Questions on Audigy 2

[Chriz]

Ok just got a sound blaster audigy 2 ZS sound card (the one with no external drive). A couple questions:

1) I noticed it has 3 line out jacks on it, I know this is supposed to be used for surround sound speakers. But is it possible i could have a set of normal speakers plugged into line 1 and headphones plugged into line 2, and Would sound output to both of them or just the line 1?

2) It came with a digital cd audio cable. Is this cable only used for digital speakers or would this work for normal headphones/speakers too?

Thanks.

 

[tdowning]

I don't know the specifics of the Audigy 2, but I can tell you that the Digital CD Audio cable will not carry an analog signal properly.

My SB Live Plat. 5.1 came with a Digital CD Audio cable, and if yours is like mine it will only connect to one internal connector on the sound card, and is meant to connect to the Digital Audio Out port on the back of your CD-Rom drive. (As far as I have seen all modern ones above like 12x have them)

If I recall correctly this port on the back of your CD-Rom outputs in the SP/DIF format.

I have seen mod guides that show how to connect that port to an RCA jack on the back of the computer for connection to external audio devices.

As far as headphones go, some sound cards will put out a strong enough signal to power headphones and some won't. It depends on the card and the headphones. If it was me I would get a decent set of speakers with a headphone jack. That way you can use the volume control on the speakers to control the headphone level, and when you plug headphones in the speakers will be muted.

 

[Chriz]

I have the klipsch pro media GMX A-2.1 speakers, but I don't think it has a headphone output on it. I guess i'll just have to wait until I install the card tomorrow and try it out and see if the headphones will work in line 2 or vice versa.

I am still kinda confused in the digital audio thing. So, the only reason I would want to even use the digital audio cable to my DVD burner is if I had speakers going to my digital output or spdif on my sound card right? If I am using the normal line 1/2/3 out jacks, I wouldn't want to use the digital audio cable to hook up to my burner (just use the normal analog cd audio cable instead), correct?