Good sound card for Win XP?

Anders Brundell · Post by **Anders Brundell** » 14 Nov 2005 5:12 am

Any recommendations for a good sound card for a home recording musician working in Win XP home edition? I need 48 volts phantom feeding also.

I just tried the brand new Digidesign Mbox 2 sound card that should be just great according to the ads, and it sure looked great. However it just didn't work in my pc and doesn't even seem to be quite compatible with itself when I read all the cautions and exceptions in the manual. In fact it was totally impossible to install (is it made for Mac and not well suited for pc?).

Suggestions?

Will Holtz · Post by **Will Holtz** » 14 Nov 2005 8:08 am

I'm assuming you just need two channels? I used to have a Tascam US-122 (~$130 used on ebay). It uses a USB connection. Worked great with my PC. I used it with several phantom powered microphones without any problems, but I've heard some of the most demanding phantom powered mics have issues with it. The only reason I got rid of mine was to upgrade to an 8 channel system.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 14 Nov 2005 10:32 am

There are more than a dozen competing products such as Mbox2 in the $400 range of computer audio interfaces. Most offer better specs and compatibility than Mbox2, but Mbox comes with ProTools LE, which may be important to you. Most of the others include Cubase LE.

Jim Peters · Post by **Jim Peters** » 15 Nov 2005 4:49 pm

AB, I have a Delta 10/10 LT. It has 8 analog inputs, 6 of which are RCA, 2 are XLR. It has worked perfectly this last year, and costs just $199 from musician's friend. It has midi and SPDIF, and can do 24 bit 96khz.
Delta also has a less expensive 4 input, all RCA, available as a breakout box or card with wires.
Hope this helps. JimP

Uwe Haegg · Post by **Uwe Haegg** » 16 Nov 2005 4:54 am

Hej Anders,
Try the E-MU 1820M. I think it great. It also har phantom power in it. Price range around 500$.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 16 Nov 2005 8:32 am

Many people like the 1820M. But there are some possible disadvantages:
It is a 2 year old product and the newer stuff is cheaper. The included audio software is not the newest.
It uses 2 PCI spaces (one slot and one empty space for the daughter card) whereas most newer stuff needs only USB or Firewire.
Altho there is a breakout box, some of the connectors are on the PCI card, which is probably not easy to reach.

Karlis Abolins · Post by **Karlis Abolins** » 16 Nov 2005 2:19 pm

Anders, If you already have a preamp with 48 phantom voltage, you have a much larger field of devices to choose from. I would recommend any of the usb devices from Roland/edirol. I am using the Edirol UA20 and it is clean sounding. It only has 2 channels input, 2 channels output and midi in and out. The input channels are switchable for impedance matching (mic, guitar and line). I have an M-Audio device as well but I am not very happy with it.

If you don't have a pre-amp, you may want to consider getting one. My preamp is a single channel tube pre-amp/compressor from ART. I like it a lot. It gives me a whole lot more control over the mic than most sound cards do.

Karlis

Gary Shepherd · Post by **Gary Shepherd** » 16 Nov 2005 3:21 pm

Pick the card you get for its digital converters. Buy a little mixer (like a Behringer or Mackie) for the phantom power?

I'd say an M-Audio 2496 if you just need 2 tracks of input. The M-Audio Delta 1010 cards look good if you need multiple tracks.

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Gary Shepherd

Carter D-10

www.16tracks.com