Need serious help!

[Marly88]

Hello,

I am currently searching for an audio interface. Well, I don't know if I should call it an audio interface, because most audio interfaces have a preamp, and I don't need a preamp, and I don't need a compressor aswell, we're going to buy them seperate. Now I am guessing that the only thing is left of the audio interface is the sound card with its own sound quality. The big question now is: What is the best (with the best sound quality) sound card (or whatever you call it) for 1500$ max.

For me it is all about the sound quality at the moment, so If the audio interface for $1500 max. is one with a preamp that is no problem aswell.

Note that I need 2 microphone inputs only.

I really hope you understand my question, because I'm having a hard time explaining it. Please ask questions if you don't.

Thanks!

[deve]

Seems to me you need an input card with two channels of ad/da with AES/EBU I/O. Lynx has very good cards for much cheaper than $1500. Check out L22 http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=11
For multichannel stuff check out RME.

[Kiwiburger]

If you only need two high quality channels, and two spare lower quality channels, then something like the M-Audio 192 with an external A/D converter - such as a Lucid AD9624 is a great combination.

The Lucid AD9624 is $800 from Front End Audio | Your Ultimate Pro Audio Dealer | 888-228-4530 - it's just a high quality A/D converter. You still need the soundcard to get the digital signal into your PC. The M-Audio 192 is $169, and it's 4 in/out. Two of those are the digital in/out.

You might want a DA9624 as well for better monitoring quality - optional. The 192 has balanced outputs you can use for monitoring. A nice external D/A gives your quality headphone amps and level controls as well as the balanced out for your monitors.

PC's are noisy things, and when you get serious you will want to get it outside your tracking room. The advantage of a seperate A/D converter is that you can have it in the room with your and your preamps/compressor, and the metering is excellent. Run a balanced AES cable to the PC, then convert it to s/pdif with a Neutrik AES-to-s/pdif inline transformer. That gets around the 5 metres limitation of s/pdif (and USB and Firewire for that matter).

I would get a small mixer to allow latency free monitoring of your preamp and your backing track while you track. (Rather than trying to monitor through the PC and struggling to get low latency).

There are a bunch of cheap firewire boxes and audio interfaces out there - I don't believe they compare with the quality and professional features of a setup such as the Lucids. Audio interfaces are a convenient solution but generally, because they offer so many features in one box, the quality tends to suffer. If you get a great preamp, for example, you might be annoyed at having to connect to your PC via some cheap preamps and cheap converters in an audio interface.

I'm a fan of buying seperate components, where you can check the quality of each piece, and upgrading or repairing is easier.

[Marly88]

You know suggested me some AD/DA converters, but actually I was asking for a sound card like an EMU 0404 or EMU 1616 or the M-audio you suggested. I am a fan of seperate too, so please help me with it. I would like the quality to be really good though!

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

If you only need two high quality channels, and two spare lower quality channels, then something like the M-Audio 192 with an external A/D converter - such as a Lucid AD9624 is a great combination.

The Lucid AD9624 is $800 from Front End Audio | Your Ultimate Pro Audio Dealer | 888-228-4530 - it's just a high quality A/D converter. You still need the soundcard to get the digital signal into your PC. The M-Audio 192 is $169, and it's 4 in/out. Two of those are the digital in/out.

You might want a DA9624 as well for better monitoring quality - optional. The 192 has balanced outputs you can use for monitoring. A nice external D/A gives your quality headphone amps and level controls as well as the balanced out for your monitors.

PC's are noisy things, and when you get serious you will want to get it outside your tracking room. The advantage of a seperate A/D converter is that you can have it in the room with your and your preamps/compressor, and the metering is excellent. Run a balanced AES cable to the PC, then convert it to s/pdif with a Neutrik AES-to-s/pdif inline transformer. That gets around the 5 metres limitation of s/pdif (and USB and Firewire for that matter).

I would get a small mixer to allow latency free monitoring of your preamp and your backing track while you track. (Rather than trying to monitor through the PC and struggling to get low latency).

There are a bunch of cheap firewire boxes and audio interfaces out there - I don't believe they compare with the quality and professional features of a setup such as the Lucids. Audio interfaces are a convenient solution but generally, because they offer so many features in one box, the quality tends to suffer. If you get a great preamp, for example, you might be annoyed at having to connect to your PC via some cheap preamps and cheap converters in an audio interface.

I'm a fan of buying seperate components, where you can check the quality of each piece, and upgrading or repairing is easier.

You are right about this. And this is why I want to buy the sound card seperate from the preamp and the compressor!

There are a bunch of cheap firewire boxes and audio interfaces out there - I don't believe they compare with the quality and professional features of a setup such as the Lucids. Audio interfaces are a convenient solution but generally, because they offer so many features in one box, the quality tends to suffer.