i need to get a new audio card as this dell stock one is a joke. im running a HD unit and i upload all of my recordings through the usb on the front of my pc straight into soundforge7. i dont need all the midi stuff although rca in/out would be nice for sound playback.
i've heard the audiophile 24/96 is nice,but im not transfering dats. would this card still be a good getter?
go with the 2496, never had one single problem with it and you can pick them up pretty cheap off ebay
what are you looking for the card to do -- bit-perfect digital out playback, or just nice sounding analog?
I've been VERY impressed with the Chaintech AV710, which runs a whopping $25 from newegg, etc. It is built around the via envy 24PT chipset (used by many more expensive cards) and, for 2 channel analog playback has the ability to pass the analog through a burr-brown d>a which is supposed to sound Great. Digitally, there are some firmware swaps available from places like headfi.org that will enable it to mimic far more expensive cards and pass bit-perfect digital output (optical only, unfortunately) via asio drivers.
At a minimum, worth checking out if you're looking for a nice sounding analog out solution and/or can work with optical digital.
Otherwise, the audiophile 2496 is a known solution . . . .
keep in mind the audiophile 2496 is only bit perfect when using ASIO drivers.