[lorafenik]

Hey,
I'm looking for external DAC/ADC. The soundcard on my PC died (it was Prodigy 7.1 HIFI) and I need something better than internal one. SQ of Prodigy was satisfying for me, moreso, I can do a little downgrade. Little.
It happend just few months before my studies and I'm going to study sound engineering, so I'm thinking of getting some not-too-bad ADC.
I'll be using notebook, so it has to be external box.
It would also be nice if I could switch output from speakers to HPs, like I did with Prodigy.
What's your opinion?
Thanks in advance
pzdr

 

[TMRaven]

Are you trying to output to just headphones, or will you be feeding an amp/speakers as well?

 

[lorafenik]

I'll be using speakers, probably KRK Rokit 5 or some of the cheapest active ADAMs

 

[HardDrive]

What kind of price range are you looking at?

 

[lorafenik]

Hmm, the prices differ quite a lot between Poland and US, but let's say E-MU 0202 USB is near the upper price limit. That's less than $100
I'd buy Mackie Onyx used, but new one is quite expensive

 

[HardDrive]

You could get the Creative Sound Blaster X-fi HD in that range, not sure if you care about more then 2 channels for audio outputting. Is this going to mainly for speakers, headphones, or both?

 

[audiofil]

Have a look at Audiotrak Prodigy Cube.
It's well featured and quite musical sounding.
Most likely close to your former Audiotrak soundcard.
 
 
You can find it on Ebay for 99$ (shipped).

 

[Snag1e]

I have a EMU 0204, and I like it. The X-Fi HD recommended above seems to be very similar to the emu (both made by creative even), but apparently the X-FI HD resamples redbook 44.1  audio to 44.8 khz, while the EMU accepts pretty much every sample rate without resampling it.

 

[RexAeterna]

http://www.amazon.com/Numark-DJ-Multi-Channel-Interface/dp/B000S5Q2EK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1304741670&sr=8-3


i don't know how it is but it should do the job just fine if it's just music. my soundcard output jack just went dead on me couple days ago so i was thinking of getting this thing here since my main listening are is around my computer as well as my other stuff and i use my amps. reviews seem good to me but i haven't had a chance to order it yet. it's a basic 2.0 card. i was gonna get the creative as well but i read too much bloatware and problems with creative software and i don't care for surround sound or any type of DSP's.

 

[Snag1e]

Also, If you can find one I think the Art DI/O can be had for fairly cheep, and it is supposed to be excellent for the price....and highly modable if your into that kind of thing