Can $500 US buy a decent soundcard?

[manytunes]

I look at those very expensive Apogee converters and think, can a 8 in and out sound card compete?

Any thoughts? From what I have been reading, the quality of the analog to digital converter is everything in digital recording. So the question has to be asked. Can a $500 soundcard really sound as good as something like the Apogee Rosetta, which is only a two channel converter, and then I would need a sound card with digital in's and out's?

That would be something like $1500 for two channels of conversion. That is a lot more then some of these soundcards that seem to have similar specifications that are a third of the price, and with more in's and out's. I would also have to add in the cost of some decent working recording and mixing software.

Such confusion!

 

[CyanJaguar]

I have heard stuff done on cheaper sound-cards that sounded great. And I do believe that a $500 (used ) soundcard will give you better than roland vs1680 quality, and the roland 1680 sounds very good.

 

[ET]

I agree...the biggest component to great sound is the quality of the engineer and musicians. Spend your money on external gear/effects. I agree with the statement that a good soundcard sounds better than a Roland VS. I used to have a VS880 and get better sound from my PC based system. I do miss the effects that the VS had, but I use some great plug ins now...