Looking for referrals for PCMCIA or USB Audio interfaces

[cappy2112]

I've got a really lousy audio card in my laptop, and would like to use something in it's place.

If you have used a PCMCIA audio or USB audio interface, I'd like to hear about your experiences- good and bad.

I'm running Windows XP.

thanks

[Grizzle]

I've used loads of them. Best experience I had was with the Echo Indigo I/O.
Great little PCMCIA cards. It's tiny, has loud outputs, great drivers and just works.

In USB land maybe look at something like po-tools or some of the m-audio stuff. It's all much the same at that price.

The EMU 1616m is a kind of best of both worlds... worth a look.

[blue hell]

I've used a Tascam us-122 (USB) for several years now, it's reliable, but a bit noisy. Not too long ago I bought me an RME multiface II, which is much better but it needs an external power supply when used with a laptop (and a PCMCIA / PC card).

[Kassen]

I like my EMU 1616m too.

The settings are like a sort of modular/virtual mixer and can be confusing at first but actually it's very powerful, you can for example route audio from ASIO to DX programs.

The one issue I have with it is that the build in test-tone generator is crap but that was a unexpected extra anyway.

The plain 1616 (no M) has the same DAC's as the G2, BTW, I never regretted spending the extra money for the high-end converters.

The breakout box does need a unusual power converter that would be hard to replace but on the other hand it connects to the card using plain CAT5 so that's cool if you want/need a longer cable.

I also like how the card has it's own headphone out for when traveling. I don't like how far the card sticks out or that the bit that sticks out is plastic. Gold plated MIDI plugs are silly.

Oh, and it sounds very good indeed.

[cappy2112]