Soundcard with 2 independent stereo outs under $200. Which?

tomperson · Post by **tomperson** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:57 pm

Ok, here's the deal.
I need a soundcard with at least two stereo outs, a handy headphones out for cueing and a mains out, all this for no more than $200. My laptop has both 4 pin firewire and USB and PCMCIA. My main contendents are:

M-Audio FW Audiophile
Echo Indigo DJ

The nice thing about the ECHO is that it's as small as it can get, and according to what I've read here the drivers seem to be quite good, getting really low latencies. The Audiophile wins in capabilities, as it has a cue volume control (which is always a good feature! and inputs as well as outputs! On the other hand, its bulkier than the ECHO, and M-Audio drivers seem to be quite a hit and miss affaire according to what I've read.

Any other *decent* options in this price range?
Which one would you buy? My main concern right now is playback with cueing, but some inputs would be more than appreciated...

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 2:23 pm

Echo, hands down, heard too many bad things about the M-Audio when I was shopping for soundcards myself.

tomperson · Post by **tomperson** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 3:43 pm

That's what I thought...Too bad...If the indigo had INs, it would be a killer one...but then again...Its not meant to be used to record...

I tested a friends' FW audiophile on my laptop for a while with traktor...It seemed to work ok...and he's got no probs with it too...maybe they have improved the drivers since then?

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 4:06 pm

I use my IndigoDJ as part of an ultra portable 'entertainment' set up. It can live in my machine when I am just lurking around town. Very handy for parties and such where I cant be arsed with carying a whole heap of bags/cases and cables.
It's Mini jack output on the Indigo though, which I find a bit frightening.

For anything serious its worth getting a more 'pro' breakout firewire lump as well though, for when you might take a rack or two. Something decent with some inputs and a few outputs and lotsof flashing lights

hat · Post by **hat** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 1:07 am

tomperson wrote:That's what I thought...Too bad...If the indigo had INs, it would be a killer one...but then again...Its not meant to be used to record...

well, you'd be thrilled to know that there's an "Indigo I/O". Same as the Indigo DJ but at the sacrifice of 2 stereo outs, you get a stereo in and one stereo out. I was gonna get the Indigo DJ to use with Traktor when it dawned on me that I could simply select the Powerbook's headphone outs to cue, and the Echo outputs to the system.

inis · Post by **inis** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 3:44 am

I have an Audiophile. I have used M-Audiop stuff for a long time. Never had any problems of any kind.

xeb · Post by **xeb** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 11:45 am

i like the firewire audiophile. theres a guy on ebay that sells them new for $125 including shipping too

divonic · Post by **divonic** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 11:59 am

here is my take. they are comproable in price. but the Indigo has way less features. so the quality of the components must be higher. It's give and take. If you don't need MIDI I/O, audio ins and S/PDIF etc. then go for the Indigo. I think that the M-audio is a better all around card but the Indigo is better for specific purposes.

xeb · Post by **xeb** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 12:56 pm

divonic wrote:they are comproable in price. but the Indigo has way less features. so the quality of the components must be higher.

thats a bit of a big assumption to make. they're pretty different animals.... one is very compact and a PCMCIA card, the other an external box thats a lot bigger.... i'd be more inclined to say the components are of similar quality but on the echo you're paying for compactness so get less features.

inis · Post by **inis** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 12:04 am

xeb wrote:
divonic wrote:they are comproable in price. but the Indigo has way less features. so the quality of the components must be higher.
thats a bit of a big assumption to make. they're pretty different animals.... one is very compact and a PCMCIA card, the other an external box thats a lot bigger.... i'd be more inclined to say the components are of similar quality but on the echo you're paying for compactness so get less features.

Id agree. Far better quality is a huge assumption. And just because something is priced the same, but with less features, doesnt mean its any better. There is just the possibility that they think people will pay the price for it, lol. M-Audio stuff is in no way cheap. Compare any stats that you need to, I think you'll find that the M-Audio is a far better bargain (without giving up performance).

tomperson · Post by **tomperson** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:24 pm

xeb wrote:i like the firewire audiophile. theres a guy on ebay that sells them new for $125 including shipping too

HEY!!!! That's exactly what I need!!! Do you happen to have a link to go to his place in EBAY???

PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:49 pm

hat wrote:...it dawned on me that I could simply select the Powerbook's headphone outs to cue, and the Echo outputs to the system.

You can't do that within Live (Live doesn't support multiple soundcards).

Go with the ECHO. Low power consumption, great sound. Cheap, Light. Comes with a gold tipped mini to 1/4 cable. Good drivers.

hat · Post by **hat** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 11:04 pm

kabuki wrote:
hat wrote:...it dawned on me that I could simply select the Powerbook's headphone outs to cue, and the Echo outputs to the system.
You can't do that within Live (Live doesn't support multiple soundcards).

Go with the ECHO. Low power consumption, great sound. Cheap, Light. Comes with a gold tipped mini to 1/4 cable. Good drivers.

Thanks, but I think you should take another look at my post.
I have the Echo and I didn't mention Live.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 12:21 am

kabuki wrote: You can't do that within Live (Live doesn't support multiple soundcards).

oh, you can if you use http://www.asio4all.com/

you can use multiple soundcards under live with good latency
I am occaisionaly plain weird and use the mic in on my laptop when needed(ugh!) and the 2 outs on my IndigoDJ
I can put the laptop out into use if I really feel the need... All through the miracle of asio4all.
This doesnt happen particularly often - but it does work fine.

actually using asio4all and a indigoIO (rather than DJ) makes waaay more sense, but I couldnt take the chance when I bought my indigoDJ and laptop together.

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Thu Jun 09, 2005 2:32 pm

hat wrote:Thanks, but I think you should take another look at my post.
I have the Echo and I didn't mention Live.

I know. But this is a Live forum, and a post about what card to use with Live. I would rather the original poster with the question not be confused and buy the wrong card if I can simply clarify your answer.

Again: You can't use 2 soundcards with Live (but you can with Tractor, apparently).