how often should manufacturers put out a new piece of hardware?

[minofifa]

I was just wondering how often a manufaturer should put out a new line of audio hardware, sound cards specificially. It seems like the delta1010 and the aardvark q10 have been out for a long time, almost as if they were old technology compared to the new echo and emu products. There are obviously some advantages to promoting older pieces of gear such as the ability to claim that they have been used by many users and are proven to be stable. It must also cost a lot of money to put out new piece of hardware as they have to be developed adn tested and advertized. will m-audio ride out the delta as long as they can or will they follow echo and make a 2G delta? .

On a similar note, does anybody know of a resource on the internet that has histories of a company's products? I was specifically interested in the echo line. They have the layla 3G which followed the Layla24 but i cannot find anything on the first layla. I was just curious to see how far they have come.

 

[Atterion]

I don't think we will see a significant update to the 1010 in its PCI form (as a PCI interface goes, it really has all the goods, one would expect in an interface. Why mess with tried and true). M-Audio hasn't set idolly by though. They are extremely busy focusing on other areas of the market, controllers, preamps, USB gear etc.
I don't think a manufacturer should release a piece of gear unless it actually offers a significant set of functional upgrades (boo to those who re-release products that are primarily cosmetic in change, yay to those who release functionally better gear for less money).

ProRec Layla Review
http://www.prorec.com/prorec/articl...46e9e87e8fc495d78625660c000a952c?OpenDocument

The EchoAudio Reviews page (Links to a whole bunch of reviews):
http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/product_reviews.php

 

[minofifa]

thanks for the links atterion

 

[wheelema]

Also, keep in mind, that the longer a device has been out the better the drivers are. New device drivers tend to be very buggy.

I do wish the 1010LT had ADAT I/O so as to mesh with the M-Audio Octane.

 

[minofifa]

that is what actually got me to thinking about this, i would for sure get the delta 1010 if it had ADAT but it doesn't which is a shame. it would be a good challenger to the layla 3G but as it stands now, the layla 3G is cheaper, offers ADAT, offers 2 preamps and has arguably better converters. the only hardware advantge the 1010 has is the added outputs, a feature that i am not too conerned with.