EMU 0404 USB - really the best?

[subfocus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nylus /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just phoned them up they don't. Im from the UK and the cheapest i can find it is £130 which is like $260. ********* rediculous.

I paid roughly the same for the E-MU a few months back. Still a bargain IMO. If this unit had any kind of half decent metal casing/faceplate then it could quite easily sell for a lot more . Considering the sheer versatility and impressive SQ of the 0404USB it still gives excellent bang for the buck I reckon ........even at UK prices.

 

[Cankin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by penguindude /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not just the UK, in Canada retail prices are pretty bad too, and we're right beside you people.

I paid about Cdn $280 for my 0404 USB

 

[penguindude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cankin /img/forum/go_quote.gif I paid about Cdn $280 for my 0404 USB

Wow, really? Where did you get your EMU? I got mine for $215 shipped plus free t-shirt and jacket.

 

[Cankin]

Cosmo Music

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sejarzo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think if you re-read our responses, the clear answer is no, there isn't. There are some on the list that are clearly better than others, but we all don't share the same ears or cost-to-benefit philosophy. This is sort of an exaggeration, but here goes.......I think Sennheiser HD600's are fantastic. Apparently, their frequency response characteristics match my ear/head shape, ear canal geometry, etc. etc. well, and I find them very flat, very accurate in general. Not the slightest bit "veiled", too. On the other hand......the appeal of Grados escapes me completely. They all sound far less accurate to me, much more "hi-fi", with exaggerated mid-bass, over-sparkly highs, a "hyped" sound--regardless of price point. Maybe they sound "good" on rock, but for classical--no stinkin' way, at least in my book! But you will find classical listeners who swear by Grado, who think Senn's are hideously veiled/slow/dead/muffled or whatever. Who's right? When it comes to electronics, the differences are much more subtle than between headphones--but still, it will all come down to what satisfies you most....then buy it, be happy, and enjoy the music without worrying if it's not exactly what others think is best.

I think it's a failure of people to clarify their statements well. There's no point in talking about one component without including what it's connected to, ie: in context. Beyond that, it depends on the person's ears.

Quote:

Originally Posted by infinitesymphony /img/forum/go_quote.gif Possibly an issue working with CoreAudio and USB. The only way they could get higher sampling rates to work over USB in Windows was to build their own USB drivers from scratch, instead of using the supplied drivers. Most audio interfaces designed for Macintoshes work via Firewire, so perhaps it's easier to implement. It could also be due to inexperience coding drivers for OS X.

I just read the article mentioned in another thread on changing the Audio/MIDI settings in Mac OS X to get a better sample rate and noticed I can set the analogue headphone output to 96kHz but the USB out to my Corda Move (with inbuilt DAC) to only 48, so I'd guess the first statement is correct.

Firewire is the preferred interface on Macs for audio as there tends to be less lag and less chance of drop-outs as I understand it, not requiring CPU time to process data as USB requires. On G3 and G4 Macs the firewire bus was connected directly to the northbridge for optimum throughput. With the G5 macs came AMD's Hypertransport for the southbridge (roughly speaking) which meant that Firewire, even hooked into the southbridge in G5's, was always going to be better for any device when high-throughput and low latency was required.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong /img/forum/go_quote.gif I can set the analogue headphone output to 96kHz but the USB out to my Corda Move (with inbuilt DAC) to only 48...

That's a limitation of the Corda Move itself; it only supports 16-bit / 32, 44.1, 48 kHz over USB. It could be an issue with CoreAudio as well, but it's hard to tell from this case.

 

[touser]

I just picked up an 0404 usb from the local fry's for $199 (i know its cheaper online but this way i can return it easily if i'm not happy) I'm driving a pair of sennheiser HD595's off of it and so far i'm pretty pleased. However after reading this and various other threads people are saying that the headphone amp isnt all that great, and sense that is my only use for the 0404 is there something else i should pick up instead for under $200? I should also probably be more specific, i'm not using it purely as an amp, its also my sound card.

 

[sejarzo]

My opinion is that even if you use it only as a USB DAC/soundcard that it's a good deal. Coupling it with something like a maxed-out PIMETA for starters--only $100-$125 on the used market here--firms up the bass and makes for an overall warmer/solid presentation.

Even so, assuming that one pays $160 or so for one via the web, and spends another $200 on a headamp, it competes well with any other sub-$400 solution between a PC and headphones. If you are a musician, or like me also wanted something with mic pres to do room measurements for speaker rigs, it's a no-brainer good deal.

 

[jeremy6044]

just ordered one. but i just got a message saying it's on back order. i guess too many people couldn't resist the $125 price.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Quote:

Originally Posted by touser /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just picked up an 0404 usb from the local fry's for $199 (i know its cheaper online but this way i can return it easily if i'm not happy) I'm driving a pair of sennheiser HD595's off of it and so far i'm pretty pleased.

HD595s are some of the easiest Sennheisers to drive... You'd probably want to upgrade if you had HD600s or HD650s. If you like the headphone amplification, don't worry too much about it. You can always add an amplifier later, and the 0404 USB will scale with it. If you ever decide to upgrade from the 0404 USB, you can switch to a dedicated DAC, since you'll have the headphone section covered.

 

[kyotousa]

what make you choose 0404USB rather than 1212M PCI?

 

[Herr Kaufmann]

Can someone from Europe recommend the cheapest e-store where i can order 0404?

I don't see any sense in ordering EMU from USA...

 

[sejarzo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyotousa /img/forum/go_quote.gif what make you choose 0404USB rather than 1212M PCI?

In my case.....

First, if one has the need to use the device with a notebook, the 0404 USB is the only choice. The built-in headamp is also a nice feature for transportability, not the ultimate but certainly usable.

Second, the mic preamps allow me to use a measurement microphone and RoomEQ Wizard freeware to measure the response of my speaker rig in our home theater, allowing me to adjust speaker locations and subwoofer level. Theoretically, one can also do impulse response measurements and apply digital room correction via a deconvolver plug-in in Foobar, though I've yet to make that work well.

Third, and this is only a potential benefit, is that removing the DAC and analog output stages from the interference prone location inside the PC might result in a cleaner final analog output signal.

 

[kyotousa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sejarzo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Third, and this is only a potential benefit, is that removing the DAC and analog output stages from the interference prone location inside the PC might result in a cleaner final analog output signal.

Thats what I am thinking as well...

can you emphasis more on the second benefit? Is there a link that teach you how to use that program?

 

[sejarzo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyotousa /img/forum/go_quote.gif can you emphasis more on the second benefit? Is there a link that teach you how to use that program?

Right there, you described the problem......most of the digital room correction applications are difficult to use with not much instruction. I tried to use one "solution" that involved something like 40 steps and three different programs to reach the final point at which you can listen to the result.......which took me six hours.....and it was awful. Nothing in all the docs could tell me at what point things went wrong, but it obviously was not correct in the end.

If you Google the phrase "digital room correction" you can find some links to other applications that attempt to automate the process but are still more or less based on a common engine that cranks out the required digital filter--but they all involve buying more software. One of them seems to be good--but there isn't yet full documentation available in English. I don't want to pay $100 or more for a program that doesn't include full documentation that allows me to be certain that (a) I'm doing it correctly and (b) can troubleshoot it if something doesn't work properly in the future.

I actually bought a used TacT room correction preamp about six months ago, but it had some problems on arrival and eventually went back to the seller. So at this point, I'm waiting for a better PC-based solution to become available, because I can't afford a new TacT unit that costs ~$3000.