Hi all, I just wanted to make sure I was correct in my assumption regarding soundcards: If i have a soundcard installed, and I have a normal 3.5mm jack headset plugged into the front of the PC (or even the back for that matter) usingthe motherboards sound, if I then plug speakers into the soundcard installed am I able to listen to itunes through the speakers whilst talking and hearing someone on skype through the headset. I believe I can do it without a sound card if I buy a USB headset, but to be honest I think I may aswell just buy a soundcard instead. In addition to this, can anyone recommend a cheap sound card? I am not a sound connoisseur, so am not looking for a great quality card, just something that will allow music to be played while on headset with skype (basically it doesn't really need to be any better than onboard sound tends to be) For ultimate budget there is a £10 Speedlink one: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/spee...support-for-directsound-3d-and-a3d-interfaces For something hopefully more respectable there is Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE for £20: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/creative-sound-blaster-audigy-se-71-oem-pci-sound-card Then there is an Asus Xonar DG 5.1 which I imagine would be good at £25: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-xonar-dg-51-pci-surround-sound-card-with-headphone-amp As I say, I am not looking for fantastic quality, so if the £10 would be at least as good as onboard then it would do, on the other hand if it will be crappy I would rather spend more for something decent if it is worth the extra cash (I know they are all pretty cheap, but as someone who clearly does not appreciate the finer quality of sound I don't want to spend what I won't reall notice)
I don't think it'll work like that. When you install a dedicated sound card, you have to disable the onboard in the BIOS else you get all sorts of driver issues.
Really? Well that is a pain. I thought you could set programmes such as itunes to use audio output on the soundcard while I could set skype to use the headset plugged into the mobo
You CAN do this... but WHY? The person you talk to will hear a mess (your music and you) as the Mic will pick up both (your voice, and what coming out of your speakers). And you would hear kinda the same... the music surrounding you, and the persons voice. Also, you would need a special software that support multiple audio card, like Winamp. iTunes and Windows Media Player uses Windows default audio source, so no good. It's a big mess and you'll end up to square one, where both music and Skype voice comes out of the same speakers.
I do exactly this. I use a Medusa headset with USB sound card for Skype and the on board sound for music and system sounds. The Windows default sound card is the on board. The key to it is that Skype can be set independently without using the Windows control panel applet - you just tell Skype which sound input/output you want it to use. To answer GoodBytes question: the reason I do it this way is because the only microphone I have is on the Medusa headset but I do not use Skype that often. If I get a call I simply put the headset on and answer. I have found in the past that trying to alter the Skype sound input/output options once a call has been answered can cause me problems. If I have music playing when answering the call, I simply turn it down.
One reason is sometimes the wife likes music quietly in the background, but another reason is to hear in game sounds which can be very important in some games. I know friends do this and we don't hear anything over the headset, so if done right it works
Not true, I'm running an Asus Xonar Essence STX on an EVGA X58 SLI and have both the sound card and onboard sound working with no trouble. I don't know if I'm a special case, but it works great over here.
You can certainly use on-board sound for one instance and dedicated soundcard for something else. I use my onboard sound for my headset for Ventrilo, and my dedicated sound card for my 5.1 Logitech speakers for game sounds. As for which card, the Asus you posted should be good for what you're using it for, and will provide decent quality sound.
I ended up going the easy way and just getting a USB headset. Works perfectly, it runs skype, music or game sounds come from the speakers and nothing is over heard through her mic. Thanks all.
Agreed, and it's not a special case. Multiple concurrently-active soundcards is something that most operating systems have no trouble with and that's been the case for a long time. It'd be a nightmare to use a DAW PC with multiple audio interface devices if this wasn't the case.
You don't have to. My Setup: 5.1 on Audigy. Teamspeak on motherboard. In windows 7, i go to playback devices and set my default device to my audigy. Set my default communications device to the motherboard. In teamspeak I set the capture and playback device to the onboard audio. This way I can enjoy team communication via teamspeak in bfbc2, with a decent one ear/mic headset and acoustic echo cancellation within teamspeak there is no "bleeding" of the audio. Replace teamspeak with skype and bfbc2 with itunes and roberts your fathers brother.
