Best sub £100 sound card for Music and Videos?

-Neil-

-Neil-

-Neil-

Soldato
Joined
14 Jun 2004
Posts
2,919
Location
Chippenham
glitch said:
The 2496 is widely accepted as being the best entry-level 'pro' soundcard that money can buy.
Click to expand...
I don't know about that. I am inclined to say there are more Emu followers than 2496 both on Head-Fi and 3DSS. I doubt either outclass the other, and price range, well, the 2496 is -slightly- cheaper I suppose, but still on the same price range Here's one of the better comparison I've found: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=98724
 
-Neil- said:
Nice one, you got one by any chance? If so how do you find it?
Click to expand...
My producing partner uses one (I used to have the 0404) and he's never had any problems with it in the three years he's had it. Drivers work perfectly, it sounds great and it's very user friendly.

By contrast the 0404 can be slightly inapproachable to the first-timer (when you say 'music' in your OP I'm assuming you mean producing) and you have to get it set up correctly before you can start using it, which can be more problematic for certain setups than others.

TooNice; I'll stick with my earlier comments about the M-Audio being widely accepted as the best entry-level card. All the magazines I've read reccommend it, all the forums I've been on have nothing but praise for it, and of the two cards, the 2496 is the only one in use in the machines of the professional (and by that I mean making money) producers I've been in contact with. The Emu is a great card but I think the M-Audio is more accessible.
 
By music I meant listening to high bit rate mp3's, wouldn't know
where to start for producing :p

Oh and I'd like to be able to connect up some headphones. They are Sennheiser HD595's. Looking at the M-Audio website, it appears the
card doesn't have a headphone jack? :confused:

Neil.
 
Last edited:
You'd need something like this:

aud1500016cn.jpg


An RCA 'Y' splitter with a 3.5" plug on the end.

Although you'd probably want one of slightly higher quality than that!
 
Sorry for the hi-jack but I'm just wondering how these cards perform in games as well as music. I'm currently looking for a soundcard too that will be mainly used for playing music, but want to use it to play games every now and then so am trying to decide this and an x-fi, will it allow me to turn hardware acceleration on in the game etc with the m-audio....

I can't decide on the two, but am leaning towards the m-audio at the moment purely because sound has always been good enough in games with onboard (never really sounds bad TBH), but am looking for a big improvement in music.
 
Depends on your budget. If you want all the latest gaming features, then you are pretty much stuck with the X-Fis (or running two cards). The most versatile solution, but also the second most expensive option would be to get the Elite Pro (which has different DAC/Op-amp as the rest). For music playback, it is in the same category as the EMU1212 (which personal preference aside is normally classed above the 2496 in audiophile forums I visit). If you are fine with EAX2.0, then you could live with the alternative options though.
 
Buy an EMU 0404 and modify it.

It's a great card to start with, but sounds excellent when modified. All you do is remove some caps and chips as they are useless buffers and output caps that are just there to protect your amp from DC offset. Forget about that.
Put in a new op-amp, and a few sanyo oscon caps and for £100 (inc card and mods) the card will walk all over en emu 1212.

I'm listening to it now with my grados on and a little bit of 'Nerina Pallot', and boy does she sound good :D

With regard to games, i play CSS and the card is great, hooked up to my arcam amp, with a custom made rca breakout cable. It's only 2 channel, but the quality of the in game sounds and music makes it better for me than the x-fi POS!

ANyway, you should be able to pick up an 0404 for £70 delivered. Removing the output buffer chips, and caps is free, new op-amp e.g. lt1364 or ad8620 is ~£12, then £17 on sanyo oscon caps. But i recommend getting some panasonic FC caps for much less (~£8 for the lot).
Go over to www.head-fi.org and do a search for 'emu 0404 mod'.

Hope that helped you buddy :)
 
TooNice said:
Depends on your budget. If you want all the latest gaming features, then you are pretty much stuck with the X-Fis (or running two cards). The most versatile solution, but also the second most expensive option would be to get the Elite Pro (which has different DAC/Op-amp as the rest). For music playback, it is in the same category as the EMU1212 (which personal preference aside is normally classed above the 2496 in audiophile forums I visit). If you are fine with EAX2.0, then you could live with the alternative options though.
Click to expand...

That is way out my budget that I'm lookin to spend on a sound card, looking for a max of £80ish.

Is that what I would be able to use with the M-audio, EAX2.0? THB that would be fine, I'm not one these that wants amazing sound in games, like I said onboard has always been ok, just looking for a bit of an improvement. My main area of increase that I'm looking for is msuic.
 
Brum Man said:
That is way out my budget that I'm lookin to spend on a sound card, looking for a max of £80ish.

Is that what I would be able to use with the M-audio, EAX2.0? THB that would be fine, I'm not one these that wants amazing sound in games, like I said onboard has always been ok, just looking for a bit of an improvement. My main area of increase that I'm looking for is msuic.
Click to expand...

i'm in the same boat m8.

i'm not to bothered about games, i like my music to sound as best as possible.

i've just bought a X-Fi xtreme music because it's good value and anythings better than onboard at the end of the day.

i read a review erliar saying:
if u use onboard u will get used to it and when u get a PCI ad in card u will notise a nice difference.
 
So can I just clarify, which is the better (as standard, no moddong), out of the M-audio 2496 and the EMU 0404?

Also, I'm assuming that the M-audio 192 is better than the both of them?
 
I recommend that you read the link I posted earlier. For playback, the opinion is certainly divided. I know that the users from site I visit (more audiophile then music production - and many having tried the various cards) tend to slightly favor the Emu. That user review is one of the better written comparison, and least one sided that I've found. Interestingly, the user actually prefer the 0404 over the 1212 (opinion not always shared).
 
Last edited:
Sorry, me being lazy :/ I'll have a proper read in a min!

Heard anything about the M-audio 192? (I know it's in a different price catagory)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom