I'm looking for a soundcard that has a good microphone input and decent playback. It's going to be recording meetings (possibly through a Sony ECM-CR120 Business Noise Reduction Microphone) and later playing them back. The cheeper the better, but quality counts... I'd rather the soundcard not be the weekest link in the chain.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Qest

Tell me how much maximum in your card, and how many preamp needed...

No more than $100 bucks... and what do you mean about preamps?

All microphones require a preamp in order to produce a strong enough signal to be used for anything (except the input to a microphone preamp). Those preamps in gaming soundcards are pretty miserable, definitely not for consideration where "quality counts.." Also, they are only adequate (in a minimally functional way) for cheap computer microphones. Any decent quality microphone requires more.

On the gaming types are available in built-in or PCI soundcards. I think one or two companies tried to put slightly better preamps into their PCI cards but those were definitely short of professional quality. The nor is either a stand-alone preamp feeding the soundcard line-in or a soundcard/preamp combination in an external form (USB or firewire).

You could look at the 0202 USB or the M-Audio MicPre. A bit above your budget though.

I think an M-audio 5.1 sound card or an Edirol / Roland UA-1EX USB interface fit your needs

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...0&image.y=0

Though if you are just recoding meeting, why net get a cheap digital business recorder or a USB microphone. Or even one of the new mic with built in digital recorders.