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M-Audio Audiophile 2496
Analog I/O RCA jacks. 24-bit 96kHz conversion. S/PDIF I/O and MIDI I/O.
"Best Soundcard below $250. Seriously."
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:This soundcard doesn't have many fancy features, but what it does do, it does perfectly. For the vast majority of people, your sounds' limiting factor will be your other equipment, not this card. I've never gotten better sound out of my stereo. Mind you, you can only have two input channels, and two output channels, which almost always ends up being stereo. Still, amazing for its price.
Quality:
Looks nice, sounds nice. Rugged for a sound card.
Value:
Easy to use, Sounds great. Definitely worth your $107.
Desirability:
Ah... is blue. Is nice. Come on! It's a sound card. Even if this one is plain, everything ever made by Soundblaster is still like the hunchback of Notre Dame or something. For a sound card, it's lovely.
Sound:
Obviously not the best sound out there, but quite probably the best sound for its price. It's hard to tell, because it's good enough that my speakers are holding it back. o_O
Ease of Use:
I triple boot Ubuntu Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows Vista. This soundcard works perfectly for me in all three- no fiddling around in menus, not even in the notoriously finicky Linux. I've had more trouble with setting up (shudder) integrated soundcards than with this one.
Support:
I haven't needed this card repaired, but I've dealt with M-Audio's customer service before and they are quite nice.
Overall:
As I've mentioned already, this soundcard is being held back by my other equipment. If/when I upgrade to the point that it's the other way around, I'll have to upgrade this too. Until then, it's worth it for sure.
"M Audio has done right with the Audiophile 24/96"
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:Clearly the best card in it's price range and for another $200 or so above it for that matter. I had done quite a bit of shopping before I bought this one. Digital and analog sources can be used at the same time. It has basic features, but those features are well-designed and practical.
Quality:
I'm not one to care about the looks of an audio card so I just won't comment on that. The product appears to be made well and is packaged well for transit. I expect it will work well for years to come.
Value:
Hands-down best value for the price in my book. In my exhaustive search for the best card for my application, I found nothing coming close with regards to specs, price, and quality.
Desirability:
This is not a ground-breaking product with regards to features. It's a very well-designed "workhorse". Not alot of bells-and-whistles. You can find features like this in many other cards, but the appeal certainly lies in the value for your money and ease of use.
Sound:
Crystal clear 24/96 sound with just about absent noise and distortion. What else can I say?
Support:
I have not had to use support per se. I just downloaded the newest drivers. I did have to manually pick the drivers instead of windows finding them automatically for some reason, but they did load fine after that.
Overall:
I will be using this product for years to come I imagine. I will certainly look at M Audio for my next card due to my experience with this one. If I had to buy another card right now, it would be this one.
"Very good quality for the price!"
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Hmm... Some people are complaining about drivers... Never had ANY problems with drivers (Win 98SE & 2000 Prof). The card has worked just fine with all the drivers: original ones (from CD) and two downloaded updates within 6 months interval. I use it with Cubase VST/32, Orion Pro and Sound Forge - absolutely no problems with drivers/sound!!! Do you hear crackles & pops? Then put the card on the seperate IRQ (non-shared!!!) - it WILL solve the problem in most cases. Don't forget to keep your system up-to-date - fresh system drivers, video drivers, latest OS patches, etc... As for the sound quality - it is PERFECT!!!
"Good for some users."
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:Great Midi setup, it's pretty much got it all here.. if there's no conflicts
Quality:
Wonderful look and feel, actually feels sturdy for a PCI card.
Value:
Would be great if it would work, sounds wonderful other than the pops.
Desirability:
Very "desireable"... I wanted one so bad =D
Sound:
This is where it falls a little short.. it's got great sound but it has a lot of problems with IRQ's and pops and such. I still get pops in my recordings and when I listen and I've had it for like 6 months.. been trying to figure it out, but it's not solveable on my system. Kinda sucks in this respect.. I wish I'd shelled out the extra cash for a better card just to stop these pops.
Support:
They're pretty much the worst support *I* have ever encountered.. they didn't know how to solve my specific problem so they just stopped responding to my emails, I've sent *34*.. yes *34* unanswered emails now.
Overall:
It works well except for the minor problems.. but I'm going to have to get a new card eventually.. it's my next purchase.
M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Customer Review
Feature:
all your personal pc-recording needs can be answered by this item. you should have a vacant pci slot in your pc though. can do up to 4 tracks of simultaneous inputs with the spdif in stereo operation. latency is really low or negligible even within additional sends/loops.
Quality:
looks well made. good circuit board and gold plated jocks. nice.
Value:
probably, one of the best recording soundcards in the market, in terms of money and features.
Desirability:
Not want. Its my practical need.
Sound:
very accurate and precise. what comes in definitely comes out the same as to your DAW and to your monitor speakers. if you want a better sound, then you should get a good pre-amp or mixer. ;)
Ease of Use:
i had a hard time installing this one. probably because im working on windows vista. if sometimes your pc can't detect its installation, just get the newest drivers available to solve those kinds of problem.
Support:
if you have any problems just visit m-audio website or read the manual. these stuff needs some familiarization for it to work perfectly.
Overall:
2 words, very good! :)
all your personal pc-recording needs can be answered by this item. you should have a vacant pci slot in your pc though. can do up to 4 tracks of simultaneous inputs with the spdif in stereo operation. latency is really low or negligible even within additional sends/loops.
Quality:
looks well made. good circuit board and gold plated jocks. nice.
Value:
probably, one of the best recording soundcards in the market, in terms of money and features.
Desirability:
Not want. Its my practical need.
Sound:
very accurate and precise. what comes in definitely comes out the same as to your DAW and to your monitor speakers. if you want a better sound, then you should get a good pre-amp or mixer. ;)
Ease of Use:
i had a hard time installing this one. probably because im working on windows vista. if sometimes your pc can't detect its installation, just get the newest drivers available to solve those kinds of problem.
Support:
if you have any problems just visit m-audio website or read the manual. these stuff needs some familiarization for it to work perfectly.
Overall:
2 words, very good! :)
"GREAT"
Feature:
Good everything u need if u doing 1 or 2 tracks at a time, got good midi...never used the s/pdif
Quality:
Nice gold plated rca's all connectors look classy and not cheap
Value:
GREAT VALUE....this quality at 99 dollars.....anyone can have it at their palms even poor people like me lol....i remember when it was close to $200 (yes i was looking at it since then lol)
Desirability:
i got it
Sound:
Great crisp clear sound...Both recording and listening....and its very silent when is idle, u will forget u had on your monitors lol...if ur upgrading from a onboard card, u will be blown away, if upgrading from a audigy or one of those u will also be cause they can't record clear as this charm...9, well its not perfect, show me a card that is
Support:
never called yet, never had to
Overall:
great product for a home/project studio
Good everything u need if u doing 1 or 2 tracks at a time, got good midi...never used the s/pdif
Quality:
Nice gold plated rca's all connectors look classy and not cheap
Value:
GREAT VALUE....this quality at 99 dollars.....anyone can have it at their palms even poor people like me lol....i remember when it was close to $200 (yes i was looking at it since then lol)
Desirability:
i got it
Sound:
Great crisp clear sound...Both recording and listening....and its very silent when is idle, u will forget u had on your monitors lol...if ur upgrading from a onboard card, u will be blown away, if upgrading from a audigy or one of those u will also be cause they can't record clear as this charm...9, well its not perfect, show me a card that is
Support:
never called yet, never had to
Overall:
great product for a home/project studio
"Audiophile 24/96: Solid, Silent, Professional"
Feature:
SPDIF and MIDI Ins/Outs, and they work as expected. But that's all.
Quality:
So far, very reliable. (I don't give any product a "10" until I have owned it for many years.)
Value:
The card is priced well below what it is worth, and you can buy it for even less if you shop around.
Desirability:
It's not pretty, but it works beautifully.
Sound:
When the music plays, it sounds great. When the music stops, it is very quiet. If silence is golden, this card is Fort Knox.
Support:
I had questions, and they had answers. They even had answers to questions that I hadn't asked yet.
Overall:
This will probably be THE soundcard I use for producing rough demos... for at least the next 5 years... maybe longer.
SPDIF and MIDI Ins/Outs, and they work as expected. But that's all.
Quality:
So far, very reliable. (I don't give any product a "10" until I have owned it for many years.)
Value:
The card is priced well below what it is worth, and you can buy it for even less if you shop around.
Desirability:
It's not pretty, but it works beautifully.
Sound:
When the music plays, it sounds great. When the music stops, it is very quiet. If silence is golden, this card is Fort Knox.
Support:
I had questions, and they had answers. They even had answers to questions that I hadn't asked yet.
Overall:
This will probably be THE soundcard I use for producing rough demos... for at least the next 5 years... maybe longer.
"Great card for your home studio"
zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.
Feature:Not too many features. Just about enough to be very useful, and keep the learning curve short and sweet.
Quality:
Seems to be well made.
Value:
For an amateur enthusiast like me, it's a great value for money.
Sound:
Good quality sound. Recorded sound was quite faithful to the original, except the low frequencies. I have no way of telling whether that has to do with filter roll-off in the card or the monitor I am using.
Support:
Outstanding support for the set of problems I faced.
Overall:
Chances are this card is all I need, as long as they continue to keep updating the drivers.
M-Audio Audiophile 2496 Customer Review
Feature:
FOR THE PRICE again you can't beat it. The breakout cables work fine for anyone since you will need to have a mixer or preamp anyway to make the most use out of it.
Quality:
Tough as nails so far. Over 2 Years
Value:
You won't find a better card at this price.
Sound:
For the price you acnnot beat this. Anyone suggesting SB over this cannot possibly have any clue. Compatability may be an issue for MAC users. I run Win 2000 and have never had a problem with it. The signal to noise ratio outclasses many more expensive cards.
Support:
Never had to use them.
FOR THE PRICE again you can't beat it. The breakout cables work fine for anyone since you will need to have a mixer or preamp anyway to make the most use out of it.
Quality:
Tough as nails so far. Over 2 Years
Value:
You won't find a better card at this price.
Sound:
For the price you acnnot beat this. Anyone suggesting SB over this cannot possibly have any clue. Compatability may be an issue for MAC users. I run Win 2000 and have never had a problem with it. The signal to noise ratio outclasses many more expensive cards.
Support:
Never had to use them.
"Truly Great Value ! Sounds Great ! Extremely Versatile !"
This inexpensive card sounds lucious, clean and
like it should cost 3-4 times as much. The
software mixer is great, you can route signals
anywhere you need to. Can be used with DVD soft
-ware for 5.1 Dolby Digital. For recording, you
will need to buy a mixer, pre-amp, or direct
box to get guitar into it. Be prepared to buy
recording software, Cakewalk, Sonar, Steinberg
or the like with 24-96 capabilities to get the
most out of this card!!! MP3-cd collections will sound better than ever!!!! Just add some
Klipsch 2.1 or better and you won't believe the
quality of your new "Sound System". Products
like this are truly proof that technology can
inprove our lives, fuel creativity and help us
to have big fun for little $$$. Buy one !!! Oh,
and by the way, don't worry about the drivers as mentioned in another review, M-Audio puts
out regular driver updates and instructions on
how to use them if you'll go to their website
and look for them.
like it should cost 3-4 times as much. The
software mixer is great, you can route signals
anywhere you need to. Can be used with DVD soft
-ware for 5.1 Dolby Digital. For recording, you
will need to buy a mixer, pre-amp, or direct
box to get guitar into it. Be prepared to buy
recording software, Cakewalk, Sonar, Steinberg
or the like with 24-96 capabilities to get the
most out of this card!!! MP3-cd collections will sound better than ever!!!! Just add some
Klipsch 2.1 or better and you won't believe the
quality of your new "Sound System". Products
like this are truly proof that technology can
inprove our lives, fuel creativity and help us
to have big fun for little $$$. Buy one !!! Oh,
and by the way, don't worry about the drivers as mentioned in another review, M-Audio puts
out regular driver updates and instructions on
how to use them if you'll go to their website
and look for them.
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