Poll: Best soundcard brand

  • Thread starter Thread starter ssman
  • Start date Start date

Poll: Best Soundcard Brand (bang for buck under $500)

  • e-mu

    Votes: 51 16.7%

  • echo

    Votes: 30 9.8%

  • m-audio

    Votes: 145 47.5%

  • RME

    Votes: 72 23.6%

  • creamware

    Votes: 5 1.6%

  • ST Audio

    Votes: 3 1.0%

  • Terratec

    Votes: 11 3.6%
  • Total voters
    305
Good cheap one

I bought a cheap Audiotrak Inca 88 and have had a great time with it. It doesn't have all the gadgets in the world, but it's the cheapest around (I think) for 8 inputs.
 
M-Audio HANDS DOWN!

Delta 1010lt
1010 series
Do I have to mention the DMP-3!!!?
 
Only have RME and Creamware from your list. Both RME cards have been stable and first class since the went into the pc (three pc's ago). Whatever OS/cpu/chipset, they work as advertised. The most troublefree part of any pc I ever had.

Now, the creamware...first rate AD/DA for a card inside a pc. And that is all there is to say about that card. The driverOS uses loads of memory/cpu/bus. It craps out at the least load. Worst support I ever had the displeasure to encounter. Waiting for a reply on some mails to the supportsite for more than 5 years. Only ever got it to work half-decently with a VIA Epia board. Hasn't been used for more than 5 years must be around somewhere here in a box.
 
My experience is limited to the Aardvark Aark24 card, so I don't know how it compares to others. But I will say this about it: the Aardvark Manager is a little troublemaker on my Windows XP HE pc. Sometimes, when I'm NOT doing any audio work or running anything that requires sound, the PC becomes very sluggish. In the Task Manager, Aardvark is using as much as 85% of CPU, yet it has nothing whatsover to do. Performance will improve if I kill the Aardvark process (or reboot). So I always reboot before doing any audio work.
 
Save up and get.......

MOTU!!!
sws1hw.jpg
 
I'm kinda surprised that I'm the only one here that put in ST Audio. For the price, my board is fantastic:
2 mic ins with phantom power
8 1/4" ins
10 outs
2 midi in/out/thrus
1 optical SPDIF input
headphone jack

the only bad is -- it takes 2 slots so you cant get a barebones Dell and use it.
 
LYNX! They've been called the ONLY mastering quality "in the box" interface by a couple of respected mastering engineers, and the only audiophile quality soundcard by Audiophile magazine. The specs are off the hook good, and the sound is big bucks standalone conversion. They're pricy, but a bargain relative to their performance.
 
Yeah, I agree. Wish I could afford their multichannel interface thingamajiggy.
 
I have an echo Layla 3G and its been awesome. Rock solid drivers, great sound, easy to use. With 8 analogue ins and outs, inserts on 1 & 2, adat and spdif in, its a steal at $500 and I got mine used for $375. Everyone will say that it will be outdated soon when pci express takes over but my computer will hopefully last me 5 years at which point I can get a new one with pcie and a new pcie or firewire soundcard
 
Is there such a thing as best soundcard? I think that RME are definitely in the higher rankings. M-audio are a very good BUDGET card.

EMU.....why is it people still have to use other asio drivers with these cards? I've read reviews, I mean Magazine reviews, where the reviewer had to use ASIO4all or KXasio in order to reduce latency with the 0404. What's with that? Why even bother?
 
M-audio can suck my balls and any other Digi/Avid company, AMERICA FUCK YEAH!
 
Hmm.... I have a M-audio fast Track Pro that I use with my mobile system and have had no problems with it. My E-MU 1820M sounds great and is pretty solid if you can get around the mess they call patchmix the fact that they are discontinuing the production of the card doesn't help much. The MOTU 2408 mkIII sounds good to me I use that at work. I'm thinking of upgrading the E-mu I have at home I mean the sound quality is great but it's too much of a hassle to have to deal with the patchmix program. Having said that I'll probably shoot for an Lynx or RME card next.
 
m-audio has 50% of the vote! must not be that bad ;)
 
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Robert D said:
LYNX! They've been called the ONLY mastering quality "in the box" interface by a couple of respected mastering engineers, and the only audiophile quality soundcard by Audiophile magazine. The specs are off the hook good, and the sound is big bucks standalone conversion. They're pricy, but a bargain relative to their performance.
Click to expand...

I'll second that! I've been using a LynxOne for about 6 years and love it... (about $500 USD). It's also the only card we're using in the production rooms at the radio station cluster I work for (12 stations).

Check the stats on the comparisn link posted on first page by Ford Van...
http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/LynxONE/index.htm
 
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lpdeluxe said:
What happens if I recommend something, and nobody likes it?

Find a card that fits your workflow, and go with it. Do you really think you can hear the difference, assuming you have set it up correctly in a compatible system?
Click to expand...

YES!

in that case, i vote for 'Digidesign'.

it fits my needs perfectly.

but i guess from your list, RME has some solid stuff, Maudio is the cheaper digidesign (although some products can get up there in price) and they have some good interfaces.
 
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