I'm looking for a soundcard that comes with it's own dedicated headphone connection point, either internal or external, it doesn't
matter.
Note: I know I can plug headphones into a cards sound output but that's not what I want. What I need is a soundcard that will
provide headphone audio independent of any windows settings or speaker output.
Thanks for any pointers.

My Presonus Firebox would fit the bill. Cost about 3 bills, and comes
with Cubase LE.

The loudest headphone jack in existence. This thing would drive mains.

"Marky A" wrote in message oups.com...
My Presonus Firebox would fit the bill. Cost about 3 bills, and comes
with Cubase LE.

The loudest headphone jack in existence. This thing would drive mains.

thanks for your feedback. I always admire things that run over firewire, however I'm not sure this box would work for my needs and
3
bills is a risk I can't take. I'm assuming the headphone socket on this box is just a duplication of what would normally come out
of the line outputs. Thus is your software switched off the line out signal, you wouldn't hear anything out of the headphones. Is
that right?

tg wrote:
I'm looking for a soundcard that comes with it's own dedicated headphone connection point, either internal or external

When people say "soundCARD" we usualy thinik of a card that goes inside
the computer box. I've been campaigning for the term "Computer audio
interface" for a while, but "soundcard" just seems to be part of the
culture.

Anyway, there are a number of audio interfaces that have a headphone
jack, and many have more than one, and volume control(s) as well. These
days, interfaces with USB or Firewire connections to the computer are
popular, though there are still a few boxes that connect via a host PCI
card. How many channels do you need, and what's your preferred
connection to the computer?

tg wrote:

I'm looking for a soundcard that comes with it's own dedicated headphone connection point, either internal or external, it doesn't
matter.

Didn't you ask this on another group ? I replied already

Hint. When you have a question that's relevant to several groups *please* crosspost it to avoid duplication of effort on the part of
respondents. Multi-posting in this case is just daft.

Graham

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message oups.com...

tg wrote:
I'm looking for a soundcard that comes with it's own dedicated headphone connection point, either internal or external

When people say "soundCARD" we usualy thinik of a card that goes inside
the computer box. I've been campaigning for the term "Computer audio
interface" for a while, but "soundcard" just seems to be part of the
culture.

Anyway, there are a number of audio interfaces that have a headphone
jack, and many have more than one, and volume control(s) as well. These
days, interfaces with USB or Firewire connections to the computer are
popular, though there are still a few boxes that connect via a host PCI
card. How many channels do you need, and what's your preferred
connection to the computer?

prefer PCI 'audio interface'.
All I need on the audio interface are the basics, line in, mike in, speaker out but a dedicated headphone connection point that
works independently of the speaker out socket. I'm working with a program at the moment that mutes the sound from the speaker
socket, but I want sound so I thought about getting round this through a dedicated headphone socket that isn't controlled by the
windows mixer.

On Fri, 9 Jun 2006 22:50:57 +0100, "tg"
wrote:

I'm assuming the headphone socket on this box is just a duplication of what would normally come out
of the line outputs. Thus is your software switched off the line out signal, you wouldn't hear anything out of the headphones. Is
that right?

The manual is he
http://www.presonus.com/pdf/fireboxManual1.0.pdf

There is quite comprehensive routing available in the software mixer.
See if it does what you want.

You may find a small mixing board a cheaper and easier solution.

"tg" wrote in message
...

"Marky A" wrote in message
oups.com...
My Presonus Firebox would fit the bill. Cost about 3 bills, and comes
with Cubase LE.

The loudest headphone jack in existence. This thing would drive mains.

thanks for your feedback. I always admire things that run over firewire,
however I'm not sure this box would work for my needs and
3
bills is a risk I can't take. I'm assuming the headphone socket on this
box is just a duplication of what would normally come out
of the line outputs. Thus is your software switched off the line out
signal, you wouldn't hear anything out of the headphones. Is
that right?

No. The headphone can be swithed to: line 1 & 2, line 3 & 4, line 5 & 6,
SPDIF and Mix. So you could kill Line 1&2 while still listening to Line 3&4
or to Mix, which will give you everything coming from the inputs. It's
really a very versatile little mixer.

Meindert

tg wrote:

prefer PCI 'audio interface'.

That's going to get you more than you need in other respects. I believe
that nowadays every PCI auido interface (card in the computer with an
exteranl box) has multiple channels. About the smallest one I can think
of at the moment is the Echo Gina which has two inputs and six analog
and two digital outputs. And a headphone jack..

All I need on the audio interface are the basics, line in, mike in, speaker out but a dedicated headphone connection point that
works independently of the speaker out socket. I'm working with a program at the moment that mutes the sound from the speaker
socket

Are you taking about the loudspeaker jack on the built-in sound card
that just about every computer has? Depending on how your application
mutes this output, it may mute the output of any interface. At this
point there's insufficient information to tell what will happen if you
use an alternate interface. There's a tiny chance that if you stated
what application does this someone here will either:

- Have heard of it and can tell you whether what you want to do is even
possible
or
- Know the application and can tell you what you're doing wroing so you
can change settings and get the output that you want.

3 bills is a risk I can't take.

Why is this a risk? Haven't you ever heard of returning something for a
refund if it doesn't suit your needs? The only risk is that you'l be
out $300 for as long as it takes for you to try it and see if you can
make it work in your application. While you can't usually do this if
all of your buying is used-via-eBay, but any legitimate dealer will let
you return something like an audio interface if it doesn't work for
you.

Mike Rivers wrote:

Haven't you ever heard of returning something for a
refund if it doesn't suit your needs? The only risk is that you'l be
out $300 for as long as it takes for you to try it and see if you can
make it work in your application.

He's in the UK. It's very unusual for ppl to try out goods this way here. Once the packaging is opened you're expected to keep it.

Graham

Pooh Bear wrote:

He's in the UK. It's very unusual for ppl to try out goods this way here. Once the packaging is opened you're expected to keep it.

That would keep me from buying in the UK for sure. I probably return
half the "high tech" stuff that I buy. You never really know what
you're getting with some of this stuff until you try it out, and so
often it just isn't what you really need or expect.

I've been limping along with a laptop computer that I've wanted to
replace for a while now because that's one item over there that the
near universal policy is a 15% restocking charge if you return it. $150
is more than I want to throw away, particularly more than once.

If there were really meaningful specifications and dealers knew what
they were selling, I wouldn't feel that it was necessary to have the
option of returning things that I buy, but that's not the way life is.
Nor would I expect anything but a blank stare if I asked the clerk in
the computer store or Office Depot if the Firewire port on this laptop
computer that I'm thinking of buying will work with the Mackie Onyx
Firewire interface.

And it doesn't help to ask other computer users because you can almost
never be assured of getting the same computer that someone else has
that works unless you build it yourself (and even that's subject to
availability of parts) and I don't know how to build my own laptop.

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
oups.com...

Pooh Bear wrote:

He's in the UK. It's very unusual for ppl to try out goods this way
here. Once the packaging is opened you're expected to keep it.

That would keep me from buying in the UK for sure.

This is common in the entire Europe area, I think. You have to have a good
story te be able to return something once the package is opened. I would
also be very suspicious if I bought something in a package that has been
taped together again.

Meindert
(from the Netherlands)

Meindert Sprang wrote:

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
oups.com...

Pooh Bear wrote:

He's in the UK. It's very unusual for ppl to try out goods this way here.
Once the packaging is opened you're expected to keep it.

That would keep me from buying in the UK for sure.

This is common in the entire Europe area, I think. You have to have a good
story te be able to return something once the package is opened.

There are some retailers who've always had a policy of accepting returns though.
I can only think of Marks and Spencer now but possibly John Lewis do that too.
Catalogue amil order companies do too since that's the only way to check outt
heir gods but their prices aren't competitive normally anyway.

I would also be very suspicious if I bought something in a package that has
been
taped together again.

This is what puzzlees me. Somone has to check that all the manuals, disks,
licenses etc ( for a computer product ) are there and so on. I wouldn't be happy
with a package whose seal was broken either.

Graham

Pooh Bear wrote:

There are some retailers who've always had a policy of accepting returns though.
I can only think of Marks and Spencer now but possibly John Lewis do that too.
Catalogue amil order companies do too since that's the only way to check outt
heir gods but their prices aren't competitive normally anyway.

Over here, the mail order audio and MI dealers undersell most of the
storefront retailers most of the time, and in general they'll take
returns gracefully. The thing that probably saves them more than
anything else is that a lot of people think it's too much bother to
pack something up, take it to the post office, and pay for return
shipping. They'd rather live with it.

A storefront dealer can usually come pretty close to mail order price
but often can't match it. But he can give you an immediate refund or
exchange and sometimes other services. And if you get to know your
dealer well, you'd be surprised at what you can take home to try, or
even to just plain borrow even though you know you don't need something
often enough to justify owning it.

This is what puzzlees me. Somone has to check that all the manuals, disks,
licenses etc ( for a computer product ) are there and so on. I wouldn't be happy
with a package whose seal was broken either.

Well, YOU could check it in the store before you take it away.

Or you could call the dealer when you got home to find something
missing and he'd take care of you. It's a good idea to check for
essentials like a power supply if it's external, or unusal cables. But
we all know by now that if there's a driver or support software disk
packed with a unit, it's probalby out of date and you'd best just go to
the manufacturer's web site to get the latest version.

Have you been stiffed, or are you just paranoid?

Not totally sure if it's still the policy but Dell & Lenovo have had
30-day no-questions-asked 100% returns on their laptops in the U.S.;
probably HP/Compaq does too. I actually used in on a Dell I turned out
not liking once (granted -- 3 years ago). When I called to arrange
return I was even offered $300 more off to keep it (which wasn't
enough)! I've only seen restocking fees for laptops at places like
Circuit City & Bestbuy.

Mike Rivers wrote:
I've been limping along with a laptop computer that I've wanted to
replace for a while now because that's one item over there that the
near universal policy is a 15% restocking charge if you return it. $150
is more than I want to throw away, particularly more than once.

Bev wrote:
Not totally sure if it's still the policy but Dell & Lenovo have had
30-day no-questions-asked 100% returns on their laptops in the U.S.;
probably HP/Compaq does too.

The laptop computer that I have now is a Dell, and one of the reasons I
bought it was that it could be returned at no cost other than shipping,
however I see that now, Dell states:

"Restocking Fees: Unless the product is defective or the return is a
direct result of a Dell error, a restocking fee of 15% may be charged
on hardware, accessories, peripherals, parts and unopened software
still in its/their sealed package, and on software that has not been
downloaded if the software is delivered electronically."

I don't know about Lenovo or H-P. I can't find anything about a return
policy on either of their web sites. Of course if you buy a Lenovo or
HP from a retail store, you're subject to the store's return policy,
not the manufacturer's. Micro Center allows an exchange for another
computer in the store without a restocking fee, but usually by the time
I've made up my mind about a computer, I've narrowed my choice down to
one particular model, at least one model that a particular store
carries.

Bev wrote:

Not totally sure if it's still the policy but Dell & Lenovo have had
30-day no-questions-asked 100% returns on their laptops in the U.S.;
probably HP/Compaq does too. I actually used in on a Dell I turned out
not liking once (granted -- 3 years ago). When I called to arrange
return I was even offered $300 more off to keep it

If you knew about that policy in advance it would be a great tool for getting a
discount !

Graham

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message ups.com...

At this
point there's insufficient information to tell what will happen if you
use an alternate interface. There's a tiny chance that if you stated
what application does this someone here will either:

Thanks for your feedback and a good point you raise:
I'm using windows media encoder v9 with windows XP. This program mutes the sound from the speakers of the encoding computer and
it's an extremely hard problem to get round. The person/s receiving the stream can hear the audio fine, but the not the person
sending out the stream, apparently the program is designed this way. It's a design I certainly don't like and thus I want to get
round it. Microsoft designed in this mute so that a microphone wouldn't create feedback through the speakers, but hadn't the
designers ever heard of headphones?
Anyway, it is possible to monitor the stream using wm player on the same PC but there's a ten second delay between the live source
sound and the same sound coming out of the speakers, and such a delay unusable for my purposes. I'm trying to squeeze real-time
audio monitoring out of this damn program but so far nothing has worked.
A nice bloke in microsoft.public.windowsmedia.encoder brought up the idea of an independent headphone socket, thus my search for
such a thing. A headphone socket that would always push out raw sound and would be independent of the external output sockets
controlled by the windows mixer.

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message oups.com...

tg wrote:

I'm using windows media encoder v9 with windows XP. This program mutes the sound from the speakers of the encoding computer and
it's an extremely hard problem to get round. The person/s receiving the stream can hear the audio fine, but the not the person
sending out the stream, apparently the program is designed this way.

I looked at the Microsoft web site to try to figure out what this is
and what you were doing with it, and I didn't really get it, but then
I"m a recording guy. Are you using it like a real time
over-the-internet broadcast application

yep. wme broadcasts both video and audio in real time over the internet.

In that case, I can see why it
mutes the output because it assumes you have speakers connected and are
using a microphone. If the speakers were active, you'd have acoustic
feedback problems.

but hadn't the designers ever heard of headphones?

They probalby didn't anticipate headphones being used in this
application, figuring that you'd hear what you were doing in other ways
- your own voice, or from speakers that monitor your source if it's not
a microphone. I dunno.

true for microphones yes, but wme9 supports the streaming of video files (avi's and wmv's from your hard drive) as well as a live
mike and camera, and you can hot-switch back and forth between many different files during the stream so you have good control of
the broadcast in real time. It strikes me as really dumb to globally mute the sound when you're streaming a video file because you
all you get is silence, and yet you can see the audio levels flickering as the video plays and the software switches the mike off
during video file play anyway.

What you need is an interface that has direct analog monitoring to the
headphone jack. The TASCAM US-122 does this, as well as (I think) the
M-Audio Mobile USB Pre. Those interefaces usually claim "zero latency"
monitoring because the output of the microphone preamp goes directly
into a little mixer (as well as the A/D converter) which feeds the
headphone amplifier. The headphone "mixer" also has an input that comes
from the computer so that you can hear previously recorded tracks when
doing overdubs, and there's a volume control that allows you to balance
the direct mic sound with the playback from the computer. In your case,
I guess there's no playback to listen to, so you would just turn that
knob fully off.

but don't need to monitor my own voice when streaming live from a mike, I can hear my own voice with my own ears and I can see the
audio levels flickering in the wme program when I speak. But being able to hear the audio of the video files I stream would be a
huge improvement in using the program. Even if the sound output was on at the same time as the mike I could wear a discreet
earpiece. This is why I was hoping to beat the program with an independent headphone socket.

On Sat, 10 Jun 2006 15:19:02 +0100, Pooh Bear
wrote:

He's in the UK. It's very unusual for ppl to try out goods this way here. Once the packaging is opened you're expected to keep it.

On the contrary, it's common policy to accept a return within 7 days
on no more grounds than "it doesn't work the way I expected". Girlies
do it with clothes as well, I believe. Software is an exception.

On Sun, 11 Jun 2006 13:47:31 +0100, Laurence Payne
lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom wrote:

He's in the UK. It's very unusual for ppl to try out goods this way here. Once the packaging is opened you're expected to keep it.

On the contrary, it's common policy to accept a return within 7 days
on no more grounds than "it doesn't work the way I expected". Girlies
do it with clothes as well, I believe. Software is an exception.


Just realised I'm reading "here" as "in the UK". Perhaps "here" is
America (or somewhere else).

Laurence Payne wrote:

On Sun, 11 Jun 2006 13:47:31 +0100, Laurence Payne
lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom wrote:

He's in the UK. It's very unusual for ppl to try out goods this way here. Once the packaging is opened you're expected to keep it.

On the contrary, it's common policy to accept a return within 7 days
on no more grounds than "it doesn't work the way I expected". Girlies
do it with clothes as well, I believe. Software is an exception.

Just realised I'm reading "here" as "in the UK". Perhaps "here" is
America (or somewhere else).

We do indeed mean the UK. Since I was relying to Mike I knew he would understand this.

Graham