any point in a good sound card...

[TheCenturion]

...if I'm using usb speakers?

 

[hohum]

Nope, as you're totally bypassing any soundcard you may have installed.

 

[AbsenceJam]

You only need a decent soundcard if you use the analogue outputs or need some specific feature.

 

[badbob]

You only need a decent soundcard if you use the analogue outputs or need some specific feature.

Or have a decent sound system.

 

[AbsenceJam]

Or have a decent sound system.

No, this doesn't change what I said.

 

[badbob]

No, this doesn't change what I said.

Wrong. If you have a decent sound system, ie Hi-Fi seperates then it deserves a decent soundcard. Although if you use USB speakers then it doesn't matter.

 

[AbsenceJam]

Wrong. If you have a decent sound system, ie Hi-Fi seperates then it deserves a decent soundcard. Although if you use USB speakers then it doesn't matter.

You only need a decent soundcard if you use the analogue outputs or need some specific feature.

.

 

[badbob]

You said nothing about speaker quality.. :-/ What has features and analogue outputs got to do with speaker quality?

 

[AbsenceJam]

You said nothing about speaker quality.. :-/ What has features and analogue outputs got to do with speaker quality?

What? You're confusing me now.
If you have a quality sound system and you want to use analogue input from your PC then you need a decent card. If you're using a DAC (S/PDIF or USB) you don't need one as it makes no difference unless you want specific functionality like the X-Fi's adding EAX affects or the HDMI cards.

 

[Monkeynut]

The USB headphones have their own sound card built-in. That's why you don't have to hook it up to your sound card. So if you bought a sound card the USB speakers would be using their own sound card, and the dedicated one would be just sitting there wasting power.