Delta 44, Echo Mia, or Audiophile 2496?

  • Thread starter Thread starter aaronbjames
  • Start date Start date

Delta 44, Echo Mia, or Audiophile 2496 ?

  • Delta 44

    Votes: 32 38.6%

  • Echo Mia

    Votes: 16 19.3%

  • Audiophile 2496

    Votes: 35 42.2%
  • Total voters
    83
A

aaronbjames

New member
I'm trying to decide which soundcard to buy. I started a thread earlier in the month and you all convinced me that I should spend around 150$ at the minimum. So, after searching the threads and the internet, here are my options, as best I can tell within my budget ($200 is the absolute most, counting taxes, shipping, etc).

My system:
2Ghz Celeron
256 MB RAM (working on upgrading to at least 512)
40 Gig HD
Win98

Yamaha PSR 640 MIDI keyboard (plugged into the integrated soundcard)

Running Cakewalk Home Studio 2002.

Want to do some homerecording, play around with some songs that I've written. Usually I get all my MIDI put down. Then I'll add guitar. And Finally voice(s) (Audio never sounds good on the intergrated sound card).

I am on a budget, but here are the pros and cons of each card as far as I can see (which isn't very far at all mind you).

Delta 44--Break out box (box reduces noise some?)
Echo Mia--less expensive than the Delta
Audiophile 2496--less expensive than either of the above.
I don't need a lot of input outputs as I will probably never input more than one track at a time. Any difference in sound quality in these cards?

By the way, my pricing range is based on what I've discovered through ebay, used/refurbished. I realize that each of these bought new is over my budget (with the possible exception of the Audiophile 2496).

Anyway, your recommendations, warnings, experiences are appreciated!
 
oops, I meant to add Echo Gina as well

Please consider Echo Gina as well.
Thanks
 
Well the Audiophile has MIDI I/O I believe...Mia doesn't and I'm not too sure about the Delta. I will say the general opinion on this board is that if you are on a budget go with the Audiophile.
 
Go with the Delta 44

This is a very good, high quality sound card all the way around. You get 24/96 resolution and the thing integrates simlessly into your current setup. It does'nt have MIDI ports but if you already have a sound card with a MIDI/Game port then you can just use it.
 
Hold on there buddy...

Home studio only supports two inputs at a time so even though you may switch your inputs make this a consideration.Cakewalk does offer special upgrade prices should you choose to expand in the future.

If at present you don't have a midi input go with the 2496 and kill two birds with one stone,and please don't say you don't use midi.If you stay with computer recording for any amount of time you'll probably end up with some type of device that uses midi,be it a keyboard,Pod or effects unit.You can even use midi for a mixer controller.I use all three.

The only thing about the 2496 is that one pair of the in/outs is digital and you must have equipment with the coresponding in/outs to use these input/outputs.Otherwise you just have one midi port and one set of analog in/outs.

I as many others have the 2496 and am very happy with it.A breakout box is nice to be for sure but it's not totally necessary.

GOOD LUCK!
 
At the $200 level, I don't think you can go wrong with any of these cards.... the results are going to be similar.

However, I strongly suggest you consult each manufacturers website to MAKE SURE your motherboard/chipset is compatible with your purchase. I had a number of people ask me about my Mia, only to find out their problems were mobos with known problems posted on Echo's website.

For that matter, make sure that whoever you purchase your soundcard from has a good return policy.... there is no guarantee that any card won't give you problems and an easy return policy ALWAYS helps on computer purchases.

-----------------------------

Oh, the 8 "virtual outs" on the Mia are really handy for running multiple sound applications at the same time..... they don't fight over the audio out channels. The 1/4" jacks are nice, too.
 
Absolutely Mia!

But, of course, I am little bit biased because
I just purchased Mia (2 weeks ago)!

I think that audio quality in Mia is the best of these three,
and Mia has proper 1/4 inch balanced +4Db I/O jacks.
And as Tim said, 8 virtual outs are really handy
( you can use Sonar/Giga/acid/Sounforge same time)

By the way, there's new Mia MIDI too!!!
 
you just said you'd only use 1 inpute mostly. So why pay for 4 inputs with the delta 44? The break out box does not improve the quality of it, just improves the convinience. The delta 1010 has the AD converters in the break out box so it does make it better quality, but not that delta 44. Also the delta 44 has no midi.

I would say for you the audiophille 2496 without a doubt, it has more features you want, and a cheaper price tag, which you want.
 
The Delta, all the way. Four inputs (you will find a use for them), and they are balanced 1/4" not RCA jacks. You can get the Deltas for $199. Buy a SB Live 5.1 ($30) if you want to do MIDI and Soundfonts. Run the two cards side-by-side.
 
The Mia if you want the best measured sound quality of the three especially at 24bit recording (whether you will hear the difference depends on your setup). Also for better XP drivers (eg purewave functionality to avoid kmixer resampling).
MiaMidi if you need a midi interface as well.
Delta 44 if you need 4 inputs now but remember no room to upgrade via SPDIF.
 
of the audiophile and the mia, whixh would you guys suggest i get to run in winblows98se? (i'll build a new one soon and moce to XP.. but need a SC now..)...thanks
 
I use a Mia in 98 se and I love it. The A/D sounds really good for the price range IMO.
 
...

hell i use a delta 44 and a audiophile 24/96 :)

both stable as hell

peace
LB
 
Im also looking at one of these cards to buy. What i'd like to know though, is how does the Audiophile go with Athlon xp's on a Via chipset? I know some cards hate them. Also, coming from a gamers card owner, i notice it just has 4 rca sockets, are they just 2 in 2 out. Is there no headphone jack?
 
BrettMckinney said:
Im also looking at one of these cards to buy. What i'd like to know though, is how does the Audiophile go with Athlon xp's on a Via chipset? I know some cards hate them. Also, coming from a gamers card owner, i notice it just has 4 rca sockets, are they just 2 in 2 out. Is there no headphone jack?
Click to expand...

No headphone jack,no amplification.If you but this card you will need an pair of powered speakers or a amp/speakers combination.


The rca sockets are indeed in/out as you mentioned,the other two in/outs coming from digital/spdif ports.If you have no equipment with digital in/outs you may want to avoid this card and go with the"44".The advantage of the 2496 is that it comes with midi in/outs.
 
AH ok, well could you run the 2 outs back into the mixer and then plug headphones into the mixer to monitor everything?...i dont have speakers to monitor yet. I dont have any purpose for the spdif, but the midi will come in handy. I currently have an Audigy so mayb i'll leave that in.
 
BrettMckinney said:
Im also looking at one of these cards to buy. What i'd like to know though, is how does the Audiophile go with Athlon xp's on a Via chipset? I know some cards hate them. Also, coming from a gamers card owner, i notice it just has 4 rca sockets, are they just 2 in 2 out. Is there no headphone jack?
Click to expand...

I run the Delta 44 on an Athlon 1800+ with VIA chipset no probs (not since the XP upgrade anyway)
 
Delta

i've used the delta 44 with 98SE, 2k and XP Pro all superb, the i/os are balanced and you can select the levels to match your equipment whether its +4, line level or -10. output to your speakers and a DAT or a pair of cans, save buying more mixing/routing equipment. virtual router in the driver is superb and so flexible.

audiophile - same converters but all the other good stuff taken away. my 2p, go figure.
 
I've used both the MIA and the AP. I mainly use the spdif i/o with a Mindprint DI-Port as AD/DA converter. With the MIA I had problems when playing sounds that did not match the samplerate of the digital connection between the the MIA and the DI-Port. Sounds were played very slowly, were just refused to play or the computer would crash altogether while I don't have any of such problems with M-Audio cards. I just hook up the DI-Port and I can send any lousy windows system sounds to the speakers without a hitch.
I really liked the balanced IO on the MIA but being able to use the spdif i/o without having to think twice is a big plus to me.

Measurable differences in quality don't mean much to me, especially in this price range. They both sound decent to say the least but they're outperformed by any card that's considered an affordable step up (MOTU, RME, even the 1010) so let's not make that big a deal out of the sound quality. Most will probably not notice differences between the two.
 
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