External Soundcard opinions

**boomintrac** · 03-29-2009, 10:01 PM

I am looking to see if anyone has any opinions on a couple of the external audio devices I am looking at. I am looking into the Edirol (Roland) UA-4FX, E-MU 0202 2.0 USB, and the M-Audio Fast Track.

The Numbers for the E-MU look better then the rest; yet I still like the Edirol unit mainly for optical out to keep that option open if I decide to run optical in on my Zapco DSP-6 in the future. Then I am left with the M-Audio Fast Track whose numbers are close to the E-MU. I thought there were a few people using the Fast Track But I couldn’t really find any thing on it. Well if anyone has some free time here are some specs please give your opinions. Will there be any noticeable differences between the units that will degrade sound? Well here are the links.

Edirol UA-4FX

E-MU 0202 2.0 USB

M-Audio Fast Track

Thanks for looking.
Aron

**boomintrac** · 03-31-2009, 03:03 PM

No one has any comments about these devices?
Aron

**smellygas** · 03-31-2009, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by boomintrac

No one has any comments about these devices?
Aron

The Emu is a very good quality sound card. I use the PCI version in my carputer. I have used a different M-Audio product in the past (Audiophile USB) and the drivers had a lot of trouble with hibernation and resuming from hibernation. I wasn't able to use it because of this.

SG

**boomintrac** · 03-31-2009, 11:51 PM

Thanks for your input, The E-mu was my first choice, but lack of phantom power is what is holding me off. My next choice would be the Edirol UA-4FX because of phantom power and optical out. Last choice is the M-audio because of lack of optical.

I sent an e-mail asking about the line output voltage for the UA-4FX, if it seems decent that is probably the unit I will be going with.
Aron

**smellygas** · 04-01-2009, 10:29 AM

Originally Posted by boomintrac

Thanks for your input, The E-mu was my first choice, but lack of phantom power is what is holding me off. My next choice would be the Edirol UA-4FX because of phantom power and optical out. Last choice is the M-audio because of lack of optical.

I sent an e-mail asking about the line output voltage for the UA-4FX, if it seems decent that is probably the unit I will be going with.
Aron

Why do you need phantom power?

SG

**boomintrac** · 04-01-2009, 03:12 PM

I would like the ability to plug in a condensor mic for RTA tuning.

**pcpete** · 04-01-2009, 04:35 PM

I've got an M-Audio FW 410, but you would need fw obviously for that....

It's got phantom power I believe, and a few more advanced guys use this card for sw tuning...

Also using zapco DC amps, but no DSP-6 so i go rca out to symbilink in, check out my config in sig for more details if you are interested...

oh, used to use an EMU 0202, great usb option ,but I wanted more outputs and I've got 10 USB devices already, so I wanted to get my audio off of USB...

**boomintrac** · 04-01-2009, 07:54 PM

Thanks Pete, I looked at the firewire 410 but no firewire support. Today I was talking with a sales rep from Sweetwater, I asked him about the three listed, the Mobile Pre, and a Presonus unit. On playback he said I probably will not notice much of a difference and suggested the Lexicon Alpha, so I will be giving that a try. I also came across a Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1 I read alot of awesome reviews where people stated that it had awesome playback sound. That is most likly the unit I will get if I dont like the Lexicon.
Aron