Diamond MX400 ok for tape transfer?

[geelsu]

Hi all,

Would the Diamond mx400 be ok for recording from cassette so that I can
make music CDs? I will be using a product called Goldwave to create
the music files and then the standard HP Create A CD software to copy the
files to CD. I can't spend a lot of money on a card that is highly specialized for
line-in, but was looking for one with good specs such as those at
http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/reports/. The mx400 is not listed, but
it predecessors were rated very good to excellent.

Thanks to all.

 

[RWhite]

The MX400 is comperable to the Sound Blaster Live. I would characterise it as a good consumer-level (not pro) sound card. The line-in should be more than clean enough for what you are doing. I do the same thing myself with a SBLive card - record albums and old tapes to .WAV and then turn them into CDs. I use a SBLive in my computer room even though I have a better system downstairs in my studio. Since your audio source (cassette) is generally noisy you really wouldn't gain much if anything by using a better card. More inportant is to make sure your cables/jacks/electrical ground are all good so you don't introduce any more additional noise.