Some general questions

[KowKow]

Hi there! I'm beginning to wander into the world of better audio equipment... I listen to a lot of music (all genres at one point or another) on my computer, and have never had a really nice set of speakers or anything other than the onboard audio card. Which apparently is a travesty, I've just never known anything better.I listen to music and play a good amount of multiplayer games, so listening bounces between headphones and speakers a fair amount.

For convenience, I've had my headphones plugged into my keyboard, which sounds like utter crap... It was just the easiest way to sit down and plug in. So on a bit of an impulse buy, I purchased Bravo Audio on sale. Seemed like a good intro into headphone amps, and the (potentially somewhat gimmicky) "EQ" controls would be fun to mess around with on the fly.

On the speaker side of things, small size is definitely a huuuuge factor for me, as I move a lot and hate having a lot of "things." I'm planning on purchasing the recently released Audioengine A2+ and eventually looking to get the SVS-SB1000.

So saying I have all three of these things, I'm a bit iffy on the sound card situation. But for reference I was checking out the Amazon.com: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD Internal Sound Card with THX SB1270: Electronics but that's not locked down or anything...



Main question! The A2s have a DAC built in, and as I understand it, if I use the USB connection, the DAC gets used. If I use the regular sound inputs, it doesn't? That said, say I bought the above sound card or another suggestion, would it be better to use the built in DAC for the speakers or use the sound card?

Second! When I got a subwoofer, would I want to plug that into the sound card or into the A2s with the "RCA variable line-out?"

And I'm assuming I could just have the headphone amp plugged into the sound card the entire time. And plug the headphones into that when I sit down, probably having to switch something in the settings. I'm not completely positive the sound card I was checking out will be able to do all of those things...

Sorry for the potentially misguided rant, huge thanks to anyone who takes the time to answer!

 

[markw]

In no particular order, yes, you would plug the subwoofer into the A2s "RCA variable line-out". that would allow you to control the volume of the speakers and the sub with one control.

As for which DAC to use, that would depend on which has the better DAC, the A2s or the sound card. I can't make that call, particularly since you haven't decided on which sound card you'll be using. In any case, trust your ears. That's what matters.