A Secound Sound Card

[Al Kaufmann]

Would there be a problem installing a second sound card in Windows XP Home?
I ask because it seems like a easy solution for someone that want to hook up
there speakers to one card and a headset to the other card.

Ak

 

[DJ Borell]

Yes, this can be done...but I wouldn't want the potential headache from
trying to do it.

Sound cards can be very testy devices. Generally, they have certain
resources they want and, if they don't get them, they refuse to do what you
want...like a stubborn 4-year old. Putting two of them in the same system
is like putting two 4-year olds in the same room...they may play nice, or
there may be a lot of fighting, crying a whining.

If your goal is just to hook up a set of speakers and a set of headphones, I
would just go the easy route --

1) Get a set of speakers with a built-in headphone jack. These usually
disable the speakers when the headphones are plugged in.

2) Get a "Y" adapter that will allow you to plug both devices into the same
sound card.

or,

3) Get a more expensive sound card with multiple outputs on it.

 

[Al Kaufmann]

Thanks for the advice. I was hoping that a second sound card would work.
Another solution is something like the Microsoft Sidewinder Game Voice but
they stopped making those. :-(

Ak

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Just buy a Y-adapter. You can plug in both the speakers and the headset.
Also, I know that Plantonics has a switching device where you can select
"Speakers" or "HeadSet".