E-MU 0204 USB: Damn, They've Done it Again! And for $129!!!
Jun 29, 2011 at 9:19 PM Post #197 of 310
Some test results on the unit. http://www.virtins.com/doc/D1007/D1007.shtml
 
I think many people are overlooking what this device really is capable of, especially with its measurements. Everyone is looking for it to be an amp, when they should be looking at it as a very high end, affordable external USB soundcard / source for your amp. In this aspect, the 0204 kicks some major bang for the buck tail. If you make the right offer on ebay... you can get them for $110 shipped hehe.
 
 
 
Jun 29, 2011 at 10:16 PM Post #198 of 310
So I'm in the market for a <$200 USB DAC, would the 0204 be an upgrade over the FiiO E7? Thanks! I only need it for USB, no need for coax/optical.
 
And reading the post above mine, it looks quite promising! I will continue using my FiiO E9 as the headphone amp, but I am looking for the DAC upgrade
 
Jul 27, 2011 at 2:37 AM Post #199 of 310
I stumbled upon this unit tonight while searching for an external DAC/amp suitable for my needs. I'd be using it as a source for the following:

1. Grado SR80i's
2. Klipsch B2 bookshelf speakers powered via a T-amp (with line-in)

Thus far, this seems to be the cheapest DAC I've come upon that would allow simultaneous output to both devices. The uDac 2 and Fiio E7 both have mixed reviews and compromises that have steered me away, while the 0204 USB looks more down my alley. I have a few questions, though, and would appreciate any help from current and previous owners.

1. Are proprietary drivers required, or is the unit plug-n-play? If required, how obtrusive and/or finicky are the drivers in Win7 64?

2. What's the latest on the jitter problems discussed earlier in the thread? Have drivers fixed these issues? Will I need some type of fancy-schmancy $150 USB cable to circumvent them?

3. Are the back outputs unaffected by the volume knob? (I want this to be the case, as I only need a DAC, not a preamp).

4. Is the headphone amp well-suited for low-impedance cans like Grados?

5. On the off chance anyone has experience with both, how does the 0204 compare with the Maverick TubeMagic D1? It's the only other all-in-one type box I've come upon for $200 or less, and it clearly has some advantages (S/PDIF input in particular), but I may as well save the 75 clams if everything else is fairly equal.
 
Aug 28, 2011 at 10:58 AM Post #200 of 310
Are the outputs balanced or unbalanced?  The manual says early in it that they're balanced, and then at the end says they're balanced.  Anyone tested the minus part with a TRS to dual TS or RCA to check that the minus is sending an inverted signal?
 
If it's not balanced, what are the alternative products to this one that are?
 
Aug 29, 2011 at 9:33 AM Post #201 of 310
Not balanced.  Dang!  And the inputs are inferior to the ones on the 1212M and the Tracker.  Well, it's on its way from Amazon.  I can always refuse it.
 
Do the main outputs actually put out a 6.7V signal at max or are they just a pro nominal 1.25V like the 1212M?  I'm getting an O2 amp and it may be worthwhile if it's that high to get its gains set at 0 and 5.
 
Aug 29, 2011 at 6:38 PM Post #203 of 310
Thanks.  So it looks like the low gain setting on the O2 will work perfect for me.
 
Are there any 24/192 (or near) Windows 7 64 compatible interfaces in this price range with balanced outputs?  I'm surprised they don't even have SPDIF and MIDI on the 0204.  Add its lack of balanced outputs and inferior line inputs compared to Emu's prior products, and it's not that great a buy on paper.  If there's an alternative for a good price with better features, I can refuse the shipment from Amazon.
 
Emu really needs to fix the specs section of that manual.
 
Aug 30, 2011 at 2:50 AM Post #204 of 310
It's safe to say, there aren't any comparable 24/192 interfaces with balanced outputs in 0204s price range. I own a 0202 USB, which has similar inputs and I have zero issues. It's true that the inputs aren't completely symmetrical, but that's not a problem in real world use. There is one real issue with 0202 or 0204 inputs - it's difficult to set input gain evenly for both channels because the knobs are pretty fiddly.
Balanced outputs are useful only when you are dealing with very long cable runs. In typical home use unbalanced is perfectly fine.
 
Aug 30, 2011 at 4:01 PM Post #205 of 310
Reticuli2 said:
. Not balanced.  Dang!  And the inputs are inferior to the ones on the 1212M and the Tracker.  Well, it's on its way from Amazon.  I can always refuse it.
 
Do the main outputs actually put out a 6.7V signal at max or are they just a pro nominal 1.25V like the 1212M?  I'm getting an O2 amp and it may be worthwhile if it's that high to get its gains set at 0 and 5.


Nominal (0VU) for most professional ADC/DACs is calibrated to: -18dBFS = +4dBu = 1.23v. Not max output = 1.25v. Depends on how they are calibrated though, could be anywhere from -12dBFS = +4dBu to -22dBFS = +4dBu (-18dBFS is the most common).

G
 
Aug 30, 2011 at 9:15 PM Post #206 of 310

At home I would be using them unbalanced, but I could definitely make use of better ASIO balanced outputs for djing than the ones in my dj interface/controllers.  Oh well.  It's sitting here.  I might as well open it and give it a go.  Bummer, though.  What I really want is a USB 1212m.  I don't need mic preamps.
 
Quote:
cer said:
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It's safe to say, there aren't any comparable 24/192 interfaces with balanced outputs in 0204s price range. I own a 0202 USB, which has similar inputs and I have zero issues. It's true that the inputs aren't completely symmetrical, but that's not a problem in real world use. There is one real issue with 0202 or 0204 inputs - it's difficult to set input gain evenly for both channels because the knobs are pretty fiddly.
Balanced outputs are useful only when you are dealing with very long cable runs. In typical home use unbalanced is perfectly fine.



 
 
Sep 1, 2011 at 4:00 PM Post #207 of 310
My 0204 has some serious jitter, faint tics, and dropout issues in both Winamp with ASIO and with the included Mixcraft LE.  The latter is hogging cpu time at 100% while playing and for a while after pausing.  Is this Emu not unburdening the CPU from sound duties?  I only have a Compaq CQ56 2ghz Celeron laptop with 4GB, but it's way beyond what the minimum requirements are on the 0204's box. My old P4 Northwood desktop with only 2GB never had those problems with the 1212m and 24/192 files, let alone files half that size.
 
Sep 1, 2011 at 6:41 PM Post #208 of 310
Heck, I don't even see how you control this thing.  It doesn't appear to come with a mixing console.  There's a "control panel" but all that's for is showing you whether it's in USB 1 or USB 2.0, and allows you to select the alternate set of ASIO channels for the headphoens (3/4).  How do I route sound and select the line ins to do a Rightmark test with it?  I managed to get some of dropouts reduced or completely eliminated by disabling a bunch of stuff and getting dcp latency down somewhat.  But Mixcraft is still wrecking havoc whenever I play anything with it.
 
Edit: While there's no ASIO routing, you can use the Windows routing system for RMAA.  Channel balance is pretty dodgy on it below 9 o'clock and in most places it's a little higher than it should be.  My unit is imbalanced to the left by 0.2 full scale, the bass rolls off on that channel, and the phasing in the low end on the inputs is indeed inferior to the 1212m. 
 
The headphone amp itself tests pretty good without a load.  I need to get some stuff to load it if want to test it for that, but the necessary odds and ends are in storage.  I can tell by ear that it doesn't like driving loads below 70-80ohms really loud past 2 o'clock, but seems fine when driving over 100ohms at any volume.  I suspect the headphone amp has no exaggerated attack if I feed it square waves.  Usually an afterthought jack will sound hard or exaggerated in attack or both.  This one seems to do none of that to my ear.  And while macro dynamics aren't great into low impedance on it, the microdynamics sound pretty good and it's very easy to pick out volume changes.  Dynamics are fine at higher ohms and it should be completely damped & kosher for anything over 150ohms if you can get it loud enough for a particular can.  It's too bad they didn't make it a zero ohm output, but if it just had a better pot on it it'd be a nice (though voltage-limited) jack for HD650s or the big Beyerdynamics.
 
Just did some TrueRTA tests.  There's no way to tell whether it's the line/dac stage (prior to the headphone jack) or the inputs without a second soundcard input, but the squares do seem a bit slow in the rise and there's a touch of leading and trailing edge exaggeration.  There's some jaggies along the top, too.  I have to assume this is the input stage doing this.  Because, while I can maybe buy the slow part (the headphone jack does sound relaxed), I have a hard time believing the line out stage is producing the exaggerated edges.  The fact this is all present on both the line out and the headphone jack tells me it's either the line out stage or the input stage.  So the jack itself is definitely not adding to the slow rise or the jaggies.  My guess is it's all the line inputs, which would mean, other than the limited max voltage and the 22ohm impedance, the class A headphone amp is not a terrible one.
 
Sep 2, 2011 at 3:47 AM Post #209 of 310
what kind of control?
Just Install the drivers and software, connect emu with PC using USB, plug your headphones on the front jack (you can control volume on headphones directly using power switch and internally in PC)
or connect rear 2 x 6.3mm mono jacks to your headphone amp using RCA cables (6.3mono jack to RCA needed) and then you will just select proper volume on PC and then control volume on headphone amp.
In foobar I can select output device as EMU 0204 or EMU 0204 ASIO.
As time passed, I didnt noticed real difference between ASIO and non-ASIO usage, quality-wise.
I switched back to original ASIO driver abd then i stopped using it. No use because no hearable differences.
 
Sep 2, 2011 at 9:31 AM Post #210 of 310
I figured out how to do the necessary routng using Windows' own controls.  Hence the "edit" part.  You have to do that, otherwise RMAA just detects its own signal.  PatchMix was very powerful.  I know a lot of people found it confusing, but I think it's a jip to not have that or the effects patching on this thing.  I suspect its lack of sound processor is the reason it's not unloading duties from the CPU.
 

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