[pufftissue]

Hi,
It's 2007.   I recall having an EMU 0404 pci-based card in my desktop.  I hooked it up to Klipsch 2.1 thx speakers and thought that sounded wonderful. (I'm not into super high end audio). I never believed in sound cards before, but I was shocked at how nice the music sounded with that.  My EMU 0404 crapped out within a month, and I never replaced it.
 
It's now 2011.  What did I miss?  Now that it's a laptop world these days, I am curious if people who have heard the EMU 0404 pci card would recommend if I want the same sound quality, but with a usb interface? 
I do not need to record anything; what I am after is the sound quality.  It seems like the EMU 0404 usb is hard to find and has gone UP in price?  Is there some knockoff asian brand of usb soundcard that is known to use a really high-grade chip but for middling prices?
 
Any help would be appreciated.
 
Thanks!

 

[barleyguy]

If you don't need recording, and you're not primarily using it for gaming, devices marketed as "USB DAC" will usually have better sound quality that devices marketed as "USB Soundcard".
 
As far as bang-for-the-buck, it really depends what price range you are looking at.  Each price range has leaders as far as value.  In the $200-300 range, there are DACs that approach studio DAC performance.
 

 

[audionewbieyao]

Have you checked out Asus Xonar U3?
The sound quality of Xonar U3 is said to be surprisingly good....