The Sound Blaster works natively in 48000 Hz
The EMU10K chip introduces a lot of distortions when it downsample ( dunno if upsample is possible above 48khz) This is done automatically depending on the source. if you're listening to a 44.1khz sample then the soundblaster will be forced to downsample from 48 to 44.1 which is not done correctly as i said above.
So the best way is to not change anything. just let your soundcard work in 48000 Hz.