged and unfortantly fail to work.

i dont know if it's possible to get a microphone exstension lead, as that would be the most ideal solution as i can connect my headset but it won't reach my mic port.

 

[alg7_munif]

i currently own the thermaltake tsunami case and the front bays are shielded which causes a bit of an issue unfortantly the top headphone and mic jacks have became damaged and unfortantly fail to work.

i dont know if it's possible to get a microphone exstension lead, as that would be the most ideal solution as i can connect my headset but it won't reach my mic port.

Buy an extension cable for your mic and connect it directly to the card. Connect your headphones jack to the receiver and the mic jack to the extension cable, problem solved.

 

[schapman]

Buy an extension cable for your mic and connect it directly to the card. Connect your headphones jack to the receiver and the mic jack to the extension cable, problem solved.

Yup. That would be the easiest way.

Something like http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2459821
plug it into the mic port on the back of the card.

Also, if you're going to be switching then, I recommend grabbing http://www.freewebs.com/spectra9/xfmc.html and running it. It'll let you easily switch between headphone/speaker mode as well as entertainment/gaming/creation modes on the XFI (and it keeps independant volumes and such for speaker/heapdhone modes).