Audiophile 2496 or Terratec EWX 24/96

R

Riku

New member
Which one is better card? Any experiences??

I'm looking for a soundcard to my set up...

-Motherboard: Abit KT7 1090,-
-Processor: Duron 800 Mhz + cooler 690,-
-RAM: 256 Mt,133 Mhz,SDRAM 590,-
-HDD: IBM Deskstar 60GXP 40 GB UDMA/100 7200rpm IDE 1400,-
-Videocard: Geforce2 MX 32 MB AGP TV-out 890,-
-Soundcard: Soundblaster 128 PCI 190,- (for gaming)
-17" Samsung/Philips 1690,-
-CD-RW: Samsung 8x/4x/32x IDE 900,-
-CD-drive: Samsung 48X IDE 300,-

the prices are in FIM...

any comments about my set up or the prices.. 1$ is about 7 FIM

Thanks guys...
 
Well, I know essentially nothing about the Terratec, so I'm not much help there. However, I do own an Audiophile 2496, and I'm currently replacing it with an external converter box. It sounds quite nice, and works quite well with no driver problems or drama (Cubase VST32/W98SE). But my finding has been that it can't achieve its specified level of audio performance inside my computer: it misses by quite a lot on S/N.

The problem I have with it is that the noise floor is entirely dominated by digital noise bleedthrough, which I find to be extremely irritating, and the noise level is a great deal higher than the specified -104dBFS. I do a lot of work in acoustic music where the reverb tails and whitespace are important, so the presence of pitched digital wheezes and whines down there drives me *nuts*. Other folks might never notice this, so your mileage may vary.

If it weren't for that, I'd keep it going. As it is, I'm really keeping it only for its MIDI interface.

One advantage to the Terratec: switchable -10/+4 analog I/O. The Audiophile is -10 single-ended only, so I ended up buying a bump box so that I could drive my system properly (the rest of which is all +4). One disadvantage- the MIDI interface appears to be an added-cost option.

I've never seen a picture of the Terratec card: does it have a shielding can over the analog electronics, or any effort made to control EMI pickup from inside the computer? The Audiophile has no additional shielding beyond the ground plane in the PC board: it just hangs all that stuff out there naked in the breeze. A PC board design with a decent ground plane, and a conductive shielding can to complete a Faraday cage around the analog stuff, will have a *much* better chance of controlling the EMI crud that will provide the true in-system noise floor. Of course, better yet is to locate the converters in a completely separate breakout box with a completely separate power supply, but that's not what either of these cards do...

IMNSHO, the Audiophile is a prefectly reasonable sound card for gaming or noncritical home theatre work. It just won't work for me in my particular studio application- I'm fairly hard to please. But don't let that discourage you: find a way to give one a listen, and decide if that would impact you with your working style.
 
Thanks Skippy


Here is something about the Audiophile

http://www.m-audio.com/m-audio/product.htm

an here is the manual of Terratec EWX 24/96

ftp.terratec.net

and info in:

http://www.computeruniverse.net/products/e90029238.asp

Now I'm dealing with a possible problem between the VIA KT-133a chipsets and audio.

If your intrested or have some experiences, you might wanna comment my thread "About AMD" Please help, thanks...

Any knowledge about these chipset problems with using the Audiophile? I asked fom their support and I will tell you what they said.
 
You might want to give the Echo Mia some consideration.
In the same price range and the specs are better than
both. It has some of the newer features need for the
Gigasamplers and such.

It has balanced analog I/O,s which I consider huge.
Dynamic range ...I believe is 106db A-weighted.
Yeah ..I know you cant really go by specs but its all
I have for now unless we can find some actual users
of the card.
 
Thanks Elbenj I'll check that card out... Anybody here who has experiences by using the Echo Mia???

For Those who are working with AMD and have the VIA KT-133 chipset. What kind of souncard are you using?
 
So now it's these 3. Terratec EWX 24/96 (which they say some problems with the VIA chipset) Audiophile 2496 and Echo MIA.

Do you know any other cards which have same kind of features and fit in the same price range...I know Delta 44 does it. Doesn't it?
 
123

According to that site you posted, the terratec only supports 16 bit.... better think about that one...
 
Riku,

I'll be able to let u know something in a few days
on the Echo Mia. I broke down and got it today :)

From what I understand the Delta 44 doesnt have
spdif.

You can get the Mia for under $199.

Check out the website www.echoaudio.com
 
Thanks my man Elbenj

I really need that spdif too...

Do you Pentium or AMD

Tuberdude-

Yes I noticed... Those advertices can fool you if you are not prepared...thanks..

The search of the soundcard continues...

I'm still needing help...

Any comments about Aardvark AARK direct pro 24/96??
 
the aardvark is really good at what it is supposed to do....i've heard that some early issues had calibration problems with the analog inputs and that the digital out wasn't working.....but that was well over a year ago...i've had one since they came out and haven't had a problem, cept with drivers ..but this will happen with any soundcard given the plethora of platforms for digital audio....and of course, all serious sound card manufacturers update their drivers to take account of software developments and make updates available on the internet....as you know....btw..i never used the digital out.

i recently opted for the m-audio omni studio because i don't need four mic preamps and i like to be able to control levels manually , in the literal sense of 'manual'....plus the omni has freakin channel inserts...how cool is that?

i'm guessing that the electronics are about the same in quality on both cards.....however, the omni appears to be going for about a hundred bucks less......if the aardvark looks like it will meet your needs, i'd go for it...but get a good deal :)
 
Thanks j

I'll check out the omni...

Aardvark is one posibility...but I think I only need stereo I/O,
24/96 and digital (spdif) I/O.

I was planing to buy a nice tube preamp so. No use for Aadrvark pres. Or the other way round.... If decide to by Aadvark you know...

How would describe the quality of Aardvark's preamps?
 
the preamps are ok.....usable....however, one thing about this card is it has onboard reverb , eq and compression....neat if you have a use for them....all i need is a little limiting for tracking...that's where the channel inserts on the omni come in handy.....of course it's obvious that you are going to have to tweak tweak tweak to get serious audio in this price range....but at least it's possible...
 
Echo MIA

Well that sounds like a nice choice to me... elbenj let me know as soon as possible that how does it feel like.

I've been reading the manual and here seems to be a soundcard which should work properly in my future computer....

I still need comments from the users before I buy it....so anybody using Mia (sounds dirty) or any other comments about the card or other echo products which might help me???

http://www.echoaudio.com/

Thanks guys
 
Aardvark vs. Omni Studio

J,

I've been considering the Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96 and the M-Audio Omni Studio. The thing that bugs me with the OmniStudio is that they advertise "6 in, 6 out", but as far as I can tell it really only has 4 analog ins and outs. Is this correct? Channel inserts are a nice touch. I have a compact mixer with to XLRs already, so I could run 4 mics through the Omni using the preamps in my mixer.

Is there a discernable difference in sound quality? I noticed the Aardvark has shielding around the card, where the Delta cards don't. Was wondering if it actually helped with noise.

The dilemma I'm facing is that I also want ADAT I/O. Most of the time I really only need stereo analog (for tracking) and stereo digital (for mastering). However, I would like to be able to take tracks from a friend of mine with a Fostex D-160 that has ADAT-type output. The only low-end card I've found that really suits my purpose is the Lexicon Core2. However, I prefer 24/96 capability.

<sigh> I guess no one makes a single device that does everything I want to do and nothing more..

Any suggestions?
 
Jeps

Thanks for helping me...

I'm still cathering information about ECHO MIA... she sounds like a good card for me or what...?
 
ROCKER151, i don't remember seeing that last post of yours maybe i missed it somehow , or maybe i was just trashed....

Riku , i haven't used the MIA , but i've heard mostly positive things about echo stuff....i hope you can get some more feedback on it.

ROCKER151, as far as six ins go, there appears to be a way to configure the omni for six inputs...however, i'd have to check the manual to say exactly how. i just use the two inputs on the front, channel inserts and monitor outs...haven't used the effets sends or the direct outs. there is also a stereo input, which may figure into the six input claim.

the sheilding on the aardvark is definitely a plus...but i haven't done an a/b with the delta to see how much...you should also take into account that the omni has its own power supply, the aardvark breakout box is powered thru pci slot...

i don't use digital inputs or outputs at all...i don't use any digital stuff besides computers....so , i don't know about the ADAT i/o...but i'm sure plenty of others do. if the soundcard you want isn't out today, it may be out next month...
 
I think tubedude ment that analog ins of Terratec just convert up to 16 bit.... and Gabriel your right too the digital ins go to 24 bit...

Am I right...( I'm just a Newbie)

The building of a home studio with a low budget up to 2000$ is not an easy task. paha rasti as we say in finnish.

And yes I'm in a point when I hear the tweak tweak sound in my head...but as I have said few times already: thanks guys with out you I would be in deep shit up to my neck ( now it's only up to my waist) and with you I'm facing so many opinions that only checking those out have made me to understand little more about this hardware stuff... thanks...

I'll keep on bugging you

Riku

PS.

No sollution Aardvark vs Omni vs digi001, MIA vs Terratec vs Audiophile.

So when I end up buying something...keep your fingers crossed.
 
Now that I have a couple of weeks on my rig using the external Flying Cow, rather than the internal Audiophile 2496, I'm even happier with my decision to change to external converters. I'm really not sure where all that noise managed to get into the Audiophile, but it was there, and it is hellaciously distracting. I seldom used the Audiophile's A/D converters for tracking, since I essentially always use the (very quiet!) converters in in my D1624. But I do have one or two reference tracks (roughs of old tunes that I've flown in from cassette to start reworking) that I brought in that way, just to try it out. And sure enough: there's the crud, down under it, competing with the tape hiss even off a beaterbox cassette machine: the noise was not merely a playback phenomenon. I'm glad that I didn't track anything that I really meant to keep using those converters. Once that junk is there, _it's there_.

The noise may be coupled in through radiated EMI inside the box, or (more likely) come riding in on the ground reference through the motherboard. Or maybe my particular card or mobo has unusual problems. But there's no question that it is there with my particular rig. Even if you are starting out to try to build a budget system, you run the risk of printing tracks that you want to keep that have crud for the noise floor.

Based on that experience, I'd seriously suggest finding any possible way to get the converters out of the box (either converters-in-the-breakout or standalone external), and bring your audio in in the digital domain. Failing that, either audition a machine set up like the one you intend to build, so that you can use your ears to make the call, or buy the card with an ironclad satisfaction guarantee, so that you can swap it for something more appropriate if it doesn't work out.

Bottom line: listen to the rig carefully, and decide if the noise floor bugs you. If it does, you'll need to change to something else. And it's better to find that out before you lay out the cash, than after. I can testify to that!

And whatever you buy, make sure it has SPDIF I/O. Then, later, when you get external converters, you'll be able to ship the data in...
 
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