Audio Interface: Echo Mia Midi, M-Audio Audiophile 2496, or... ? Options

[Raptus]

This would probably fit in better in a music production forum, but lets try it here anyway
Before I opened this thread I looked for similar discussions, but best I found was this here, although the thread starter has requirements very different from mine.

I used to have a Terratec DMX6fire 24/96, which I liked a lot, as it had everything I needed:
- MIDI in
- SPDIF out
- Headphone jack with volume knob
- Analog in (Line, Phono and Mic)
- Low latency through ASIO support

It worked well under WinXP, although I always found the noise on the analog ins and outs too high.

Unfortunately, Terratec dropped their pro and semi-pro line, including driver support ofc. The last driver you can find for the card is version 5.53 beta, which includes support for Windows Vista. It "works" with Win7 64 bit, which I use now, but what a nightmare. It sometimes produces noise, silence or BSODs (out of blue, or when accessing certain driver menu items).

So I'm looking for a replacement. Another Terratec with working drivers and maybe higher quality analog ports would be perfect, but if I had that I wouldn't be posting.
I'm willing to lose the headphone jack and the phono & mic in, everything else is still a requirement. I will use the card mainly for music production with programs like Ableton Live and Propellerheads Reason, sometimes recording an analog source. I will not play my music collection or games on it.

Of course, the first recommendation that springs to mind is the M-Audio Audiophile 2496. But I have been reading bad things about driver support on Win7. Not surprisingly, the card uses the same Via ICE Envy24 chip as the Terratec, and judging from screenshots the driver panel is a virtual clone (only without the custom interface colors the Terratec has). Bad vibes, but I'm all ears regarding other experiences.

There is the Echo Mia Midi, about whose driver quality I could find very little information. Can somebody shed some light on it?

And there are probably more options that I'm forgetting. Marian Trace alpha looks interesting but I know nothing about them/it. RME and Lynx are way oversized...

[botface]

Well, I've heard good reports regarding M-Audio and Win7 drivers. It's so hard to know who to believe. Hopefully someone will chime in who has actual experience. In the meantime...................

the card uses the same Via ICE Envy24 chip as the Terratec, and judging from screenshots the driver panel is a virtual clone (only without the custom interface colors the Terratec has).

............ it might be worth trying the M-Audio driver with your current card.

[[JAZ]]

About MIDI In... Have you thought on using a device that can send MIDI to the PC via USB? Many (all?) of the keyboards and devices for PC made in the last years connect via USB. My MIDI keyboard uses USB and has one midi in and one midi out connector, and can act as midi passthrough.

[Raptus]

About MIDI In... Have you thought on using a device that can send MIDI to the PC via USB? Many (all?) of the keyboards and devices for PC made in the last years connect via USB. My MIDI keyboard uses USB and has one midi in and one midi out connector, and can act as midi passthrough.

Yes, I can do that with the Behringer BCF2000 I own but I can only attach one MIDI device (I still stumble over enough gear with only MIDI out).
But its worth checking out how my options increase if I drop the MIDI in requirement on the interface...

[Arnold B. Kruege...]

Well, I've heard good reports regarding M-Audio and Win7 drivers. It's so hard to know who to believe. Hopefully someone will chime in who has actual experience. In the meantime...................

the card uses the same Via ICE Envy24 chip as the Terratec, and judging from screenshots the driver panel is a virtual clone (only without the custom interface colors the Terratec has).

............ it might be worth trying the M-Audio driver with your current card.

I have a M-Audio AP 24192 which uses the same drivers as the AP 2496. The Windows XP drivers deliver about 10 dB better dynamic range than the Windows 7 64 bit drivers. Ironically, the reduced dynamic range of the AP 24192 with windows 7/64 drivers is about the same as that of the AP2496.