BEST SOUND CARD! *at least for the price*

[dakayus]

So when I had my setup I asked here for what was a good card and what wasn't and basically the recommendation was SB audigy or X-Fi by creative. This was great and all, but then my speakers started to pop and the right channel would just drop out so I thought gee I need a new sound card. So I stumbled upon the E-MU 1212m and wow what a difference. So I put it into my computer and then tried to plug it all in, it uses 1/4 mono jacks for the analog out, and it wouldn't work at all so I played with it for hours. Then I realized, Vista is pretty incompatible, so I loaded on XP instead and found out it worked, but still the channel was dropping out. So eventualy I found out my wires weren't connected too well into the reciever *shrug*. Either way, the DAC is SUCH an improvement over the x-fi. After I loaded it on, my housemates knew the difference which speaks a lot since they aren't the ones listening to it everyday. I would say that before the change, the speakers lacked clarity, crisp highs, and defined mids. *This was the reason that I upgraded to RB-75's since I thought my RF-3's just couldn't do it.

Anyone looking for a sound card for purely music or just 2.1 configurations, go with E-MU 1212m *the 0404 has a different DAC that's a little bit lower end* and also get rid of vista since it won't work with it. I'm just so estatic! It sounds like completely different speakers!

[Cody_Mack]

Looks like it has 1/4 connections for line out. How did you get around that?

Cost? About $150?

Rick

[dakayus]

I just used RCA to 1/4 mono converters

[synthfreek]

This usb-dac KILLS for like $140.