What sound card do I need to edit HD24 files on PC?

[ultrajosh]

I have an Alesis HD24 and a FirePort.

I bought a Creative Audigy2 ZS, which doesn't seem to allow me to edit 24 bit wav files (apparently it only supports 16 bits).

I'm going to send it back and buy another card. I've been looking at the following options. Please advise:

M-Audio Revolution 7.1 It has the Envy24HT audio chip which "has a maximum internal precision of 24 bits at 192kHz". Can be found under $100

Question: Will this card limit the # of channels I can edit? e.g. does the card need to be capable of 24 channels to edit 24 channles?

Frontier Dakota + Montana For a $500 package price (www.mtlc.net), a Frontier plus a Montana would give me 32 24-bit channels, plus 32 ADAT lightpipe i/o's.

RME HDSP 9652 For $599.00, 52-channel 24-bit/96 kHz I/O card: 3 x ADAT, 1 x SPDIF, 2 x MIDI, 1 x ADAT Sync. So it has a total of 52 channels, and 24 can go via ADAT lightpipe, and it goes as high as 52bit sampling rate.

You can probably tell I'm a little confused. Any help figuring out what to do would be appreciated.

[Track Rat]

At a minimum, you only need a stereo card that supports 24 bit playback.

[Parlor Music]

I'm really pleased with the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card. You can also get the firewire version.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOAP2496
http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOFWAP2496