kx drivers 3537 -vs- 3538m which is better?

Crystallization

I have a question about these two drivers: When I first installed the kx drivers (3537) everything sounded great, and when I installed version 3538m things still sounded great but just not as great as the previous drivers. Is it just me or have others noticed this too?

Now I know that kx drivers v3537 are way outdated compared to 3538m but would I be missing out on any important features if I were to go back to the previous drivers? (Windows XP SP2 / SB Audigy 2 Z/S Gamer)

I use FL Studio 7 a lot and I want to know what the best settings are for audio, I also want it to sound great for general music listening. Can anyone give me some suggested settings?

The last thing I want to know is: is it possible to have my media player play regular stereo audio through a specific output while blocking out all others? For example: when I watch a DVD on my VLC media player having the options for 'Auto-detect S/PDIF signal', and the "Win32 waveOut extension output" my receiver plays only the audio though the DVD but not the other audio from my computer and vice versa. I want to reproduce this exact behavior for everything that plays through that player so that one can watch a DVD in Dolby Digital surround sound and the other can play music on the computer without the overlapping audio. Is this possible?

Well I hope some of the things that I've said have made some sense to someone. Thanks for reading.

JGSF

I haven't noticed any sound difference... besides, 3538m has a lot of handy features...

peate

The DVD uses up all available outputs in 5.1 surround. You can only accomplish this with stereo sources. For example, I separate Windows sounds from Foobar by assigning Foobar to use Fx Bus 4/5 as output while Windows sounds use 0/1. You can then control each source with a mixer, even sending the outputs to different pairs of speakers if you wanted.

I also haven't noticed a change in sound. I've used 35-twenty something and up. I'm stuck on 3538j cause of the skins and all plug-ins work.

Crystallization

OK I'll keep to the latest drivers; maybe it's just me, thanks. A couple of questions: where can I download plug-ins? What, based on your personal settings, are the best tweaks/enhancements for a great sound setting? I've got most of my music in FLAC format and I want to achieve the best possible audio experience I can get. Thanks.

Maddogg6

This is subjective - its like asking for the best kind of gf/bf.
A couple of things that I found affect sound..
Surrounder - if 'Surround:' set to ON - rear speakers are 'matrix' decoded from normal stereo - and will color the sound. OFF - will allow true surround from AC3 encoded material, like DVD's or other 5.1 surround, to come thru, but wont 'matrix' decode stereo.
Timbre / 10band EQ - for Audigy, you have the 10Band EQ - for SBLive - you have the Timbre (simpler Bass & treble control)

Access these by right clicking on kX Tray Icon - 'Effects > [effect name]'
OR 'DSP' (to access the kX DSP editor applet - most peoples 'home' for kX) then dbl click on a plugin to access its 'tweak' GUI screen (same as right click on plugin - 'Tweak') - most have a tweak screen, but not all - some will open the kX Mixer.
The DSP will probably be kinda confusing at first - but it allows very flexible configuring.

Also - to use 24/96 playback... Use Wave HQ for playback device - if it doesn't sound right - disconnect the DSP > (output) in the kX 24/96 Router to ensure that all you are hearing is the P16V instead of the DSP too.

Get Max's plugins here
Get Lex's Update ProFx Plugins here
But these will do little for you until you get comfortable changing the kX DSP (where you add plugins)

Of course read the kX Help file - and ask specific question to things you dont understand.