Audiophile 192 vs. E-mu 1212m vs. ESI Juli@

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FLechdrop

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Inspired by all the soundcard threads.. :p

I'm looking for a soundcard in the price range of mentioned cards with 192khz capabilities.

How does the Audiophile 192 compare to the 24/96? Is it basically the same thing with higher bitrates or is there more to it? What about the converters? Still the same?
I'm drawn to M-audio because my pre-amp and monitors are also M-audio, would it make sense to buy an M-audio card because of that? Would they perform better together as an M-audio family than as a mixed background family?

I've heard positive things about the Juli@'s converters, but that's about it. This card doesn't really draw me.

I've heard a lot of good stuff about the E-mu, but the driver's are 'immature'?
Also it seems to have an effects processor on board which is a + of course.
I'm leaning towards this card at the moment.

How do these cards compare to each other? Which would you recommend (or another) and why?

Thanks in advance for all the insightfull information :D
 
E-mu isn't immature so much as have significant omissions. Like no DTS passthrough, no decent WDM, no GSIF, no multicard. I have an 1820 and love it.

Hrm...well change that. Judging by forum posts on the E-mu boards...yeah, they're immature.

I'm personally a BIG fan of ESI's drivers. GREAT. My friend has a Quatafire and enjoys it.

M-audio...I sold my Audiophile and Delta 66. Haven't checked out the latest generation of M-Audio stuff...
 
Sklathill said:
E-mu isn't immature so much as have significant omissions. Like no DTS passthrough, no decent WDM, no GSIF, no multicard. I have an 1820 and love it.

Hrm...well change that. Judging by forum posts on the E-mu boards...yeah, they're immature.

I'm personally a BIG fan of ESI's drivers. GREAT. My friend has a Quatafire and enjoys it.

M-audio...I sold my Audiophile and Delta 66. Haven't checked out the latest generation of M-Audio stuff...
Click to expand...

Why did you sell the Delta 66? I got the EMU 1212m (for $149), but I may return it and get the Delta 66 'cause I'm afraid the EMU may not play well with my new AMD Socket 939 Win XP computer.

I'm guessing you prefer the EMU over the Delta 66. Can you elaborate?
 
The E-mu just had more. LOTS of bang for the buck from a pure features stand point. Two mic pres and an ADAT in, which allowed me to get both an Octane and an ADA8000. I just wanted lots of in and out, and the E-mu afforded that in a way simply stacking M-audio cards (which I just couldn't get to work with either of my systems) didn't. And I'm lucky enough that it works perfectly for me. Has never glitched out in the live stuff that I've done.

I think you should always buy a sound card with the knowledge that you can return it if it doesn't like your system. When I got my 1820, I was scared to death that it wouldn't work with my system (being only on the market for a week at the time) so I made sure that I could return it if I just couldn't get it to work. Of course, there are also online palces like American Musical that allow sound card return.

You haven't actually tried the 1212M in your system? What's keeping you from trying it first? There seem to be quite a few people on the E-mu boards (www.productionforums.com/emu) using it with Athlon 64 setups...

I'm a big fan of what WORKS. Right now, the E-mu works for me and before the M-audio was just finnicky enough that it got in the way of my workflow. In the end, it's all about just working.
 
i've got an Audiophile 24/96 and a Delta 1010 (with breakout box--not LT) installed in the same computer with no problems. that's 2 PCI cards. i'm in the market for another 1010 to give me 18 in.

IMO, the biggest drawback to that gen of m-audio cards is that they each require a PCI card (and available slot). when i built my current recording box, i chose a motherboard that 1) had a common and known "liked by audio" Intel chipset and 2) was loaded with PCI slots.

can't weigh in much on the 192......it looks intriguing, but i have little need for 192 right now. i still record at 24/44.1, b/c all my stuff is going to cdr, and i find resampling to be a waste of time (and disk space) with cdr as the final end medium......but 192 would allow me to go to dvd audio, which would sure be interesting.

so, if you end up with one, let me know what you think.


cheers,
wade
 
Sklathill said:
The E-mu just had more. LOTS of bang for the buck from a pure features stand point. Two mic pres and an ADAT in, which allowed me to get both an Octane and an ADA8000. I just wanted lots of in and out, and the E-mu afforded that in a way simply stacking M-audio cards (which I just couldn't get to work with either of my systems) didn't. And I'm lucky enough that it works perfectly for me. Has never glitched out in the live stuff that I've done.

I think you should always buy a sound card with the knowledge that you can return it if it doesn't like your system. When I got my 1820, I was scared to death that it wouldn't work with my system (being only on the market for a week at the time) so I made sure that I could return it if I just couldn't get it to work. Of course, there are also online palces like American Musical that allow sound card return.

You haven't actually tried the 1212M in your system? What's keeping you from trying it first? There seem to be quite a few people on the E-mu boards (www.productionforums.com/emu) using it with Athlon 64 setups...

I'm a big fan of what WORKS. Right now, the E-mu works for me and before the M-audio was just finnicky enough that it got in the way of my workflow. In the end, it's all about just working.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, Sklathill. I am a big fan of what works as well. My main concern is stability since I will soon be purchasing a Rumor for ADA conversion.

I don't have the CPU or motherboard for the system yet, just the box, RAM, HD, soundcard. I've been grabbing stuff when the great deals (like the 1212m for $149) present themselves. I like the specs on the EMU and like the fact that they may offer registered owners the Emulator X softsampler for $100 or so in the near future. I think I'll check the EMU Boards before I make a decision.
 
FLechdrop said:
I'm drawn to M-audio because my pre-amp and monitors are also M-audio, would it make sense to buy an M-audio card because of that? Would they perform better together as an M-audio family than as a mixed background family?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies so far, I'd still like to see an answer on this.
 
FLechdrop said:
Thanks for the replies so far, I'd still like to see an answer on this.
Click to expand...
It won't work better. People mix and match pre-amps, speakers, mixers, etc. all the time.

OTOH, within the computer and driver realms, it would make sense to stick with a single brand for, say, multiple sound card interfaces or a sound card and a midi interface.
 
Alright, thanks. Is the E-mu's onboard DSP of any use?
Any more opinions?
 
The Audiophile192 is still something of an unknown quantity. There should be a review of it in Sound-on-Sound mag soon (I know the review's been done by Martin Walker, just not published yet).

What I do know is that the 192 converters are in the same class as the Juli@ and E-mu M models. Also, the i/o is now balanced TRS. How this works in practice will depend on how well M-audio have designed the rest of the electronics as converter quality is not the whole story.

The 192 Windows drivers are the latest Delta WDM ones (which have been updated to support up to 192Khz). Compared to the Audiophile2496, the 192 has lost the Monitor Mixer input in the driver. Its Monitor Mix now appears solely on seperate output jacks.
 
^bump :p

Even more opinions? It's mainly between the Emu and the M-audio now.
 
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