I'm a university scientist, do acoustics research for a living. I use this card to record tire noise in a moving vehicle, in order to design quieter roads. The Indigo is the last link between $50,000 of research quality recording gear (bolted to the vehicle wheel) and a laptop used for recording. What is required for this use is nothing more or less than complete accuracy - delivered reliably by the Echo Indigo. The 24 bit recording depth lets us concentrate on driving the vehicle and operating the analysis gear, without worrying about lost precision due to low recording levels. The quality of this device stands up to the $8,000 Larson Davis analyzer it's connected to.

Features are minimal, which is fine. Stereo in, stereo out, with the out capable of driving small headphones or earbuds, which we use to monitor the pavement noise we're recording. Small and simple is GOOD. I do wish it had an input level control, as it relies on Windows to control the recording gain.

Simple makes it easy. It interfaces seamlessly with Adobe Audition, which we use for recording software. As mentioned above, it would be nice if it had a level control for recording.

Solid, holds up to use in the field and getting tossed roughly in a bag between runs. Small protrusion from the laptop makes it less likely to catch on anything or do damage to the PMCIA port on the laptop if it does.

We use $9,000 sound meters, $10,000 sound intensity probes, and a $8,000 analyzer. Money is not an object, precision and accuracy are. This inexpensive device "hangs" with the other, incredibly expensive gear.

Someone else already said it: the best support is NONE NEEDED. This has that.

Simple, accurate, reliable, small, inexpensive. What's not to want?

Professional researcher, musician.

Crystal clear. When I first installed it I was disappointed with the level of static/noise when the dial is set to full volume. However, after resolving the ENE cardbus problem (with a utility from Echo, not advertised on their site!!!) the noise went completely away. This utility installs a replacement driver for ENE cardbus controllers such as the one in my HP zd7000 laptop. Other cardbus owners should not experience this problem. The utility must be run again after installing the new driver, and this time it will allow you to make settings. I can't recall the parameter names, there are two of them. For my laptop I unchecked both and performance has been perfect since.

The only things I wish this device had were a better array of inputs and outputs. I'm glad it came with an RCA/QTR adapter so I can plug in a portable sampler or keyboard without purchasing additional adapters myself, but it would've been nice to have a 1/4" headphone out or a set of 1/4" stereo outs. Given the size of the card (EXCELLENT!) I can't say my wants are very feasible. I wanted portability, not necessarily expandability.

Again, a well built piece, but it does feel a bit delicate for my tastes. I lug my laptop around in a backpack which I swing all over the place. The bag's padded, sure, but I don't feel comfortable leaving the card inserted in the slot during transport. I've been carrying it in its original box for simplicity's sake. Gives me another storage spot to hold those RCA adapter cables anyway. If it were more sturdy I'd give it a 10, because the dial is just right and the jacks are right too.

I needed a portable solution to go along with my new monster laptop (a 17" screen bastard with 3 GHz proc and filled to the brim with my freeware soft synth favorites) I mostly sequence my music using an MPC1000 (which also fits in that nice backpack) but I needed a fast soundcard for playing softsynths in realtime and this is it people! Tiny, simple to use, and best of its class.

Almost Perfect! I sent one email and made one phone call to tech support in regards to my issue. (garbled noise from the headphone out) I had found numerous posts on laptop forums all over the Net regarding problems with the ENE chipset, but found no links to the actual utility provided by Echo. (most disappointing was that Echo itself didn't have links on their site) Even during the duration of this call (during which I was not spoken down to and had a very good, brief conversation as soon as I got through, which was immediately) I received in my email a link to the utility, along with simple instructions. The tech was courteous, one of the best tech support calls I've had. The same tech also replied to my email (I had sent the email over the weekend and thought the phone path may prove quicker but I got replies through both channels) Again, Echo, put a link up to the damn utility!!!

I had decided on buying it a while ago, but had held off because they are a bit expensive. Found one on eBay for a bit less and snatched it up! Loving myself and the indigo too, now! Before if I wanted to go portable and still record my MPC and sequence softsynths I needed to unrack and lug my MOTU 828mkII. That was a pain (mostly because of the unracking/racking process and the fact it didn't fit in my backpack) I no longer have to deal with.

Wannabe producer/engineer

Hip-hop/experimental electro, rock and alt rock

I purchased a new Dell Laptop that has a miserable integrated sound card. The Echo Indigo renewed my pleasure in listening to music on this machine. Clear medium and highes without being harsh. Tight base. I make small ajustments using the WMP and Rhapsody equilizer but this more because I like to fiddle.

This is a barebones excellent sound card which is what I wanted. I tested a Soundblaster XFI and it was too full of frills. The virtual input feature is interesting but not what a causual listener with high standards will use. Everyone raves about the easily accessible volume knob. I agree. This is a great, simple feature

I had some minor problems installing - the consoile is set to mute out of the box and nothing on the screen or the quick start instructions told me this. I also had to disable the onboard sound card to get rid of some annoying skips. Both problems were easily handled with calls to Echo's tech support. Now the card simply is inserted and it plays. Using the safe removeal Windows feature it is easy to remove the card from a hot computer.

The card feels bomproof and has a very low porofile on the side if the coimputer adds to the confidence

This is not a cheap sound card and the sound is worth every dollar if you are looking for a sound card you can live with for years.

Once I ignored the webste and callled the Echo Indigo nuimber on their webside support was top knotch. Quick to respond and helpful.

Rated 10 because of the sound quality not because of the gee whiz factor. This is cool because it is simple and it works.

Avid listener

All

The sound for this card is great for the price and the size! I use it with a p4 with 1 gb ram and using cubase sx 1, reason, lots of plug ins, and it is great, the latency using it on asio drivers is very very low..I use it a lot with the ni b4, and as i play the keyboard it sound...clear sound...and trust me, I tryed many sound cards solutions for laptop..this was my option....

The great feature about it is the virtual outputs, so reason in one output, b4 in other and cubase in other...all at same time....again, great for the price and size...the only thing I dont like is the way they set the in and out...my in connector crash with my cd rom... It work great under cubase sx with 10 stereo tracks (20 mono)(I never used it with more..posible to work well until?), others start clipping at 5 stereo tracks...

Just the in/out issue, a dongle and external connectors will be a great for this card...of course this is a card is for laptops and if you care as most people care of laptops they dont break or anything like that...good quality...

for the price I pay, $180 no way...far away sound quality from many usb solutions, great low latency...at $180....great price...

I used it one time, after win xp sp2 install...but adviced to download a new driver version online and problem solved...any way, a win issue, sp2 is almost a new version of the xp...

active musician

all of them

Clean, Clean, Clean. Very low latency.

Included cable is OK. Wish software provided was not demo.

It's all good. I just hope that the card is as rugged as I need for it to be.

I haggled a little when I bought it, so I think I got it for an excellent price. It's worth every penny.

No need for support just yet.

Small package, Big clean sound. Cool addition to my live setup.

Active musician

Contemporary Christian music

Totally clean and pure.

Would be more complete with a software bundle or something. I wish it had one more input and output, but I don't know if that's possible with that tiny size!

The card is excellent quality but the adapter RCA cable it came with is kind of cheap.

Great! yo have better sound than Audiophile or another cards in that range.

Have had no problems, so I don't know. The web page seems to have good support info.

The blue LED looks terrific with the other blue LED's of my HP Pavilion... he he!

Rock pop

Best anolog sound in it's class very clean compared to the audigy zs and emu 1616m. But it does not have an optical out like the zs.Optical inputs are hard to find on amps and mixers Great for pluging direct into pa system or amp. Ten fold better than my onboard high def audio bus.

I really like the minimal drivers and interface compared to e-mu 1616m and zs. Runs smooth for pro audio applications asio powerhorse. The card also features a 100MillionInstructionPerSecond motorola dsp chip that is commonly used in hardware based synths. It can play well over 128 voices sustained at 40

It's easy to use hard to set up let me save everybody a huge headache and hours of different xp tweaks. This card needs PCI LATENCY 3.0 tool to function at its best. Set the echo card to 248 pci Latency not asio latency use the free utility to set up also make sure your video card is set lower.Also to get A little more audio power add a registry value IRQ8Priority in priority control to improve overall system clock speed.look on the net for more info. Whew!!! Thank me L oh later oh yeah set the thing to asio 96hz 16bit 40ms for soft synth realtime no glitches pops nothing real time other stuff not real time 5 10ms. 40ms sounds slow but at 96hz its about 20 barley noticeable for piano.

Best portable card on the market is a little fragile but so are laptops. also it moves a round a little bit in the pcmcia slot. But it contains a 100mips serious dsp chip That is better than some desktop cards. It fits in yo pocket but I wouldn't recomend putting there.

It is worth every penny. To have a realtime pro studio in a laptop best invintion all time. Compared to e-mu card zs and mbox Any firewire usb device no contest this thing is for real. It's on the pci bus so you get 133 Mega Bytes per sec transfer speed you multiply that by 10 1330 Mbs mega bits per second compared to super firewire 800 Megabits per sec

Not the greatest but the company prides it self on quality products I like them.Just be polite and card will come back if it brakes for free.

Hit it with pro audio vst effect synth midi it will keep on transfering pop free real time.

Piano player Software Genie

all

Sound is relatively good but I'm having driver problems, so it crackles a lot, regardless of latency settings. I don't think the AD converters are particularly good. I'm giving it an 8 because of the price.

It's handy to be able to record with it, although I don't like the sound recorded sound. I'm probably being overly critical, considering it's not a $1400 Apogee mini-me!

It's made very well -on the outside at least.

Even though I complain about it, a working version would represent staggering value for money.

I'm waiting for a reply from tech support.

It's so frustrating to use, so I don't care for it, however it is quite desirable.

Modern 'classical'

Does what it says in the tin. No flashy features but none needed for me.

Seems okay.

At

Semi pro producer.

All

Excellent sound at low latency (<5.8ms ASIO). Would be a ten, but there's always room for improvement. Prosumer audio interfaces don't get smaller and drivers don't get more stable than this.

The most useful feature by far is the analog volume control. The software provides flexablility, but I just set it and forget it.

This thing is simple to use. Easy install, console software may require reading the manual. All in all, very straight forward.

Great. No hard case for travel though.

Worth it!

N/A, but considering the quality of the card and the drivers, Great!

Tempted to buy a second one for my laptop at work ... :/

Sounds great, very low noise...low latency..just very functional with minimal fuss.

The cable included works but could have been better - no software bundled and 2 recording inputs would have been really nice...

Pretty good, although a few issues with older driver in cubase, newer driver seems to address this.

Well made, nice blue LED light, input and outputs seem solid.

Good value, but consideing no software bundled, I think the value is good rather than excellent.

No real experience except for 1 e-mail, they responded within 2 days.

not many pcmcia laptop solutions that are this un-intrusive and functional