To usb or not to usb

[riccol]

I a newbie and have been navigating the learning curve for a little over a year now. I have the audiophile 24/96 card and use
n-Track for the just hobby stuff I do. I lurk and learn in the forums.
Recenctly a friend saw my little setup and wanted to get started.
When he went shopping he wanted me to tell him the difference in performane between the audiophile 24/96 I have and the newer USB.

I told him I don't have much of a clue but I can ask about it here.

SOOOO-- can anyone help me.

Will the usb work and perform as well? ............. Pros and cons?

Thanks for any help

 

[Stealthtech]

It probably will do fine. USB used to be a little sluggish but I think they have worked out the bugs otherwise I dont think they would be selling it.

 

[James Argo]

Yup...
I never use USB other than web cam & scanner. But I've heard they worked a good progress on developing USB. I've heard USB 2 is hell alot better than the original USB. Audio is getting smoother and smoother. And I've also heard that if you use Win2K or WinXP, you need to install Service Pack 1 to make your USB work better. I dunno much. Just a thought... my subjective oppinion will suggest keep safely with PCI anyway.


Jaymz

 

[MisterC]

I've been using audio over USB for approx 4 months with varied success (using an Event EZbus).

The issue with USB isn't really about the hardware, is ALL ABOUT THE DRIVERS! (How they work with your CPU & mobo chipset, how they work with your DAW software, etc.) My 1.1Ghz AMD system is plenty fast enough with WinXP, but Events drivers have been flakey with my DAW software, Sonar 2.2.

Do your research... how recent are the drivers? check the web or email support of the product your interested in for compatability issues.

As for me, I just ordered the m-audio 2496 20 minutes ago (wish me luck)!

 

[LAZI]

I had hell with my USB soundcard. I finally bought a USB 2.0 interace for my computer and now everythings running smooth. There's some kind of IRQ sharing problem with USB 1.0 that may give you pops and clicks in your audio (in and out). I found this problem is kind of common but not much info on fixes. I think the WIDOWS SP1 is supposed to solve some issues but didn;t in my case.

I personally would go with firewire if I had it to do again.