Digital Sound Quality Part 2

Audio cards aren't "powerful", they either sound good or they don't. Sounds
to me like you're ready to take anyone's advice without listening to either
card. In that case, go with the reliable card. The difference in sound
quality will be negligible.

I called a couple of suppliers who stock both cards.

Their opinions were firmly split, with one recommending the E-MU as being
the more powerful, better specified card and the other recommending the
M-Audio as the well established, hassle free workhorse!

I suppose I could get the E-MU and then try and swap it for the M-Audio if I
have compatibility issues...

Cheers

This is commendable, but indeed outrageous. I would have returned it
long before that.

What does E-Mu have to say about that? Did you ask? It's unfortunate
that they released a product with non-working WDM drivers (at least
not working for you, I wonder if everyone has this experience), but
that's the way things go these days. As soon as it produces sound, the
marketing people start advertising it, and as soon as an ad appears,
people expect that there are thousands out in the field and we want to
know how good it is. So they HAVE to release it.

They'll get it right in a few more months.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mriv@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Sound quality can't be far apart, but the M-Audio will probably install
easier.

Your recording software can specify which card is used for recording without
changing the default card for other applications. Either card will be a
substantial step up from the on-board sound.

I have the Emu 1820M on one computer and a M-Audio 2496 on the other. The
Emu sounds very good, but I had major installation problems with it. In
fact, after re-installing Windows and ensuring no interupt sharing etc, I
was still unable to get it to record audio. I wound up building a new
computer to accomodate it. I had 2 AMD 2400+ systems, one with the M-Audio
and one with the Emu. I highly suspect there was a compatibility problem
with the Emu drivers and the VIA chipsets. Since putting together an all
Intel system, the Emu works fine. The Emu drivers are still in the infant
stage and the WDM drivers don't really work yet, ASIO works fine though. I
have read that others have had success with the nVidia chipsets and the new
Emu products, so you should be fine.

The M-Audio cards install easily and work without a hitch. They sound good,
but not as good as the Emu 1820m. I understand the less expensive Emu cards
do not use the same converters as the 1820m anyway. Either way, both
products are good sounding and I am pleased with them.

I disabled my onboard sound chip. You'll have to play it by ear as to
whether or not you'll need to do the same. It will depend on whether or not
you have the spare interupts available.

Hope this helps you with your decision.

Cary

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