ok, I don't wanna start a war, but . . . m-audio audiophile or emu 0404?

N

nickjc

New member
ok, so I've seen this debate rage a coupla times on this forum, nd I don't wanna start on fussin an' a fightin, but I wanted a reccomendation.

I am cuurently using Cool Edit Pro 2 and an M-Audio Audi Buddy with a Nady SP-5 mic and a crappy soundcard.

I wanna upgrade to either an EMU 0404 or an M-Audio Audiophile (or any other comparably priced cards you can suggest), and I wanted some opinions.

I don't wanna change from Cool Edit, but I hear the EMU is trouble on that app. Now, will it actually WORK AT ALL on Cool Edit or is it just a pain in the ass?

be as biased as you want - I just wanna get some views on the subject. :D
 
well i was gonna say go with the E-mu until i saw that you use cool edit 2. since emu does not get along with wdm setups, your system would probably give you grief. i think the new version of cool edit (audition) may use asio but i'm not sure. if taht was the case, you could upgrade and then the e-mu. otherwise go with m-audio.
 
also - one more question., although it may be a stupid one.

why are the inputs diferent on audiophile and 0404? On the ones I'm looking at the Emu has 1/4 inputs, whereas the audiophile seems to have 1/8" RCAs. if I'm running cables into them, wouldn't I have to get a 1/4" to 1/8" adaptor to use the audiophile, and wouldn't that affect the sound quality?
 
the 0404 doesnt have as good converters as the audiophile........the 1212M on the other hand, has better.......
 
nickjc said:
also - one more question., although it may be a stupid one.

why are the inputs diferent on audiophile and 0404? On the ones I'm looking at the Emu has 1/4 inputs, whereas the audiophile seems to have 1/8" RCAs. if I'm running cables into them, wouldn't I have to get a 1/4" to 1/8" adaptor to use the audiophile, and wouldn't that affect the sound quality?
Click to expand...
The Audiophile has RCA connectors.
 
Gidge said:
the 0404 doesnt have as good converters as the audiophile........the 1212M on the other hand, has better.......
Click to expand...

Not saying your wrong, but even the new Audiophile 192 seems to have a hard time getting a draw according to respective manufacturers figurers. So I'm just curious where you got that from?

There's plenty of resons to choose one of the Audiophiles or an ESI Juli@ anyway...

btw. The new Audiophile do have balanced inputs:

http://www.midiman.com/products/en_us/Audiophile192-main.html
 
The figures don't really mean much though, especially SNR ones cos they're rigged by auto-muting. I'm extremely suspicious of E-MU because of the many bad experiences I've had of Creative cards and drivers in particular.
 
christiaan said:
The Audiophile has RCA connectors.
Click to expand...

right, so stupid question time - how would I connect the Audiophile up to my current Audio Buddy preamp, without significant loss of audio quality?

sorry, I'm learning . . . slowly . . . :rolleyes:
 
The E-mu 0404 1/4" jacks are unbalanced and offer no significant electrical advantage over the Audiophile2496 rca connections.
The E-mu will work with Cool Edit but only one stereo in or output device can be selected for the wave/mme driver. With ASIO you can have the s/pdif working at the same time, but the latest version of Cool Edit (Audition1.5) does not support ASIO.
 
cheers - that's what I really wanted to know.

I'll prbably go with the Audiophile cos it seems more hassle free.

cheers everyone ofr the help.
 
the 0404 uses Texas Instruments PCM1804 converter for AD and AKM AK4395DA....these are the same in the SoundBlaster Audigy 2 PP.

the Audiophile 2496 uses a AKM AK4528 codec. Same as the Echo Mia.

the 1212M uses AKM AK5394 for AD and CS4398 for DA. The Lynx 2 uses AK5394 and CS4396.

If i was buying a card now I would get the 1212M.
 
yes, the same....if the get one of the new Emu's, youll want one from the "M" series.....
 
nickjc said:
right, so stupid question time - how would I connect the Audiophile up to my current Audio Buddy preamp, without significant loss of audio quality?

sorry, I'm learning . . . slowly . . . :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

With a cable that has RCA plugs on one side and unbalanced (TS, or 'mono' if you like) jack plugs on the other.
It's as simple as that :)
 
christiaan said:
With a cable that has RCA plugs on one side and unbalanced (TS, or 'mono' if you like) jack plugs on the other.
It's as simple as that :)
Click to expand...

haha cheers.

I went to the electronics store today and stumbled across them :)
 
The auto mute thing with SNR figures cannot hide from the RMAA test. A significant test signal is used and then FFT filtered out - what's left is the noise.
I do wonder though, some of the 0404 RMAA results are suspiciously good. Could a driver be written to "sense" a particular known test and fake a good result?
 
Jim Y said:
I do wonder though, some of the 0404 RMAA results are suspiciously good. Could a driver be written to "sense" a particular known test and fake a good result?
Click to expand...

The one's I've seen on the Audigy 2 PP are good too in several ways. And I wouldn't draw the conclusions that the AD/DA on a card is bad because it uses the same converters as that card. There's other problems on the Audigy.

I'm really curious on the new Audiophile though.
 
M series?

Gidge said:
yes, the same....if the get one of the new Emu's, youll want one from the "M" series.....
Click to expand...

Hi! Is an EMU1820 one of the M series? Thanks!......oh!, while I'm picking your brain, is an EMU1820 compatible with Sonar Pro?


Bill
 
theres a 1820 and a 1820M.....

the 1820 has the same converters as the 0404...the 1820M has the better converters......
 
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