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Greetings,

I am a avid tech fan and have recently (last few years) gotten into building machines. I am finally satisfied with my machine and periphals, but I am always on the lookout for ways to improve my system. I have never been too much of an audiophile before and have relied on integrated sound for as long as I care to remember. However, I recently got a chance to listen to some movies, music, and games on a friend's machine with a dedicated sound card and was thoroughly impressed. I have since been eyeing Asus Xonar DG because of its review on TR and its attractive $23 price on Newegg.

As I stated before I have never had a sound card before and I am not too sure as to how they work so here is my situation: I have the Corsair HS1 headset and love it, but it has a USB connection as opposed to the standard 3.5mm jack that I would plug in to the sound card (if i had one). So my question would be, does a discrete sound card matter at all when the headset is connected via USB, or does the sound card only affect peripherals plugged directly into the card itself?

Thanks for any input.

Great question. I've never used USB phones. Most sounds cards lack USB ports, most have 1/8" ports, some 1/4" jacks plus optical

I found some adapters in a quick search. To USB Motorola Headset Adapter 3.5mm to MicroUSB http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Headset- ... B001DSUUGC

To micro USB Samsung Headset Adapter Micro USB to3.5mm Female http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Headset-A ... ne+adapter

You could try this USB external card too, but its megabucks (but doesn't that mean its really audiophile??!?) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829132023

derTorbs wrote:

So my question would be, does a discrete sound card matter at all when the headset is connected via USB, or does the sound card only affect peripherals plugged directly into the card itself?

Thanks for any input.

No, to "would it matter" and Yes to affecting things plugged directly into it.

:edit:
there's no point in trying an adapter, you'd probably ruin the phones

So buying the sound card would only be beneficial in this sense if I were able to plug something directly into it correct?

derTorbs wrote:

So buying the sound card would only be beneficial in this sense if I were able to plug something directly into it correct?

Yes.

Thanks for the quick replies.

As a follow up, is there such a thing as a sound card with a USB connection?

I believe the USB connection means that the headphones actually have a built in mini sound card themselves. If you are not happy with the sound from the headphones then it doesn't matter what sound card is in the PC because the PC sound card isn't being used.

notfred wrote:

I believe the USB connection means that the headphones actually have a built in mini sound card themselves. If you are not happy with the sound from the headphones then it doesn't matter what sound card is in the PC because the PC sound card isn't being used.

100% correct