Soundblaster Live! external (USB) questions

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1

So I just got one of these mainly for work as they disabled our sound cards on our pc’s a while ago (it got good reviews so I figured I’d just bring it back on forth from work to home so I can enjoy it outside of work aswell). I also picked up a real nice altec lancing 5.1 surround sound unit for home.

So I get home last night and hook the surround sound up to the sound blaster external card and it sounds pretty good for the most part, but I noticed that when I had the volume up it seemed like the sound was fading in and out slightly. Now I’m not sure if this is becuase the USB interface can’t support the bandwidth the soundblaster needs for 5.1… or if I’m just so used to listening to mp3s thru the shitty onboard (and the cheesy, blown $20.00 4.1 “gamezone” speakers I had before) that I never realised how crappy the mp3s’ quality was.

Any ideas? I’ve honestly never bothered getting anything better than onboard for sound before so this is sort of new to me.

2

my speakers do that sometimes. i end up having to hit the volume control remote a few times.

3

really? what speakers are you using? (if thier altec lansing, what model are they?) Also, what sound card are you using? is it usb?

4

i think i have sound blaster speakers, and some off brand usb surround sound device. when it happens, it actually sounds like the sound volume is going up and down randomly

5

sounds like the exact same problem I’m having

wonder if it’s because of the USB interface… do you notice if it’s better/worse depending if the volume is higher or lower?

6

well, maybe it was my connections or something. Brought it home last night… tried getting it to reproduce the same effect and nothing… works great.

strange