Re: [Alsa-user] "best" usb sound card with alsa support?

[Johannes W. <joh...@ph...>]

Johannes Wiedersich wrote:
> A few years ago I got an terratec phase 26 usb card. I need a second usb
> sound card for a second computer and hear that there are better devices
> available. Some of those suggested as 'better' alternatives are the
> M-box mini and E-MU 0202 USB. Google makes me doubt that those are
> supported by alsa / linux, though.
> 
> Are there any recommendations for high quality usb sound devices
> supported by alsa?
> 
> Requirements are just stereo in and stereo out with more emphasis on the
> output side, ie. I want to use it mainly for plain listening and
> occasional recordings.
> 
> In absence of better recommendations, I would just buy another terratec
> or an edirol ua-25 ex, but I wouldn't mind to spend a little more for
> some extra audio quality ;-)
> 
> Note that I am basically limited to usb, since I want to use it with a
> laptop.

I have aquired a V-DAC from musical fidelity [1] last weekend.

It has been tested by several (German and English) audio magazines to
provide sound output on par with cd players costing about ten times as
much...

I can confirm that sound on linux is superb; it works out of the box as
an usb audio device:

$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: default [USB Audio DAC   ], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

It plays way better (really no comparison) than my Terratec Phase 26
and better than my nakamichi CD player.

Best regards,

Johannes

[1] http://www.musicalfidelity.com/products/vseries/vdac.html