Yet Another Sound Card Poll

[Nuclio]

The point is is that you are not recording with just the converters. You have pre-amps and cables and microphones etc. and all of these things will affect your recording performance regardless of an on-paper s/n ratio.
***No doubt. It's all about bottlenecks or "the weakest link".

Then you also have to realize that you are sticking those converters into an environment filled with all sort of electro magnetic energy and how the actual chips are made and installed on the board will have an affect as well.
Which is why most likely you are not going to actually hear any real differences between the two cards made by m-audio, as the manufatcuring processes are going to be very similar, but you will hear a difference between an m-audio and a hoontech card because they are made differently.
***It's actually not that much about manufacturing. Where the rubber meets the road is engineering/design. Ideally, what manufacturing does is "replicate" designs cost effectively. If manufacturing fails it's that they didn't exactly replicate the prototypes or did so at too high a cost. So in regards performance, if manufacturing is up to snuff, it's all about component and implementation decisions.


Best,
ICHi
E-MU Systems

 

[Sterling30]

I'm thinking of this Echo model myself.., any opinions on Gina?

http://www.audioamigo.com/echo_gina.html

 

[BluMusic]

Just thought I'd throw my two cents in and say that I'm using the Delta-66 and I love it. I don't remember how much I paid because I bought it a few years back but it's very clean and does the job.

 

[Middleman]

If you take some time and scan around, the price of a used Delta 1010 has come way down. I found one the other day for $200. You would be happier with this set up in the long run.

 

[TamaSabian]

I bought my Delta 1010lt a year ago for 300 bucks, the price has come down and now a for extra cash you could have the 1010 w/breakout box.
Where did you find the info about converters???. How do you know which one is better than other???.

 

[therage!]

I bought my Delta 1010lt a year ago for 300 bucks, the price has come down and now a for extra cash you could have the 1010 w/breakout box.
Where did you find the info about converters???. How do you know which one is better than other???.

Sound on Sound mag has always been a pretty good source for info like that. If the card your looking at uses lets say, AKM converters you can go here and check out some specs.

http://www.akm.com/category.asp?cat=dac

 

[Robert D]

Hi,
I own both a Delta 66 and a Lynx L-22. The Lynx cards are generally accepted by professionals to be of mastering quality, and are highly regarded. I listen to them side by side on a regular basis, and can tell you a couple of things. First, the Lynx cards demonstrate that putting converters on a PCI card is not an inhierantly flawed approach, as their exceptional specs and proven performance bear out. Second, the much less expensive per channel Delta interfaces do a very impressive job, and a lot of other stuff in your signal chain has to be really good before any of the Delta interfaces become the weak link. For sure though, if you can get a 1010 for a good deal, that's the way to go......both for I/O count and slightly better sound quality than the 44 or 66.

-RD

 

[therage!]

Hi,
I own both a Delta 66 and a Lynx L-22. The Lynx cards are generally accepted by professionals to be of mastering quality, and are highly regarded. I listen to them side by side on a regular basis, and can tell you a couple of things. First, the Lynx cards demonstrate that putting converters on a PCI card is not an inhierantly flawed approach, as their exceptional specs and proven performance bear out. Second, the much less expensive per channel Delta interfaces do a very impressive job, and a lot of other stuff in your signal chain has to be really good before any of the Delta interfaces become the weak link. For sure though, if you can get a 1010 for a good deal, that's the way to go......both for I/O count and slightly better sound quality than the 44 or 66.

-RD

Yeah the theory is that having the converters on the PCI card can lead to problems like noise. That won’t be a problem if the PCB is designed correctly with good ground shielding. Obviously Lynx has that figured out. Good points about the signal chain and the 1010. The 1010 is much more than adequate for most of us in the home environment.

 

[amonte]

When you guys are referring to the 1010 in this post, I can't always tell if you mean the 1010 or 1010LT. It is specified sometimes, but sometimes I'm not sure. For example:

For sure though, if you can get a 1010 for a good deal, that's the way to go......both for I/O count and slightly better sound quality than the 44 or 66.

are you saying the 1010 has better sound quality than the 66 and 44 or that the 1010LT has better sound quality? Or is it both?

btw, of these three (1010, 1010LT, Delta44/66), the LT is the only one lacking balanced inputs and outputs, correct? I know it has the two mic pres, but is that it in terms of balanced ins and outs? All of the 66/44/1010 (non-LT) ins and outs appear to be balanced.

 

[therage!]

When you guys are referring to the 1010 in this post, I can't always tell if you mean the 1010 or 1010LT. It is specified sometimes, but sometimes I'm not sure. For example:



are you saying the 1010 has better sound quality than the 66 and 44 or that the 1010LT has better sound quality? Or is it both?

btw, of these three (1010, 1010LT, Delta44/66), the LT is the only one lacking balanced inputs and outputs, correct? I know it has the two mic pres, but is that it in terms of balanced ins and outs? All of the 66/44/1010 (non-LT) ins and outs appear to be balanced.

The 1010 is using higher grade converters than the others.

Not sure about the balanced ins/outs questions but that could easily figured out on their website.

 

[Robert D]

Amonte,
1010 - Best converters / balanced I/O / converters in rack, not in computer
66 - Good converters / balanced I/O / converters in computer
44 - 66 without digital I/O
1010LT - lesser qlty converters / unbalanced I/O

The 1010 specs out slightly higher than the 66/44, but all three are quite good. The 1010LT has great bang for the buck, but starts to see a noticable hit on audio quality, or so I've heard. I've never used one, but have seen people return them. I have a Delta 66, and I also have the much higher price/channel Lynx L-22. The Lynx is awesome, but the Delta 66 is no slouch in comparison to the highly regarded Lynx. BTW, the Lynx, which is regarded as being of mastering quality, has the converters on the card, and therefor in the computer like the Delta 66 and 44. So don't discount an interface on this factor.