Help setting up linux for high quality music listening via JACK

[Andrew Lester <martinblank64@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi, this is my first time on a mailing list, so I hope I'm doing it 
right. I am new to Linux, coming from windows. I need a low-latency 
sound interface with no resampling (ex: no software volume control, no 
software EQ, etc...), just like ASIO in windows. Somebody told me to 
look into JACK.

I have an ESI Juli@ sound card, which seems to be supported under Linux. 
Using ALSA and xmms I can easily hear the sound quality is inferior to 
that of the sound quality in windows using winamp with an ASIO output 
plugin (and the official esi drivers). All my music is ripped in FLAC 
and I am using the Sennheiser HD650 headphones with a WooAudio 3 amp. I 
have jack installed, as well as jackd, and the jack output plugin for 
xmms. I have gotten basic sound out of jack by entering "jackd -d alsa" 
into the konsole and selecting the "jack audio connection kit" as the 
sound system and using the jack output plugin for xmms.

However I have a feeling it is not set up properly for low-latency 
output with no resampling because it sounds exactly the same as ALSA, 
and the software volume control in xmms and in the kmix is still 
working. After doing some searching on google I have found that versions 
of JACK 0.80 and under supported ASIO, but it was removed in later 
versions. Do you know how I would need to set it up to get the 
functionality I am looking for? And are there any newer music players 
that support FLAC and JACK output?

Thanks,
Andrew