Yeah, I know that this has probably been hashed and reshashed.  My situation right now is that I'm working from the on-board Realtek sound system with ASIO4ALL.  Just moved all my audio stuff to this computer.  Played a long song and notice a hitch or stutter twice.  Never did that on the other computer, which has an M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 in it.  However, I do have ASIO4ALL set to the lowest possible delay (4.4 ms).  Anyways, I'll probabaly move the Audiophile over to this computer, but is there something better?
 
Thanks...Steve

There's always something better. What's your budget?
I would recommend an external card, though, or at least one with a break out box.

You can pay up to 20K if you have the budget, and that's just for the converters!

Best? Or best under $xxx?
My choice has been RME for the last decade. Fireface800 and UFX work great, especially in X3e which fixed the slow arming issue.
 

1. RME Babyface
2. RME Fireface UC
3. RME Fireface 800
4. RME Fireface UFX

I'd go to USB interface rather than Firewire if OS is Vista or newer. In XP32 Fireface 800 & SONAR is a perfect match (IMO).
 

Budget?  Well, I'd go $200-300 for speed/benefits.  The Audiophile is good, but it's PCI based and high-level motherboards are few and far between with anything other than PCI-E slots.  I hesitate on externals since there is a serial bandwidth limitation.  Even PCI is much faster than USB2.  I need the card mainly for playback.  I work almost exclusively in Midi.

Thanks, I'll take a look at the RME boards.  I'm on Win7 64bit (I do not play to 'upgrade' to 8).  However, with USB won't there be a possible slowdown with a large number of tracks?  Or is all this based on USB3?


 

If you are using the card mainly for playback, the USB 2 bandwidth is not an issue at all. You are talking about two channels (surround would be 5) of output, which is not going to show any difference between PCI and USB2. USB units are capable of recording dozens of inputs successfully. Audio is pretty sparse data by computer standards. And a USB interface will be just as fast on your next computer and can be attached to a new or borrowed computer in a flash.
 
Assuming your Audiophile 2496 has drivers for your operating system and you have a PCI slot in your motherboard, that will be more than enough for your needs. There  may be a problem with a bridged PCI slot in newer computers with that card, but you can try it for nothing to see if it works.

The track count won't matter to the interface because you are probably sending it a stereo signal.

Wow, some prices on those RME systems!  I either have to delineate my needs better or break the bank! ;-)
I just need something for playback that has good sound and won't stutter at low latency.   I don't even need two audio inputs....
 

Thanks guys, for clearing up the info on playback over USB.  You're right, it would be only two tracks.  I don't yet know what bridged PCI is (the Audiophile has Win7 64 bit drivers, but M-audio is not quick to support such an old card with better/faster drivers), so I'll have to look it up.  Part of the beauty of a USB solution is that it is easily moved from one computer to another.  Which reminds me, I have to check this computer for a PCI slot....
 
Steve