Lynx and Card Deluxe arent in the same price bracket.
The question was "which is the CHEAPEST with the BEST" - the poster is obvioulsy looking to spend a minimal amount of cash for the best quality.
Of course you can get into arguments like spend an extra £100 here and get that... well £200 there gets you this... yea before you know it you've just bought a Prism for £6000
Here is an interesting article -
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/creative-emu-1820/
Also, SOS uses an 1820M and Echo Mia as the benchmark against which all other interfaces are judged.. in a subjective listening test using *shock* ears.
The only interface so far that has beaten the 1820M (ableit only just) is the Echo Audiofire...
These reviews are just one man's subjective listening, but it makes very interesting reading for me as an 1820M owner to read how it fares against the latest competition - check this months review of the ESI Maxio XD
Admittedly .. yes, it all focuses on the DA side of things. But I am happy with recordings I make, vocals sound good and present, guitars sound nice and twangy. Not that there isnt better.. but for what price? You would have to spend about 3 times as much to equate outlay to sound quality imo.. basically Apogee territory.
On the other point of saying the EMUs are designed by a gaming company..
I'm not aware of any EMU gaming products.. I always thought they were serious sampling and synth manufacturers. Sure they have got Creative's "professional" marketing power and programmers behind them but.. whats bad about that? Soundblaster is the most successful audio interface ever made!
And also, Ted Fletcher pre-amps and an ex Apogee engineer designed the clock. Seriously not much to complain about at this price point.
.. or does that annoy you
