[Dream] Cheap soundcard recommendations?

[Mark]

On 3/13/07, andrei.henry at utoronto.ca put forth:
>then, i stumbled across the presonus firebox
>(http://www.presonus.com/firebox.html) - firewire interface (the m-audios
>were all PCI cards), 4 in (2 mic pres, 2 line-levels), 6 outs, everything
>balanced, spdif digital.  more expensive, but has everything that i'm
>looking for and more.

Well, not knowing anything else about these devices, I would choose
something that is in in a separate chassis that has its own power
supply.  I don't like soundcards.  They are fine for recreational
use, but imho, it is not cost effective for a manufacturer to get
analogue circuitry to work well in such an environment.  What do PC
power supplies produce??  A 12V supply for motors and such and 5V at
upwards of 30A driving a bunch of noisy ass logic.  You want
something you are actually going to hear connected to that??  If you
wanted a soundcard that only had digital connections, then that would
be a different issue.

I could tell you to find out which converters they use, and use that
as a basis of comparison, but even though that is common advice, it
leaves out too many other factors.

That Presonous Firebox looks OK.  The impedance specs are
surprisingly good.  Having only 45dB of gain on the mic pre could be
a bit limiting, but how often do you use microphones??  However, it
does have phantom.

The most important thing with any audio interface is compatibility.
I would ask  around and see if someone else is using this thing with
the same hardware and software that you plan on using, and find out
if they are having any problems.

On 3/14/07, phile put forth:
>Just a thought man, but, .... BUT... if you have a friend who is
>good with soldering stuff and generally with electronics have him
>replace the opamps with something better -- black gates would be a
>_very_ good choice -- you will see what a difference it makes ;)

No offense, but that is very bad advice.  A "better" op amp often
requires a different circuit around it.  Also, almost all new
computer devices use surface mount technology, and reworking SMT
without special equipment is very difficult.

Nevermind, that afaik, Black Gate doesn't even make op amps, they
market overpriced electrolytic caps.