E-mu 1820M vs. ?

[sethmeister]

I own the 1820M and don't plan to buy another interface in the near future.

If its working well for you and you don't need more IO I'd look into using the budget to upgrade to dedicated converters instead (benchmark, lucid, etc). In my opinion that will get you better results than another interface could.

[ozraves]

Depending on what you Jones for...

RADAR
Lavry
HEDD

The EMU sounds remarkably good for what it is. I've used or been around a lot of converters. I'd keep it unless I needed a Pro Tools donglesque interface or wanted to go to the cream.

[cuby]

I agree, the Emu 1280 and 1212 are all very well made. In fact, I don't think the RME or Echo can be better, taking their price difference in to consideration. But I do use Maudio now, never because of their sound, just so that I can use ProTools if needed. You may consider the Lynx Aurora or Apogee AD 16x if you really want to upgrade your AD, but that's only after you have upgraded your mic, preamp, etc.

[JeffSanders]

Thanks for your input, guys. I appreciate it.

[ozraves]

Originally Posted by cuby

You may consider the Lynx Aurora or Apogee AD 16x if you really want to upgrade your AD, but that's only after you have upgraded your mic, preamp, etc.

And, you might be sitting there thinking the sound's different but it might not be better. I know the HEDD is an upgrade and the RADAR but... there's this big middle on converters. Most of the pro units go there as do some of the better prosumer units.

[area51]

Mytek stereo 96k, just 900$, if need upgrade to a 'pro', but Emu is very good IMO.

[Acoustic Cloud]

If you have no issues with the 1820m, keep it. I have an Audiofire8 now, and I consider it to be "as good" sound-wise. I used the 1820m for over a year, and I loved the sound, yes the sound........nothing else. It was however a blatant example of release WAY before almost any bug or driver problem was ever addressed, so it seemed. Their forums were a raging inferno of angry people for a good amount of time. I had owned 4 cards prior to that, and never had one that refused to cooperate with raid-0 drives, never.....

Very nice card. Shame on them for using Ted Fletchers pres though...someone may actually want to use them!

[moon_unit]

Strictly in terms of sound quality, you're not going to do a whole lot better until you get in to the range of some of the boutique stand-alones. Even something like a Lucid would merely be a small step up (in sound quality). So, no, I don't necessarily think a Lynx or an RME are going to give you any really serious upgrade in that department.

But it really depends on just how fussy / anal you are about your converters. To someone who's absolutely obsessed about squeezing every last possible ounce of fidelity they can get out of their budget, you might find a Lynx2 card worthwhile, because they are made with somewhat stricter tolerances in their components, and higher quality control standards, I am guessing, which could translate in the final product.
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[sethmeister]

Originally Posted by ozraves

And, you might be sitting there thinking the sound's different but it might not be better. I know the HEDD is an upgrade and the RADAR but... there's this big middle on converters. Most of the pro units go there as do some of the better prosumer units.

That's a good point.

Also, converters and interfaces both seem to get cheaper and more powerful every year.

The money would probably be best spent on mic pres, mics, monitors, room treatment, and instruments first.

[mamm7215]

Originally Posted by JeffSanders

I currently use an E-mu 1820M. Luckily, I have very few issues with their drivers and find the sound to be excellent compared with my previous card (an M-Audio 2496).

Hey, I'm about to get the 1820M upgrading from my audiophile 2496. Is the sound that much better as you say? I needed more ins and wanted to use the s/pdif concurrently with my pre-amp ins, which I can't do right now with the audiophile. Thanks.

[JeffSanders]

You will notice a huge difference from the 2496.

[Acoustic Cloud]

I agree with Jeff. Since emu bought creative labs, it has always been my thoughts that they wanted to hit hard with the first releases of their cards, and they did. But also including a ton of stuff they shouldnt have also, IMO.

Pretty much owning the price range, but, bugs & bunny had them at circus music during the "weedthroughs"...which lasted longer than it should have.

If your box is pretty current, I would say its the best around under a grand. I havent tried the ultralite or FF400, they seem to be pretty ho hum, but more stable than the Emu. The 120 on the adda is pretty hefty also, if it really does that!!

Just dont buy it for the pres, pleeze!

[John The Cut]

I've had an 1820M. Layla 3g and Apogee Rosetta. The 1820M is a great sounding card and I dont think it can be bettered below £1000 - there's just no point. I never had a driver issue with the 1820M and the amount of connectivity makes it worth it for that alone imo.

I think the high end of the 1820M is a bit skewed though. I dunno,, hyped or smeared or something because the Layla3G has a much more rounded tone and on first impression doesnt sound as good (boosting highs always sounds better), but the pres are excellent and the sound overall more true, imo.

Then the Rosetta. Well if the 1820M boosts highs and smears them, then this unit makes you realise what you've been missing. It is an eye opener :P I had NEVER heard cymbals properly on a DAW until I went high end in the converter stakes

[sekim]

Nice box, no real problems if you set it up right.

[mikemike]

Originally Posted by sekim

Nice box, no real problems if you set it up right.

I have a question about the EMU 1616M Laptop Audio Interface, does it change samplerates on the fly? I have little experience with anything other than RME, and that product has "autosync" which syncs to whatever the project sample rate happenes to be. I recently bought an MAudio usb transit but I have to close host software and change the rate in the cards' software before opening a project with a different SR. Are most of the newer usb/fw devices capable of this?

This is something I cannot tolerate.

Thanks

[mamm7215]

I have the 1820M and if you open a host like Sonar that's a different sample rate than the patchmix setting, it will pop up a window and ask you to select a different sample rate for patchmix, so you don't have to restart your host app, but it doesn't do it on the fly.