Sound Card Recommendations

jute gyte · Post by **jute gyte** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 12:28 pm

I'm in the market for a sound card. The Edirol UA-25 seems good for the most part, but I've also heard some pretty bad things about it. Any info on that, or suggestions for an alternative?

Adam! · Post by **Adam!** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 2:07 pm

I like it a bunch. My only complaint is there's some digital noise on the instrument pre-amp (none on the mic pre), but it's so low that it always falls below my noise gates, so I never really notice it. Because it's 24-bit you can afford a little more headroom when recording. Also, it has an impedance matching switch that makes my guitar sound a hundred times better than it used to.

So, yeah, I recommend it.

jute gyte · Post by **jute gyte** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 9:35 pm

My main worry is that my computer has USB 2.0 ports, and the UA-25 seems to be designed for USB 1.1. I've read a few reviews that mentioned this mismatch causing lots of noise. Do you know anything about that?

blue · Post by **blue** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 10:24 pm

lies.

the cheapie USB/FW interfaces seem to all have really shitty high-noise headphone amps built in, but the 2.0/1.1 thing doesn't add noise.

Adam! · Post by **Adam!** » Wed Dec 14, 2005 1:21 am

Yeah. The only noise I could imagine would be dropped samples from maxing out the serial bus bandwidth, but I've used it in double-full-duplex (2-in-2-out concurrently) with the midi going too and I've never had a problem (And seeing how that's the max # of inputs and outputs on the UA-25, you'll never have a problem either). For the price of a few textbooks it's not a bad upgrade.

But I can understand your concerns: you wouldn't want any noise in a Jute Gyte song. ^That would sound totally out of place^.

Me$$iah · Post by **Me$$iah** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:50 pm

Again I can only keep banging on about Creamware so much....

But still Im gonna...

If anyone gets the chance seriously check out these cards

Awesome-O 2000

Me$$iah

jute gyte · Post by **jute gyte** » Fri Dec 23, 2005 9:31 am

I picked up a UA-25 and it's working very well so far. Thanks for the help!

a bebop a rebop · Post by **a bebop a rebop** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 2:05 pm

Does anyone have any experience with the M-Audio Audiophile 2496? I'm leaning towards it (as an upgrade over my onboard soundcard), but that's primarily because of the price. If anyone can recommend a better PCI solution at the same pricepoint (~$100-120), I'm all ears.

Me$$iah · Post by **Me$$iah** » Tue Dec 27, 2005 8:38 pm

In my experience M-Audio cards sound really good.
And for the price an audiophile is a great choice. Tho ive not used one myself, I had a 1010

I used the 1010 for ages and it served me really well. Always sounded good, day in day out, and it came bundled with a demo copy of abletonLive, which I found an amazing program.And a full copy of reason. The digital converters that were in my 1010 were really nice, I guess they use the same system in the other cards.

Tho for a few dollars more, keep an eye on ebay and get a 3DSP luna2 card from creamware $100-$150(ebay prices obviously)

other than that,I dont think you can go far wrong with an M-Audio.

Tho bear in mind I havent used that particular card..but have had some experience with M-Audio and heaps of others

Post by jb » Tue Dec 27, 2005 10:32 pm

a bebop a rebop wrote:Does anyone have any experience with the M-Audio Audiophile 2496? I'm leaning towards it (as an upgrade over my onboard soundcard), but that's primarily because of the price. If anyone can recommend a better PCI solution at the same pricepoint (~$100-120), I'm all ears.

i believe that's what jeff fal (of ADD Music) uses. Or one of the audiophile cards anyway.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 8:27 am

2496, that's what i got for my desktop on starfinger's recommend. have had no problems with it, like the sound. good purchase.
-bill