Which Sounbd Card For New G5s ??, Advice requested... Options

[binus]

Hi you all,
I am considering upgrading from a G4 to G5 (which one is to be discussed later...), so my Audiomedia III will be have to be dropped except if I choose a G5 1.8....
My questions are, at this time:
1/ which card do you think is the best (rapidity, least latency, sound quality). Within a reasonable price range (200 to 300 $) for a home studio.
2/ generally speaking, are PCI-X cards still better rated than FW ones ? (FW would free us from the problem of slots being changed these times... and probably more often in the future...).
I had a look at some cards like Echo Mia-midi, M-Audio 410 too but I could not try them and I think there are some others worth looking at...

Thanks for your posts !!


This post has been edited by binus: Tue 15 Feb 2005, 10:50

[PhilTrueman]

Greetings Binus,

Well - it's good to see you have a set of requirements and have them in order. So let's take a look at your first requirement: sound quality.

Okay - fair point, any musician worth their salt wants sound quality. This is dependant on - not only the sound card but the cables that hold everthing together, the monitors in your studio and the set of ears on your head.
Rapidity - ? is that the same as latency - or do you know something here I don't? Which is very possible Binus
For this - read the specs on whatever piece of kit you're looking at - also have a think about how your studio is set up and how you work.
Price - well you should get a reasonal piece of kit for that price. You may decide to go the way of a Firewire module.

If I had unlimited money - I would be running ProTools and a Mixfarm. At the moment I am running LogicPro and the M-Audio 1010LT. Which works for me.
Previously I had an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 - that worked okay.

Basically - read the forums and get an idea of what various folk think about each piece of gear. If you can get to a good music shop - get them to set up the gear for you and listen - there is no substitute for having heard it yourself.
There is an old HiFi 'saying' - never listen to a piece of kit above you budget! Please bear that in mind.

Let me know how you get on - your research into this will help all of us in the future.

Yamas

PT