How do I listen to two USB dac's at once, Is this possible natively Options

[tuffgong]

Hi folks, I currently use a software program called Virtual Audio Cable so that I can run two USB dac's out of my computer at the same time. I had read somewhere that XP was able to handle multiple audio outputs so, I borrowed a friends laptop with XP, but it turns out that you have to pick a default usb output source in XP as well (perhaps you can listen to the audio 3.5 out while the usb out is working in XP, I didn't check, which is what the XP people keep begging to have it put back in future releases). I read that Mac OS just recently added a feature in their audio screen called "multiple devices" so that one audio stream can be broadcast to multiple output devices at the same time (I need this as well for audio work). I'm not sure if "multiple devices" in mac works for two USB's at once, but would make sense if it did. Is there another way besides virtual audio cable to send sound to two usb outputs (dacs) at once? I'm afraid that virtual audio cable might add latency (I can't hear any latency, but don't know if I want to trust doing a mix with that assessment), and mess up any mixing I am trying to do. Someone suggested look into a DAW but that seems like an awfully complicated solution to a simple problem. Did apple address this problem, or does apple just do one digital and one analog out, similar to what I assume xp does? Thanks for any help, greatly appreciated.

This post has been edited by tuffgong: Jan 11 2013, 06:36

[tuffgong]

Thank you for suggestions to check out, i'll check those out tonight.