Use EAX on non EAX soundcard?

[ROBSCIX]

The Program is called Velbac, I am one of the developers. What the program does is link two cards internally. I used it to have EAX 1,2,3,4 and OPenAL support on my X-Meridian 7.1.
Alot of people use this application because they want the gaming support but just want better sound quality then a stock X-fi can produce. Another use for it is to get better digital output support.
You can use ANY feature from either card.
You could link your X-fi card to your 2496 card, sure. Here it is: VELBAC

This program is currently only XP compatible. We are developing a version for Vista as we speak. The version for Vista is nearly complete. So you understand the application: One card is the DSP card -Creative labs and the other is the output card -your 24/96..etc.
General setup would be

Install both cards, connect the speakers/headphones to the output card
set windows default soundcard to be the Creative labs card. This will send all your gaming data to the Creative card. Run the application and set it up for X-fi. play your games with better sound quality..
If you run into any trouble let me know and I will see if I can help you. Enjoy.