alsa-user

[Alsa-user] Which 96kHz card ?

[Vaclav P. <vac...@se...>]

Hello all,

I started to experimenting with Software Defined Radio so I need some higher quality sound card. I could buy Creative SB Audigy SE which has 24bit stereo sampling @96kHz but it is not yet supported.

Can somebody here recommend me some other 24b/96kHz card which is supported by ALSA and has at least good SNR ?

Thank you in advance,
Vaclav

Re: [Alsa-user] Which 96kHz card ?

[Oliver L. <oli...@gm...>]

Vaclav Peroutka wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I started to experimenting with Software Defined Radio so I need some higher quality sound card. I could buy Creative SB Audigy SE which has 24bit stereo sampling @96kHz but it is not yet supported.
> 
> Can somebody here recommend me some other 24b/96kHz card which is supported by ALSA and has at least good SNR ?
> 
> Thank you in advance,
> Vaclav

Certainly not an exhaustive list, and I don't have experience with most 
of these, but I believe the m-audio 2496 is supported by alsa and 
otherwise meets your needs. I think the Juli@ is also supported, and 
I've certainly heard extremely positive reviews of it from a quality 
standpoint. Personally I have an Echo Indigo IO, but that's a notebook 
card so probably not what you want.
Look through the matrix on the wiki to see if X card is supported.
Also, I would avoid creative. Their reputation for quality is not very 
good (or extremely poor, if you listen to some people, but if you do 
that then most things suck according to someone), and some/many/all of 
the audigy range resample everything to 48kHz *I've heard*. I was never 
entirely clear if it was 48kHz or a multiple of 48kHz. Obviously quite 
an important distinction here.

I hope there was something useful in there somewhere!
Cheers,
-ol

Re: [Alsa-user] Which 96kHz card ?

[stan <ghj...@co...>]

Vaclav Peroutka wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I started to experimenting with Software Defined Radio so I need some higher quality sound card. I could buy Creative SB Audigy SE which has 24bit stereo sampling @96kHz but it is not yet supported.
> 
> Can somebody here recommend me some other 24b/96kHz card which is supported by ALSA and has at least good SNR ?
> 
> Thank you in advance,
> Vaclav

I have the MAudio Revolution 5.1 and the sound quality 
is excellent.  There is a review somewhere on the web 
comparing it to the top end Creative card and it 
compares favorably.  The 7.1 is OK, but apparently the 
5.1 got extra special ADC/DAC chips and it is audible. 
  I hear the difference compared to other sound cards I 
have had (note that these haven't been professional 
quality like the 2496 or 1010 or the RME cards).

I have used it at 192KHz without issues, and the 
internal processing is signed 32 bit so it should 
handle 24 bit without quality loss.

For the price, I have been very pleased with this card. 
  But I am not a professional musician and don't use it 
in a recording studio setting.

Re: [Alsa-user] Which 96kHz card ?

[James S. <Sha...@ea...>]

> I started to experimenting with Software Defined Radio so I need some higher quality sound card. I could buy Creative SB Audigy SE which has 24bit stereo sampling @96kHz but it is not yet supported.
> 
> Can somebody here recommend me some other 24b/96kHz card which is supported by ALSA and has at least good SNR ?

My M-Audio Delta 44 is supported(ice1712) and fairly nice.  4 ins and 4 outs.  Unfortunately all TRS connections.  I've spent as much on cables, adapters, microphone/headphone preamps, and other things, as I did for the card.  Certainly higher end than most of your typical SB cards.  But relative to more studio grade cards, a little lacking.  The sound to noise ratio is good.  My laptop hooked up to my stereo system has noticeable static, very noticeable.  The Delta to the stereo only has a little noise, if you crank it and put your ear in contact with the speaker grill.

I'm drooling a little over an Echo Layla 3G, but I have no idea of it's alsa/linux support level.  In the meantime my mobility and battery life needs has me using a Korg MR-1000.  A stand alone stereo recorder that doubles as a usb-storage device.  Super Duper nice, and the converters on it(DSD), shows that the Delta isn't top of the line, but still very good.  Unfortunately there's no known way to deal with DSD files in Linux.  At least not known to me.  Not that I've tried running audiogate in wine yet.

HTH
- James