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George W.
Posts: 33
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 Posted - Sat Jun 21, 2003 8:41 am |
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Dumb question: Does an audio card like the Echo Mia or Audiophile 2496 fuction as a general purpose soundcard as well? Will it still handle the playing of mp3 files, CD's and midi files or is it strictly for the input/output of music?
These two cards seem very similar. Any preferences? As an alternative does the Audiophile 2496 USB have any drawbacks?
Thanks
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SteveG
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 6695
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| Posted - Sat Jun 21, 2003 9:22 am |
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The Mia and the Audiophile function fine for the majority of general purpose functions - but they don't have DOS drivers, as far as I'm aware. But MP3's aren't a problem, and CD playback can be arranged to happen through the IDE link - there being no internal connectors on a Mia, at least (don't know about the Audiophile). The new Mia will input and output MIDI data, and the old Mia will play MIDI data through a S/W player like the Roland Virtual SoundCanvas.
All USB soundcards at present available have a significant bandwidth problem - you won't get duplex operation out of them at higher sample rates. You get one of these if you only have no choice, or want to use other facilities on them. The main significant difference between the Mia and the Audiophile is in the connectors they use - the Mia uses professional balanced 1/4" jack sockets, and the Audiophile uses RCA connectors.
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ozpeter
Location: Australia
Posts: 3200
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| Posted - Sat Jun 21, 2003 7:04 pm |
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Rummaging on the web I've seen some negative comments on the Audiophile USB concerning no support for Win98SE and latency issues - not that you have to believe everything you read, but it still indicates that perhaps caution is necessary, pending someone we know and trust here saying that it's ok!
- Ozpeter
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AndyH
Posts: 1425
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| Posted - Sat Jun 21, 2003 9:42 pm |
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The M-Audio Duo is USB. I wouldn't be susprised if the converters and various other bits are the same in it and the Audiophlie USB. It definitely has bandwidth limitations, especially without ASIO support, but general quality seems to be quite good. I've never used the Duo in any way where latency is an issue, so I have no idea.
The Audiophile 2496 does not have an CD ROM drive connector, so one can't play CDs in that fashion. There is a driver (or some such interface) for WinAmp, and probably other players, that makes no connector a total non-issue.
I originally chose the Audiophile over the Mia because of the connectors; all my other equiment is unbalanced RCA. Now that I know it is easy to get cables that work either way, I would say that the two cards are indeed very close.
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Echo Mia as general purpose soundcard?