[Philipp Wachtel[_5_]]

iarwain:

I replaced my Soundblaster Live with the 2496. Seems to be working
fine,

Congrats! ;-)

My Soundblaster Live had a cable running to the cd-rom (I believe).
This cable is attached to that soundcard and does not seem to be
removeable. Should I buy a new cable and attach the cd-rom to the
2496?

No, this cable is only required for analog signal transfer from
CD-/DVD-drive to the soundcard. That was a relevant technique until about 10
years ago. It´s better (and also cheaper!) to simply use the digital
transfer through the CD-drive´s normal ribbon datacable.
In Windows, you can either set this in the properties for the CD-/DVD-drive
(it should actually be set to "Digital playback" or similar by default)
globally, which works for programs like WinMediaplayer. In WinAmp, you´ll
have to check "Nullsoft CD Plug-In..." for the correct setting. This is
because, WinAmp does not use/care about the global Windows settings. The
same goes for the output settings.

Is there even a spot on the 2496 to attach it to a a cable for
the cd-rom?

I could look for it, but I don´t really see a reason to do so. Digital
transfer means better sound quality and one cable less in the PC case...

If there is no spot for a cable on the 2496, does that mean I can't
use my cd-rom anymore?

Why that? Of course, you can still use the cd-rom drive, for reading data,
as well as audio!

I have an external USB DVD writer so it's not
really a big issue but still.

So, try to put an audio cd into this external drive, that has no direct
analog connection to any soundcard and hear, what happens. If you´re using
Win2k, XP or Vista, I´ll bet, you´ll still hear the cd sound coming out of
the soundcard. ;-)

Should I put my Soundblaster Live back
in and try to run both cards? I read somewhere that Windows doesn't
like to have two soundcards? Someone here must have some experience
with this.

Once you´ve become familiar to the sound of the DAC on the Delta 2496, you
won´t want to go back to a SB live.
In other words: NO, do NOT put the SB live back onto the mainboard!


Phil