Which Soundcard ?

[dorian_gray]

Hi all,

I want to set up my (ageing) laptop to play music through a Norge 1000 & Norge Millenium speakers.I am ready to sacrifice some sound quality as regards the source in exchange for easy & quick accessibility to all my music.

However, I want to go in for an upgrade on the sound card of my laptop. A research on the available options has left me confused.

Can anyone recommend an internal sound card which is good for playing 2 channel music through an amp?

The two most most talked about cards seem to be Asus Xonar Essence STX and M Audio 2496 Audiophile.Are they really applicable in this respect ? how do I know they will be compatible ? I have a HP pavilion dv4000 laptop.

How do external sound cards compare ?

Please advise.

 

[spirovious]

The card you mentioned are for desktop & not Laptop.You can get external SC from asus for Laptop.Even creative has similar solutions.
A costly method to connect desktopcards to Lapy is mentioned here-

http://www.hifivision.com/home-thea...-now-use-desktop-pci-pci-ex-cards-laptop.html

 

[metalmickey]

creative's decent enuf!....ive got 3 of my pc's runing on various series of creative sound cards....they are neat!....

 

[thevortex]

If you can, do look at the EMU 0404 USB. Value for money and great utility.

 

[dorian_gray]

Thanks Guys.

E-MU 4040 seems like the best option - though its $200 and difficult to get in India.

Also came across another USB DAC - Asus Xonar U1 here :

ASUS Xonar Card

Anyone used it ?

 

[spirovious]

The same I mentioned.

 

[jayad08]

Thanks Guys.

E-MU 4040 seems like the best option - though its $200 and difficult to get in India.

Also came across another USB DAC - Asus Xonar U1 here :

ASUS Xonar Card

Anyone used it ?

not sure, but i read somewhere in the forums that Xonar U1 has a very basic level DAC..
EMU 0404 is better than Xonar U1
try 20north.com, although quite expensive..

'emu 0404' < All - Shop in the US from India @ 20North

ESI has a setup based in india...
so maybe you can look into their USB based SC

http://www.esi-audio.com/products/maya44usb/

 

[linuxguru]

If you have a Cardbus slot in your notebook, check out the Echo Indigo. It's less messy from a wiring perspective than external USB DACs.

Stereophile: Echo Indigo IO CardBus soundcard

 

[dorian_gray]

Thanks everybody, this forum is really cool......

I have another question - what do you guys think about the M-Audio Transit ?

 

[Hi-Fi]

The M-Audio Transit is very good if you want analog & TOSlink optical digital output that allows AC-3 and DTS pass-through. But if you need SPDIF coaxial RCA digital outputs, then the M-Audio Fast Track Pro provides this too.
You could also check out the Digigram UAX220 V2. This is premium quality. I have been using the old PCMCIA Digigram Vx Pocket V2 for many years with great results.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

If you have a Cardbus slot in your notebook, check out the Echo Indigo. It's less messy from a wiring perspective than external USB DACs.

Stereophile: Echo Indigo IO CardBus soundcard

The Indigo is discontinued.

However, Echo make cards for both Cardbus and Expresscard slots.

Please see their site for the current range. If I wanted to add a quality sound card to a laptop, I'd be very willing to give one of these a try. You might end up wondering what you need a CD player for!

 

[Hi-Fi]

I was wondering if anyone has used these sound cards mentioned below. Any feedback or comments on their performance and sound quality would be appreciated

MOTU Microbook USB Sound Card
MOTU.com - MicroBook Overview

Wave Idea Audio Solutions UASC-1
WaveIdea ~ UASC-1 Overview

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Motu, to me, says studio gear, and I'd expect the quality to be high. I don't think they used to make anything this small/simple in the past? I don't know anything about the second option.

One thing you should consider before buying an expensive audio interface is whether you are ever going to use Linux or not. If it is an absolute "no", then go ahead with no worries, but if it is even a "maybe possibly" then research that aspect before buying something that you'd hope, at the price, to have a useful life of several years.

 

[Hi-Fi]

Thanks Thad, I am planning to buy a new laptop soon. Since most new laptops dont have the old PCMCIA slot, it seems like my good old Digigram VxPocketV2 PCMCIA soundcard will have to be retired at some point. So I was looking for a replacement high quality USB external soundcard with a COAXIAL rca digital output to run on my home Genelec DSP stereo system. Most models on the market offer mainly TOSLINK optical digital output along with analog outputs.

So I am left with these three choices so far, that have COAXIAL rca digital output, and I am interested to know if anyone has any experience using these and have any problems or issues to report about them or their drivers. The M-Audio is widely used in the pro industry, so its easy to get info about that, but the other two are not as popular and a bit difficult to get info on

M-Audio Fast Track Pro
M-AUDIO - Fast Track Pro - 4 x 4 Mobile USB Audio/MIDI Interface with Preamps

MOTU Microbook USB Sound Card
MOTU.com - MicroBook Overview

Wave Idea Audio Solutions UASC-1
WaveIdea ~ UASC-1 Overview

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

It is a shame to pay for all the mic/instrument i/o if you do not need it.

The Wave Idea looks interesting, but did you notice, on the company's online-buying page, it says it is discontinued?