MobilePre upgrade - two approaches ??

[expatCanuck]

Greetings -

Would like to upgrade my MobilePre, relatively inexpensively,
and determine if 96/24 or 192/24 really sounds better than 48/16.
To my ears, anyway.

Simple guy, simple needs. I only record one mono or stereo track
at a time. Need to plug in an AT2020 (so phantom power req'd)
or SM57 and get a signal to my PC. Singin', acoustic strings
(guitar / mando / banjo). And a MIDI plug-in for our FP-90.

Duet might be just the thing, but I have a PC.

So I'm considering two avenues:
1) Roland FA-66 | Presonus Firebox | ProFire 610 | Saffire LE or Saffire
All in the $250-$350 range. For my needs, is there any noteworthy difference amongst the above?
And might any of them really actually sound noticeably better than the MobilePre, or would I just be wasting my time & money?

2) RNP and EMU 1212M (or something similar)
~ $650 -- But is the RNP 'wasted' without a much better ADC / DAC interface?
And what might that be?

Thanks kindly.

- Richard

 

[omtayslick]

I hate to jump in and suggest something different.... But you might also want to check out the Echo cards. Good conversion, solid drivers, and well supported. Maybe an Audiofire 2 or 4.

 

[expatCanuck]

I hate to jump in and suggest something different.... But you might also want to check out the Echo cards. Good conversion, solid drivers, and well supported. Maybe an Audiofire 2 or 4.

Thanks, Tom.

Please feel free to jump in -- that's why I'm posting here.

I'm curious -- what, if anything, about the Echo AudioFire4
would lead you to recommend it over the comparable
Roland/Presonus/M-Audio/Focusrite products?
(Better conversion/drivers/support ... ?)

- Richard
oldWithoutMoney.com

 

[Shadow_7]

24 bit audio has more dynamic range. Which means that you can do a lot more editing in post without completely killing the track. Digital EQ, Compression, and other things that would otherwise sound worse at 16 bit. And when you convert it to 16 bit later, it keeps some of it's charm. Not that you'd notice on an iPod, but studio monitors most definitely.

I have the mobile pre. I have a Delta 44 with DMP3, which is noticeably better. I'd want an Echo Layla 3G. But I have a Korg MR-1000 which suits my needs better and is pretty darn good by itself. I can even run audio through the Korg to my Delta 44 if I need to multitrack. Although I haven't used it for that yet to see just how much if any latency might be involved.