[Frank M]

Hi!

Well, it's all in the title. People here seem to really favor the 0404, but it looks like I can get the Audiophile 2496 for considerably less. The search brought up a thread just like this, so I know it's been asked before, but my question is a bit different:
I wouldn't call myself such a fine-eared audiophile, will I notice the difference? Is the difference really that big, or just some small, fine nuances?
I'll be using the soundcard mainly for recording and home-studio-work (tracking, editing, mixing, etc).
I'll be going to the shop tomorrow so I need to decide till then

Thanks in advance!

 

[lan]

Yes it is that much better especially for what you're doing.

If you need even higher quality recording, the 1212m would suit you.

 

[Frank M]

Thanks!

Unfortunately, my budget limits me a bit...

that's why I was thinking about these two cards. I think I spent a bit too much on gear last year... like... 2 Ampeg preamps, one Crown poweramp and a cabinet... This year I'm trying to hold back a bit - without much success so far

 

[j8x]

I can tell you I've just gone through trying to make that decision myself. I ended up ordering the 0404. Haven't heard either of them. I knew they would be in the same "ball park" sound quality wise. What made me decide on the 0404 was the reading this and a couple other forums about people really being impressed its sound quality a little bit more than the 2496. I almost didn't get it from seeing what problems people had with it though. But after reading they mostly had problems with how it worked in their computer, not the sound card itself. It can be finicky but I built a computer specically for it. No other sound card, no games, Windows 2k, no CDrom (it's on the firewire) disabled the USB, no internet, no antivirus, etc, etc. I'm using it for mastering and editing tracks recorded on a Mackie MDR recorder. The clincher was when I read that it has the infamous Burr-Brown AD converters.

BTW, first post here. Great site. Been reading here for the past month.

 

[Zappa74]

I have the 2496 and I've been quite pleased with it. I use it in conjunction with my echo mia and all my recording needs are taken care of.

To be honest, the drivers are what kept me from the E-mu. I owned an audigy 2 platinum for a brief while and it was nothing but crap (both performance and driver wise). After all that, I just didnt want anything to do with Creative... not matter how little interaction they actually have in the E-mu cards.

I like my M-audio and Echo stuff just fine

 

[j8x]

Zappa74: Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I've never liked the Creative stuff but it's the thing to have if you also play games. The main thing I have going for me is I won't be using the 0404 with anything else. And on a fresh install. I started all this looking for a sound card for my Athlon 64 I built. That's going to get an Audiophile 192 in a month or two. I knew I would be doing that and want a card that can run in XP 64 bit. The 192 does. I'll run it with the built in sound for games. Who knows, if they ever release an audio program for XP 64 bit the 192 might take it's place.

 

[fln]

Does the quaility of digital output of 0404 differ from Terratec Aureon Space's(Optical TosLink on Aureon Space,I don't know what does E-Mu have)?
And what generally affects the quality of digital output of soundcard?
Also,How well is 0404's headphone output(if any) amped compared to Terratec Aureon Space Soundcard? Will it drive the HD580 headphones in the same way? Aureon has a big volume reserve for these headphones.
Answers appreciated.

 

[j8x]

The 0404 has optical and coaxial spdif IO. Is that what you mean by quality of digital output? It does do 24 bit @192 with the new drivers. I think that's on the output though. I could be wrong. All I need is 24 @ 96 for my purposes. I don't know about the Terratec myself.

The 0404 doesn't have headphone output. Just the line out. In my case I'll just send it out to a mixer.

 

[Mr.Radar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by j8x BTW, first post here. Great site. Been reading here for the past month.

Hello! Welcome to Head-Fi and sorry about your wallet!

Quote:

Originally Posted by j8x The clincher was when I read that it has the infamous Burr-Brown AD converters.

What makes the ADCs on the EMU 0404 "infamous?" I don't know very much about recording so could you tell me more about this? Thanks!

 

[j8x]

Uh...wallet? (searches his pockets) Did I lose it?

As far as the Burr-Brown's, They do take on somewhat of an "infamous" description. Even though the techie recording types don't admit it, I've been to forums where they go on for days about this preamp with that Burr-Brown yada yada (Not like here of course, they're too cool

). They do have a certain "mojo" to them. Kinda like vacuum tubes. They're really good converters that are used in some of the better preamps and stand-alone ADC units (you may know that, just saying it). But not necessarily meaning the ga-jillion dollar kind. You see them in the $200 to $1000 product range. It does kinda surprise me to see them in a $100 product from Creative (Emu). Kinda think if found that out they would take them out, or charge more money.

 

[Naga]

the EMU 0404 sounds good right out of the box for music and whatnot?

 

[j8x]

Of course it does......it has Burr-Browns.

...just having some fun. People do use it for plain old music listening.

BTW. I also ordered the Chaintech AV710 for my work computer. I can't believe there is one of these out there. 30 bucks for Wolfson ADC? I'm such a person for name dropping.

 

[Naga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by j8x Of course it does......it has Burr-Browns.

seeing the options it has i thaught it would require some absurd amount of tuning and setup procedure

 

[j8x]

Well the 0404 is "infamous" for the Patchmix control panel. it looks like it's quite busy.

 

[Frank M]

And the result: I have just installed the 0404

though the install - even the hardware part - wasn't without problems, as usual. It looks like it works now.