[xenithon]

Good Day,

I would like to ask what your opinions are on the EMU 0404 USB, used strictly as an interface (USB input, digital output). With the recent release of ASIO drivers for Windows Vista, it seems quite attractive.

I have an Empricial Audio Freeway 2, which is absolutely fantastic. Only issue I have is that it used the Transit driver which only works on XP (Vista is only a beta and no plans for 64-bit support either). The driverless firmware costs about the same as an 0404 USB does, and I would need to use DirectSound with it, not ASIO anymore.

Do you think that going from the Freeway 2 to the 0404 would be a "downgrade"? I'd be using it to feed an Apogee Mini-Dac.

Cheers,
X

 

[xenithon]

Bump....anyone using the 0404 for USB to digital conversion (bypassing its DAC)?

 

[[L]es]

i use the 0404usb as usb to digital coax. sound is clear and open. pretty good actually, then again i can only compare with the digital outs of my old sound cards (an x-fi, onboard s/pdif, dmx 6fire)

 

[porschemad911]

Isn't that overkill? Don't you just need any cheap USB --> digital device that can do bit-perfect?

I'm sure it works fine, but seems to be a waste unless you're going to use the other features some day.

 

[sejarzo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by porschemad911 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Isn't that overkill? Don't you just need any cheap USB --> digital device that can do bit-perfect?

In a sense, yes, use of the 0404 USB only as a transport could be overkill, but there are advantages--getting the clock out of the computer seems to be the biggest one..

If one wants to play hi-rez source material, the cheaper plug-n-play driverless units that are standard Windows USB Audio Devices won't handle it.

The big question has to do with how the drivers for any device are going to play along with others on your system. Quite a few us of "early adopters" of the 0404 USB had good luck, but it does seem as if others have significant issues with wireless networking devices in notebooks and some video cards in desktops.

 

[xenithon]

sejarzo - do you know if those issues persist with the latest release of drivers and firmware for the 0404?

Also, do you know if those latest drivers are also set to expire like the previous beta version?

 

[sejarzo]

It might be too soon to conclude that the new drivers are better with respect to conflicts--they've only been out a few weeks.

No expiration date as far as I can tell.

 

[KarateKid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by [L]es /img/forum/go_quote.gif i use the 0404usb as usb to digital coax. sound is clear and open. pretty good actually, then again i can only compare with the digital outs of my old sound cards (an x-fi, onboard s/pdif, dmx 6fire)

X-fi has bad spdif?

And does a good DAC reclock everything so there is no signal loss or jittering or whatever you may call it?

 

[[L]es]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarateKid /img/forum/go_quote.gif X-fi has bad spdif? And does a good DAC reclock everything so there is no signal loss or jittering or whatever you may call it?

x-fi plat had harsh highs but a sweet midrange. the 0404 is neutral with good detail retrieval and like i said.. quite open

i think the 0404 usb has pretty low jitter but that's all i can say. haven't compared with other usb > spdif interfaces..

 

[maarek99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KarateKid /img/forum/go_quote.gif X-fi has bad spdif?

To my ears they all sound the same in spdif. Regular X-fi's, Prelude, Emu 0404...exactly the same digital out.

 

[[L]es]

Quote:

To my ears they all sound the same in spdif. Regular X-fi's, Prelude, Emu 0404...exactly the same digital out.

really doubt that.. unless my evs is more picky than most dacs..

 

[d-cee]

I use it as a transport, it's good.

Haven't compared it to the offramp though so can't really say