Does the low bitrate of x-fi 5.1 pro affect playback quality of higher bitrates?

Question

I needed a 5.1 sound card for my laptop, and this was the only one I could afford used -- so far Im pretty satisfied, it works for cheap.
but I need to know if its important to save up for a better one right away --
I was concerned that since it only supports 44.8 and 96kbps that higher encoded audio like 128kbps and greater may not play back at the same quality they were recorded -- this is important because I ONLY use digital audio -- I have no analog -- videos are blu-ray rips, audio is FLAC or high encoded MP3, no cds, dvds, physical blu-rays.
so the encoding is often 128kbps or higher. sometimes even 196.
right now im keeping it until I can afford better regardless -- but is playback of these higher bitrates lower quality since it is being output at only 44.8 or 96?
just wondering, been finding it hard to get a straight simple answer to this. lots of people insist I never have audio play back at higher than 44.8 or 96, but I find that impossible since LOTS of my audio is encoded either lossless or at a higher rate.

Answer 1

So are you only getting sound out of the front center channel? I have this issue only from certain audio sources, such as YouTube videos, where all front right and left channel audio is put out through the center channel only. Are you not getting sounds from the front channels when using any type of media (mp3, games, DVDs)?
The only other reasons I was having issues like this were as follows: I hadn't checked the mixer settings yet in the windows and creative control panels to ensure volume levels were set correctly for all channels; I hadn't yet set my speakers to 5. sound (although this only affected the rear channels).
Let me know what you find. Also, have you tried the utility in the Creative control panel that lets you click each speaker to test it yet?