Regarding IndirectSound vs. ALchemy: There is no reason to use IndirectSound if you have an actual SoundBlaster and ALchemy is working. Are you sure? AFAIK EAX is nothing more than audio extension library, it just provides different effects not positional audio. For example in Thief 3 i still have …

If it's not too much hassle, i suggest doing XP dualboot. No Alchemy hassle and direct access to your card thanks to intact HAL layer. All the effects at full level present, too (which often is not the case with Alchemy on post-Vista systems).

I have this weird thought about connecting 2 USB DAC-s to the Win10 machine. I know it's possible, at least in head-fi people have multiple DAC-s connected. And then use your non-Creative DAC for everything else other than old games, and your EAX5-ready USB X-Fi for legacy games. Though i'm sure it …

I understand. And thank you for your explanation. I mean why do i need IndirectSound if i already have Creative Alchemy with X-Fi? I understand IndirectSound also does the translation between DirectSound3D And Xaudio2. So if i have Alchemy enabled for an older game, is IndirectSound redundant or …

I didn't understand how Alchemy worked at first, so i just installed the latest Alchemy (45.15) with OpenAL 2.1 with my Monoprice USB DAC and added the game on the list (which created the necessary files in game directory). But now that i get it's just a wrapper, necessary soft needs to be provided …

Interesting. So Alchemy's job is to be the wrapper between DirectSound HAL layer and OpenAL? As in games that used to require DirectSound3D HAL layer, will use OpenAL through Alchemy? And necessary EAX4/5 DSP components are provided by the driver/soft like MB3? What about A3D? Do you need any …

Installed the latest Alchemy without Creative MB on my third party dac/amp, and EAX settings are all available in Thief 3, but i couldn't hear any difference whether they were checked or not. So i guess it's not working. https://imgur.com/a/ciDHN

And when you install Alchemy without MB, does it work (enable EAX for legacy games)? Or does MB feature the necessary DSP components for EAX to use? Edit: Thank you for the PM. I can't yet send private messages (new member limitation).

Okay. So let me put it this way: Is there any way to remove Alchemy device check requirement? To enable it without the MB3/5 bundle? Is there some necessary VST/DSP files only to get from the MB bundle to install without installing it all (so to make Alchemy work and generate dsound.dll)?

Thanks for the quick tip about DirectSound 3D. $30 is a lot for MB3. Considering i already have EAX5 supported USB X-Fi (which i honestly don't want to use as a dac) which i paid almost $100 when i bought it years ago, i feel "cheated" buying some software component providing the same functionality …

Understood. Considering hardware accelerated DSP processing only possible on emu chips, is there any quality loss actually running games through Alchemy post-Vista? Or do you actually get the best result with WinXP? Also looking here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_EAX_support What …

Hey. So as far as i understand without an actual Creative card you can't "emulate" above EAX2 with any current software solution or hack out there? I do have my USB X-Fi 5.1, but i so much more prefer my better grade headphone amp/dac. For example Thief 3 uses EAX Advanced, and if i use Monoprice …