quick ? on audiophile and mia soundcards..

CDT-sHaG

New member
for recording 2 tracks at once (either dual source on acoustic guitar or guitar and voice in fig. 8).

i was thinking of getting the audiobuddy preamp (or maybe a mixer..dunno yet..) and either an audiophile 2496 or an echo mia. (or another decent 2-in card)...

the audiophile has rca connectors and the mia has 1/4"...so would the mia be better/easier to deal with? or does it not matter (ie adapter cables are fine)?

I'm running a P3933mhz, 256mb pc133 ram, winblows 98, 16bit n-track studio and soundforge for wave editing and mastering (<--haha..that sounds funny because i am the master of nothing..lol:D)

I won't upgrade this pc..i'll buy another in a few months..going to XP probably..

right now i have a consumer creative 16bit ensoniq card (eh? lol)...

i have no real use for S/PDIF at this time...this is mainly for songwriting/sharing ideas with my band....but also i'd like to do a demo CD of some material done with only acoustic/vocals, tracked live...

thanks.

BTW, i've would read through all of the the previous posts i found with a search, but wanted to get a quick answer since i'm at work and have no power at home today (ice storm in my area)...i hope it's back on soon..:rolleyes: :D
 
I recommend using some kind of extension cables regardless, because you don't want to be reaching around behind the machine all the time plugging & unplugging. Just something like 2-3 foot cables with 1/4" *female* jacks on one end and the appropriate connectors on the soundcard side.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Id get the Audiophile based on price....they are very similar in quality, but the Audiophile can be had new for $139.....

neither of the 2 (RCA or 1/4")are easier to work with, imo.....1/4" balanced inputs (like the Mia) are better for siganl in certain situations, but if cable runs are kept short, it shouldnt make a difference.....
 
The Mia is a small but measurable step up in quality. The ADC/DAC is the same but the analog input and output stages are of higher quality. This is more (maybe only) obvious when recording at 24bit. Do a search on digit life and sound on sound for quantitative measurements and comparisons. Gidge has also mentioned the balanced inputs and outputs on the Mia. I found they lowered AC grounding/power noise even for short runs (5ft). This reduced noise was visible by doing a FFT analysis on the recorded background noise (look for energy at 50/60hz when using the balanced vs unbalanced connections). You may not hear it.

Whether you need or will notice the improvement depends on your setup.

Echo has good driver support, particularly with regards to windows xp. The current drivers have a 'purewave' option that bypasses the windows kmixer resampling issue in XP. I believe that M-Audio hasnt come up with a solution for this issue (RME was first and only other soundcard manufacturer to develop a solution for this issue - RME drivers are the best). If you want to know more about the kmixer issue do a search on avsforum or download the pdf file accompanying the latest echo drivers. The kmixer resampling degrades sound quality. It doesnt affect applications using ASIO (or kernal streaming I think).
This is not the same kmixer issue with windows 2000 that was fixed with sp2.

As a budget solution the Audiophile is a good soundcard. The Echo is better but costs more. You have to decide if it is worth the extra cash for you situation.

The guys at the harmony central forums are now recommending the behringer ultragain over the audio buddy after doing comparisons. Do a search.
 
Last edited:
What kind of inputs does the Mia have, 1/4 or rca? And how much more is it?

I'm curious because recently at my local long and mcquade store they dropped the price of the Delta 44 to $350 Canadian, which is $235 US. I think the Audiophile 2496 stayed the same price so it's not significantly different in price. I could get the Delta 44, but i'd have to do a few magic tricks with cables to go from 1/4-rca, then rca-1/4 to the speakers..

Hrmmff.
 
Im guessing the AD/DA converters on the 2496 and delta 44 are the same. What about the Mia? Alfalfa says they are better and i believe him, but does Echo make a card that competes with the Delta 44?

Also a question about the 2496, spdf connections specifically. Now i can plug in addition preamps into the SPDF input, assuming the preamp has an SPDF output. This would bypass the converters of the sound card, correct?

Does this mean i could record 2 channels through the 2496's inputs, PLUS, say a focusrite voicemaster pro through the SPDF for a total of... well the focusrite site DOESN"T SAY how many god damn channels of mic pre's it has, but, however many it has?

BTW is this focusrite good? Seems like too much in one unit, for everything to be good. I think it's mainly for vocals so i don't think it would be for me, but just curious.
 
And if you don't already know, the Echo Mia doesn't have a MIDI connector but the Audiophile does. If you don't intend using a MIDI instrument, it isn't an issue.

Of the two cards (and they are both very good cards) the Mia is marginally better for S/N ratio.

--
BluesMeister
 
I'm planning on buying a midi keyboard. So i'll most likely just run it through my sblive?
Through the joystick port like i do now.

I was thinking of getting a Delta 44, which has no midi either.

I guess you can get a midiman midisport usb thingy, for midi connections if you really need them.
 
Please note I did not say the Mia has better ADC/DAC. I said, in my post above, it has better analog input and output stages resulting in measurably better performance and better specs. Again how noticeable this improvement is will depend on your situation.

Some comparisons between different soundcards at the bottom of this article.
http://www.digit-life.com/articles/maudioaudiophile/index.html

Ambi - yes you can use the Mia or Delta 44 alongside your sblive. Keep the sblive for the midi controller.
 
thanks guys...

$30 difference doesn't matter at all to me.

I believe i'll go with the mia from what I'm reading...gotta dive in at some point.

thanks again,

CDT
 
Back
Top