need a new soundcard for various things

[ToS_Maverick]

i currently use my onboard nvidia soundstorm soundchard/chip with beyer dt531 plugged in the headphone out of my creative inspire t5800. the front 2 speakers a connected to my pc, the rear 2 to the pc of my father so although it's a 5.1 system i only use it as 2.1, and since i got my 531s i only use them

i'm a hobby musician and like to record my electric guitar with the pc. as i don't have a good micophone-amp i record through a virtual amp (v-amp2) which is plugged in the linein of the soundstorm.

on the game-performance side, i don't play 3d-shooters very often, although i like them. i play WoW a lot which doesn't need a good soundchard

the non-plus-ultra card for me would be the Terratec Aureon 7.1 Universe which has a headphone out, a microphone in and a phono in. the only thing which concerns me is, if the quality of the card is compareable to a emu 0404?

the other option would be, as mentioned before, a emu 0404 or 1212m. as i read, the output/recording quality is surpeme but for these i would need a mic-amp that costs me about 50 euros extra and i'm not shure about my headphones.

it would be nice if someone could help me comparing the 7.1 universe with the emu cards, i searched the forum but didn't find anything that helped me further

 

[sgrossklass]

No, the Aureon 7.1 Universe, essentially being a souped-up 7.1 Space with goodies, is not in the same league as the 0404. Mic ins on soundcards rarely seem to be very trustworthy, so better stay with your current amp. I'd take a look at the M-Audio Revolution 5.1, still not quite in the same league as the 0404 but with an output capable of driving headphones and a good bit less expensive (and somewhat better converter wise) than the 7.1 Universe. That will be miles ahead of whatever crappy AC97 codec was used on your mo/bo.

 

[ToS_Maverick]

the revolution 5.1 looks very interesting for my needs. how good is the revo 5.1 at recording?

what i'm wondering right now is, do the emu 0404 and 1212m only have singlechannel outputs? one for the left channel and one for the right?

i'm also torn between the two because i don't trust the breakoutcable of the 0404... i think the outputs are not of the same quality as of the 1212m or am i wrong?

 

[proxops-pete]

I'd strongly recommend 0404 for recording as Revolution series are meant for more of consumer in mind who wants quality multi-channel processing for listening...

 

[ToS_Maverick]

after some reading i think i'll get a 1212m. but i read that the 0404 doesn't work good with games? i don't mean 3D effects, what i read is that the sound stutters? if this is the same with the 1212m i really have to reconsider because that's not acceptable for me