Hi-Fi soundcards

[squiffy]

Choice of

M-Audio 2496- £50
M-Audio 192 - £100
EMU 1212M - £130
EMU 0404 - £60

The Emu 1212M has features I don't need, digital in/out, PCI bracket with inputs/outputs but listed in anyway to be similar ish price to the 192. I really only need a 2 channel soundcard, will be connected to a Rotel stereo integrated amplifier with RCA cables. For gaming and music playback. What effect does the lack of EAX 2-5 and hardware directsound have on performance compared to the cards above?

 

[Dr.EM]

Lack of EAX should have no effect on music playback since you won't want to be using it (or any other effects) on music. In games the main feature of EAX (not certain which number?) is adding ambience, reverbs in rooms, tunnels etc. Without it everything is "dry".

I don't know what hardware directsound is, but that is worth finding out. On my brothers cheap card, lack of a ceratin feature causes delayed sound in Quake 4, it may be that . Since the cards you want are not geared for games they may also suffer this.

I know a place selling M-Audio 192 for £85 should you decide to go for that, contact me if you need the name (competitor) . I expect the M-Audio 2496 is most suitable though, but hopefully someone can clear up about its performance in games.

 

[squiffy]

yeah I found the 192 £85. Oh I think the CL have directsound hardware mixing, again advantage for gaming. I do a soundblaster live with the digital module, but the drivers are too outdated and has problems with newer games, tried the KX drivers too. The onboard Realtek 882 is more compatible.

 

[Codmate]

The 2496 is probably the best for your needs.

This is assuming you don't need to record at 24/192 and that your audio gear does not have balanced inputs.

I've heard of many people having stability and software problems with EMU cards, which is not surprising since they are Creative's home recording brand

Not having EAX will mean you lose out on some environmental effects in games such as extra reverbs etc.

The difference in frame-rate with different sound hardware/APIs is negligible unless the software is very poor.

I have the Delta66 which is based on the same VIA Envy chipset. That performs just fine in games, as long as you don't mind plain old stereo
Quake4 was just fine with it.