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RME HDSP 9632 Hammerfall DSP 24/96 Audio PCI card (Macintosh and Windows)

RME presents the world's most versatile PCI Audio Interface -- the Hammerfall DSP 9632. This card makes the dream of an All-In-One solution for every possible application come true. As usual, RME has not made any compromises: Latest 192 kHz AD- and DA-converters with more than 110 dB signal to noise ratio, all inputs and outputs simultaneously operational, easy-to-install optional hi-quality analog expansion boards, the famous TotalMix, a newly developed sensational clock section with maximum jitter suppression of external clock signals - all this combines into a 'soundcard' that the world has been waiting for so long. Learn More...

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Overall User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * . . 8 out of 10

Individual User Ratings

Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10

Feature:
Good connectivity. no lack.

Quality:
Well built sound card, especially the BIG Spartan DSP chip speaks of its quality.

Value:
Its a 12in/12out if you consider ADAT i/o and spdif. You are paying average less than 50$ for each channel with Awesome AD/DA and what more you expect?

Desirability:
I want it a long time and i got it.

Sound:
Perfect AD/DA converter and recording. Complements my ADAT HD24 perfectly. Never been a powerful recording arsenal till I got this one.

Ease of Use:
Plug and play with windows drivers.

Support:
Haven tried but should be acceptable.

Overall:
I replaced my Delta 1010LT with HDSP 9632 after much due consideration and now i dun look back anymore. Sound difference is very obvious and justifies my choice. Anyway, I need a sound card that delivers truthfully, what goes in must comes out the same. Considering ADAT i/o and spdif, You are paying a low average of less than 50$ for each channel with Awesome AD/DA and what more you expect?

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Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
The card is marketed as very flexible. This is true, although it should be pointed out that they are all optional extras, and don't come with the base card.

Quality:
Again, impeccable. This card has never failed in 2 years of regular use.

Value:
This is 3-4 times more expensive than some entry level prosumer cards. It is not 3-4 times better (that's not possible as prosumer cards are pretty good these days) but the upper 10% of quality is what you pay for here. That may not be worth it to some, but it was to me.

Desirability:
It is a hidden little workhorse. It sits in your pc and you don't fiddle with it. You don't show it off the clients. But it is the neumann of soundcards. The neve of preamps. The ssl of mixers.

Sound:
Impeccable. This card has superb A/D D/A converters. Whatever mic, pre and monitoring you use, this card will hold its own in the chain.

Ease of Use:
Rock solid drivers, set up pretty easy if you read the manual.

Support:
I contacted them about a mobo compatibililty issue and they got back to me the next day. Great. (And it was compatible!)

Overall:
This card, along with Lynx, represents the pinnacle of AD and DA sound capture/playback. So expect to pay for it. In keeping with RME's logical approach, the great thing is that you only buy those bits you need, so though its expensive, it becomes attainable. But don't buy it unless you're gonna buy a great mic, pre and monitors AND you're gonna treat your room. Really.

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Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10

Feature:
Good breakout cable for connections and options for balanced xlr breakout cable. Also available 4 extra balanced TRS analog i.o.

Quality:
It is just a normal pci-card en is reliable to me for 4 years of use. I only use it for audio but the midi driver is very fast to.

Value:
4 Years ago I payed 320 euro now it sells 415 euro. It's price must tell something about the audio quality.

Desirability:
just high end input/output and low latency. practical addition, no good look, good sound.

Sound:
The sound is perfect. specialy for high quality mixes. You need good monitoring of course. But keep in mind, this is not a low end soundcard with a wavetable and equaliser toy. It is just a high end I.O. card with adat i.o. / sp.dif i.o. / analog i.o. / midi i.o / headphones. With very low latency.

Ease of Use:
Simple put the card in a free pci slot and install the drivers. I never use the mixer, put everything at 0db. And tune your input as high as possible without peaking. Level the output levels with your multitrack software. For adat inputs always connect both in/outputs. This for sync the slave machine to the internal clock of the RME-9632

Support:
Very good support but if it works, it works. You dont need support. I have met some people of RME and they were very enthousiast and took the time for me to tell about their equipment, knowing that I was not a buyer. (I just bought a Digidesign Pro Tools system :-) I still have the card but I no longer work with it, I wanted to sell but like it to much. So hang on to this one for good backup i.o. kept it, I liked it to much

Overall:
It helped me out to midi-machine-control adat-sync. master/slave my Fostex D108 standalone harddisk recorder. With the adat i.o. I just need to connect 2 fiberoptic cables intead of 16 analog. Very nice for on the road.

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Overall:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Features:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
You can connect this card to any piece of hardware in your studio. With totalmix software, every input and output is controlable with ease. DIGICheck analyzer software is worth half the price of card in my oppinion. You can upgrade it to 14 analog input/outputs, wordclock, tdif and AES/AEB

Quality:
Everything is rock solid

Value:
You won't find anything better in this price range for PCI bus.

Desirability:
It's in your computer, you will not see it to much. That is appealing to me. :), Anyway, nice black collor of circuit.

Sound:
The sound you are getting from this card (in and out) is truth and nothing but the truth about your mixes and sound from digital domain. Maybe only Lynx cards are better in PCI world.

Ease of Use:
I learned it's main features in one afternoon. Manual is tehnicaly well written. It's realy not so easy to understand some parts, but time you spend learning is well worth

Support:
Name one company that constantly develop features that it's users are asking. Now it has internal loopback recording in totalmix, wdm driver (for multimedia application) digicheck is changed so much from time I purchased the card that i don't even remember how it looked back then. Every question, be it for card or other things you may seek will be answered from Rme or it's users in no time.

Overall:
As long as PCI bus is used in future motherboards, I will use this card with great pleasure. After that I will go for other RME products like fireface 800 or 400 or anything else RME make in meantime.

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Overall:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
Features:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * . . . . . . 4 out of 10
Value:
* * . . . . . . . . 2 out of 10
I Want It:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10
Sound:
* * * * * . . . . . 5 out of 10
Ease of Use:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10
Support:
* . . . . . . . . . 1 out of 10

Feature:
Their breakout cable is solidly built. Their manual is a waste (RME should hire someone who can actually produce user-friendly documentation)! Their software isn't worth it even though it's bundled with the hardware. I owned it then I returned it.

Quality:
I'm giving it a 4 out of 10 only because the PCI card seems well constructed, but it doesn't perform well.

Value:
I can't recommend this product, even though it shows some potential (but not much). For what you get I'd recommend you purchase a less-expensive PCI sound interface or better yet, a USB or Firewire enabled external mixer.

Desirability:
From the advertisement you'd think this was a great product, but buyer beware! Make certain the retailer has a great returns policy.

Sound:
Produces passably good quality music, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Ease of Use:
The interface needs a great deal of development. As I mentioned before the manual is convoluted and deficient.

Support:
Tech support for this product is a department with only one employee! I did contact them for support and found the rep to be disinterested in helping me, a little discourteous, and he provided no useful assistance. It's the only customer service/tech support I've ever contacted that clearly let me know they weren't interested in providing support.

Overall:
I replaced it after only two weeks. Believe me, as someone who is proficient with several hardware/software configurations (including the use of mixers and software such at Logic Pro 7), I wouldn't recommend you buy this item. But you'll decide for yourself.

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Overall:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
Quality:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10
Value:
* * * * * * * * * . 9 out of 10
I Want It:
* * * * * * * . . . 7 out of 10
Support:
* * * * * * * * * * 10 out of 10

Feature:
Total mix is useful feature. Card is reliable and works fine with Win XP pro SP1. Low latency (bellow 2ms on Athlon XP 2000+)I did encounter MIDI timing issue in SX2 (known as ignoreportfilter issue) that can be easily solved.

Quality:
RME is known by highest quality recording hardware and this card is no exception.

Value:
HDSP 9632 is expensive card but if you're serious about your music this is one of the best choices in this category. Consider buying good preamp because this class of recording gear demands high quality components in recording chain to get the best out of it.

Desirability:
No fancy intefaces , just card and cables:(

Sound:
Accurate, quiet natural sounding AD converters. Same as in ADI 2 pro standalone converter. I find it great for recording jazzy material.

Support:
Great support. My only problem with card was solved and question answered in less then 15 minutes thanks to the official RME newsgroup forum. Perhaps the best in the world of audio hardware companies

Overall:
This is great reliable piece of expandable recording hardware which gets studio work done. Deffinitely gear for serious musicians and mastering studios.I would not reccomend it for entertainment purposes beacause it won't work with every application (games in particulary).

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