[Caution]

Hi I'm planning to order some stuff from America (I'm from Australia) and was wondering what the best analogue sound card for music is I have a set of Alessandro MS-1 Headphones and don't really need a good card for gaming. So far I've looked at the X-meridian, E-mu 1212, E-mu 0404, ESI Juli@ and the Onkyo SE-200 (Out of my price range )

Any other suggestions that are under $150?

I don't plan on using the digital outputs for a while nor do I see my self moving on to Vista... So Digital/Vista drivers are not such a big concern.

Also does anyone have any cheap reputable sites that ship to Australia? So far I've found jrrshop.

 

[Ahriman4891]

ESI Juli@ seems to fit your needs. There are many, many folks happy with its sound. Its digital out is really good, and I believe they already have Vista drivers out, so you won't have to toss it when the time comes. Also, the drivers/control panel are said to be stable and intuitive.

But, if you can spend more and get E-MU 0404USB, go for that

EDIT: out of the cards you mentioned, 1212, 0404, and Juli@ need an external amp, not sure about Onkyo.

 

[penpinzzz]

yeach... vote for Juli@
enjoy

 

[Caution]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ahriman4891 /img/forum/go_quote.gif EDIT: out of the cards you mentioned, 1212, 0404, and Juli@ need an external amp, not sure about Onkyo.

Hrmm Even my Alessandro MS-1 needs an amp? Even my soundblaster Live! seems to drive it with ease :O

I think I've also read that the 1212 has a better analogue outputs than the Juli@, and have also read lots and lots of good things about the analogue x-meridian outputs. Why is it that the X-meridian doesn't seem to get much praise around here on Head-fi? Is it just because there are so many more better audio cards?

 

[Ahriman4891]

X-Meridian actually gets plenty of praise, considering it's a very recent product. Some people make it sound like X-meridian is the second coming or whatever

But the real reason is that it's a 7.1 card, while most head-fiers are interested in stereo devices for obvious reasons.

The cards I mentioned don't even have a minijack out, just 2 TRS ones (neither does Onkyo, it has 2 RCAs). So at the very least you'll need some sort of adapter cable. Also, most cards just aren't suited for driving low-impedance loads too well, and loudness has nothing to do with it--you just get more harmonic distortion than you'd get with an amp. Tolerable, but not ideal.

1212M does sound better, according to most sources I trust. However, it takes 2 PCI slots (well actually the analogue card doesn't occupy a slot, just an opening at the back of the case), and patchmix is not the easiest software to use IIRC. You can't really go wrong with either, and I doubt you'll feel too much difference on your Alessandros -- no offense

-- both are really good, and you need a truly nice acoustic system to really let 1212M get ahead of Juli@.

 

[Caution]

hrm ok thanks for that. Can you show me what type of adapter cable I would need for a Juli@ and would I get a noticeable degradation in sound quality from using these cables?