Topic: Best sub-$500 Audio Card for PC?

[jmz93]

I've been using a budget card for years, an M-audio Delta Audiophile 2496.  I've been happy with it's low latency, but I'd like to upgrade to something with a lower noise floor.  In Sound Forge, The card's analog inputs register around -85DB, not even 16-bit dynamic range. I assume I need to get all connectors outside and away from the computer to get the noise floor down a considerable amount from that.

So, what would you guys recommend as a fairly inexpensive audio interface (a few hundred dollars) with both decent converters, and solid drivers under Windows XP?  What companies are known for best performance, and which companies should I just avoid altogether?
I'm listening to more and more music right off the computer these days, so AD/DAC quality is fairly high on my list of priorities.

Thanks for any suggestions.

If it matters, I do most work in Cakewalk Sonar Producer 8.3, and some mastering in Sound Forge 6, and I'm still using Windows XP-sp3.

[Brian Skalinder]

Have you considered using your portable recorder's ADC for recording, keeping the Audiophile 2496, and getting an external DAC for listening (i.e. not a bi-directional soundcard, just a proper playback DAC)?  Assuming you have a portable recorder, of course.

[jmz93]

Have you considered using your portable recorder's ADC for recording, keeping the Audiophile 2496, and getting an external DAC for listening (i.e. not a bi-directional soundcard, just a proper playback DAC)?  Assuming you have a portable recorder, of course.

Yes an Edirol R-09HR. What sort of latency should I expect to get with it's ASIO or WDM drivers in a mixing/mastering application like Sonar?

Thanks for the DAC recommendation though, I could at least use that for playback. But, I'd still need something more robust for digital audio work on the computer. 
Not necessarily something that can handle multiple inputs and multitrack, but at least something with decent signal-noise specs and the ability to handle many audio streams in a DAW application like Sonar.  As far as I know, the R-09HR would be a simple 1/8" in, 1/8" out ANALOG type device, much much less than the PCI card I have now.

[Brian Skalinder]

Well, my thought for the recorder was that you would record to the R-09HR standalone, then transfer digitally (not via analog 1/8") - via the removable media (SD?) - to your computer.  And you'd use the M-Audio soundcard + DAC strictly for playback.  The downside with this setup:  you can't record directly to PC (unless you use your Audiophile 2496).  I don't ever have a need to do so, hence this is the solution I use:  record to portable recorder, playback via Audiophile 2496 + DAC.

If you want to record directly to PC with decent S/N and reasonable price, I really think you need to get the ADC out of the computer and go with an external soundcard.  My father uses an Edirol UA-25EX and likes it.  But I don't know the full S/N specs, haven't used it myself, etc.

I vaguely recall other posts on the subject, so you might try a search for "external soundcard" or "USB soundcard"

[live2496]

If you want a PCI card, Digital Audio Labs Card Deluxe is a real good one for $399. I have not used one, but I remember from PCAVtech.com's website that the specs were really good compared to others.

http://store.digitalaudio.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=DAL&Product_Code=CDX-01&Category_Code=CDX

110db of dynamic range when recording, 114db on the output.
http://www.digitalaudio.com/tech-info.html