I'm planning to upgrade my SB Live to a better sound card. I decided to buy an USB card as multi-operating system support is a must. I will use the card mainly for music listening: no need for midi or recording features. I need it to have an optical output to connect it to my hi-fi system, and also at least two analog outputs, preferably RCA, to connect with my normal speakers.

I looked cards in this order:

Audigy 2 NX: As said in here it still resamples to 48khz, way better than the Extigy and Audigys, but I think a non resampling card will always be better for CD/MPC/MP3 listening. It has a good set of inputs/outputs, but it uses mini-jacks for the speakers

M-Audio Audiophile USB: Seems like a very good card, and many people in these forums recomend it, but I think that I would be paying a big extra for the Midi/Recording features and the Software bundle that I doubt I would use. Also M-Audio products are very hard to find here. Also looked at the Sonica, but it only has an optical output?

Stereo-Link: No resampling , but it lacks an optical output. Also I couldn't find any shop that even knew of these cards .

Terratec Aureon 5.1 USB: RCA outputs, optical out, and 5.1. Seems like a suiting card for me, but I haven't found any review saying if it resamples or not.

Yamaha Cavit AP-U70: Link This card really impressed me. It seems to have all the connectors I would need, and also an integrated amplifier. Even though, it's still priced very low (~100$). I haven't seen any comments about this card in HydrogenAudio, and I would really like to know if this card has any drawbacks compared with the others.

Have you considered M-Audio's "Consumer Audio" products Sonica and Sonica Theatre? For music listening M-Audio's Semi-Pro Interfaces are overkill.

dev0

I'm not sure what you willing to spend, but Edirol's UA-5 USB Digital Audio Capture is a very nice USB audio interface complete with analog and digital I/O. Like M-Audio's Audiophile USB, it has many recording features that you don't need. In general, both of these units will provide professional level performance. Both Edirol (a.k.a. Roland) and M-Audio provide solid driver support for Windows and Mac operating systems.

I have an Opto Play by AudioTrak which I have now been using for about 2 years. It is pretty basic, just 2 o/p's with anologue or optical out, and no inputs, 24-bit. It sounds great driven through 3 x 5m USB extension cables to my home Hi-Fi downstairs with my PC upstairs..

I love my m-audio sonica... i don't use the analog out, so i couldn't tell you anything about that...

only thing to note is that if you use kernel streaming theres a delay equal to your buffer when you press pause... other than that minor annoyance, its great.

Does anyone know of a USB soundcard with good quality that works under GNU/Linux + ALSA? I had a look at M-Audios Sonica products but there aren't drivers for ALSA and M-Audios support wrote that it's unlikely that they'll support development of a driver for ALSA.

They additionaly wrote that support for the new Transit USB is more likely but they aren't sure because they don't know how the situation of ALSA development will change with SUSE being aquired by Novell. And with 129 € Transit USB isn't a cheap buy

So if you have had good experience with some USB audio device and ALSA please post. I would only need it for stereo playback with headphones or a stereo amp.


Regards, David

I'm starting to get interested in going external myself.
Is there anything additional worth discussing in the Firewire category?
The machine in question has a Terratec 6Fire LT in it at the moment, but I'm starting to get pressed for PCI slots.

The M-Audio Sonica Theatre looks nice, but it doesn't have an optical output. Also it's very hard, if not impossible at decent prices, to find M-Audio products in here




Really overpriced for my needs, I'm willing to spend no more than $150.





AFAIK, usb soundcards doesn't need extra drivers than the usb_audio driver, which is not only in Linux, but also in BSDs. That's the main reason I'm getting an usb card, as I need it to work under FreeBSD.

This is in the ALSA webpage:

Also check this.


BTW, no one tried the Yamaha Cavits? I would really like to hear some comments on those cards.

JFYI, most of M-audio's pci cards are supported under OSS, but you will have to pay for the driver. The Revolution 7.1 i believe is available free.

If you are in the USA, newegg.com has the m-audio sonica for $52.00 USD. You can get a coax to optical converter for as low as $25.00 USD. Even with shipping, you should be well under your $150.00 limit.

http://us.hercules.com/products/showpage.p...hp?p=56&b=0&f=1

one of the best cards on the market for the $

VERY satisfied!!!

WAY better than creative cards!

I too thought that you wouldn't need a extra driver for USB soundcards but I read something on alsa mailing-list archives that gave me the impression, that they'd need to develop specific things to support USB Sonica. But maybe things like playback and volume changes work without drivers. Problem ist I don't like to "buy 'n' try".

I'll just write another eMail to M-Audios support and ask for that

I'm also looking for a good USB sound card sinc emy SFF has crap tastic AC-97 on it. My single PCI slot is used so it has to be external. Only thing I need to know is how much processor usage do these things use? Is it just the same as the PCI version? As long as it;s not more I'll be ordering one today from Newegg.

Thanks gang!

M-Audio's support wrote that all their USB devices have a firmware, which is part of their drivers. But they also wrote that there's a practice on GNU/Linux to simply use the firmware of the Windows drivers. And that's what I already read on ALSA's mailing-list, they are already working on a solution to load the firmware for Sonica; but AFAIK development is just at the beginning.

Hasn't someone tested M-Audios USB Transit with ALSA? That thing looks really nice, though I wouldn't need the support for high sample rates etc.

Would be really nice if someone could try if this soundcard works wih ALSA, I mean it wouldn't cost you more than connect the device to a computer running some kind of GNU/Linux with suppport for USB and ALSA.

And what about the Philips Aurilium?

http://www.pcsound.philips.com/_usb_audio_psc805.html

Doesn't look like it's supported:



thank you anyway


Regards,
David

Are there any UK dealers of M-Audio products?

Here is a list with 92 USB or FireWire soundcards: http://www.silentway.com/tips/equip/io.php

Thank you for that link, I have found some interesting devices there. Now I only need to find out if they will work with Linux based systems.


Regards, David

P.S. Xitel HIFI-Link and Yamaha UW10 look promising and _seem_ to work without special drivers, same goes for GRIFFIN Technology iMic. If someone has infos if this devices work with Linux, please post.

Thanks for that link, it will make the search easier

I have looked a bit more in the cavit series, they seem to be 100% operative from the remote control or the main unit (check last part of the manual), so a special driver wouldn't be needed as long as it sends it the audio data to the unit, so it *should* work flawlessly under Linux/FBSD.

Again, I'm as userXYZ looking forward for any comments from people that have tested any of these cards under Linux/BSD

the c't magazin tested some usb devices (#5 2/2004). They came to the conclusion, that "seldomly they discovered so many heavy problems while testing. You can not say, these devices work reliable" (free translation from german ).

So I'm still not shure which one to buy. Here a list with soundcards hat good or very good soundquality (and my comemnts):

• + Audiotrak Maya Ex7 180 EUR
• + Audiotrak optoplay 80 EUR (no problems in test, but no line output afaik)
• ++ Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 NX 150 EUR
• + Edirol UA 1X 120 EUR
• ++ Edirol UA 5 Audio Capture 395 EUR
• + Ego Systems 200 EUR
• ++ M Audio Transit USB - 130 EUR ok, this one looks fine - if there wasn't a very loud noise, the test team heard when they hit a "record" button. This noise nearly destroyed the speakers!
• ++ Teac/Tascam US 122 - 220 EUR
• ++ Terratec Producer phase 26 USB 270 EUR

Still lokking (also mainly for listening). Any suggestions? .lu

Scan of the detailed c't result table (includes THD, SNR and dynamic range measurements)

I wouldn't know what to pick myself...

Why would you need two sets of speakers? Why not do everything through your hifi? Just wondering.