Help with "budget" hifi
Reply #5 – 2008-12-27 16:32:34
Ok, so if I were to go with a studio monitor setup, I'd need a good analog output from the soundcard, right? Any other suggestions if I choose to go the monitor route? There us a bunch of good semi-pro soundcards out there, if you use Sweetwater again and go to Computer Audio/Audio Interfaces, you will see. BTW, for some reason Sweetwater does not carry KRK monitors, which is also a decent brand, and there is a forum member who recommends these. Do a search. A thing to consider when choosing a sound card for a monitor setup for music listening is an external one (Firewire or USB). They often have analog volume control, so you will have one knob for both monitors. E-mu USB cards have good opinion, although at least 0404 USB has some issues with foobar's ASIO output, again discussed on HA. Keep in mind that many semi-pro cards use untypical way of volume control, and convenient applets like Volumouse may not work. A disadvantage of an external card is that typically it has some stuff you won't need, but you have to pay for, such as microphone preamps with Phantom Power. I bought M-Audio Fast Track Pro recently, as only this card and Tapco link.USB offered a combination of features that I needed: USB (I have no Firewire), 24/96 or 24/48, separate analog volume control for monitors and headphones, knobs and switches on the front panel (not on the top). If your requirements were more relaxed, your choice would be wider, in addition to M-Audio, Tapco and E-mu there are decent external interfaces from Lexicon, Tascam, Edirol, Echo Audio and more. Another possible advantage of some external cards is that they may be used as stand-alone A/D or D/A converters. Most people say that Firewire is more reliable than USB, I had some issues with my interface in the beginning, but they have been resolved, partially by my actions, partially in a magical way ;-). Next thing is that some of the currently available USB cards, for example M-Audio Fast Track Pro use USB1.1 protocol. This limits the number of channels, sampling rates, and bit depths somewhat. For stereo listening this is not much of an issue, as you can get 2 channels out (or in, but not in the same time) at 96 kHz/24-bit, for 2+2 operation the limit is 48kHz/24-bit, for 2+4 it's 48/16. With USB2.0, Firewire, and PCI you won't see such limitations. For hi-fi monitors, I have had very good impressions with Tannoy Mercurys, though it was probably two or three generations prior to the current one. When choosing monitors, whether studio or hi-fi, pay attention to where the bass-reflex port is (assuming that you won't choose closed enclosure design). Although placing them close to a wall or in a corner is never recommended, having a basss-reflex port on the front gives you more flexibility. By the way, better studio monitors typically have EQ controls to allow you counteract the negative effect of placing them too close to a wall.