Audiophile 2496 vs Emu-0404

[jacob]

Hi, sorry to rake up past issues but despite reading every post on this forum, I cant find anything to help me differentiate between the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 and the EMU-0404.

Both retail at the same price and while the Emu seems more highly spec'd, the sound/recording quality and low latency are of paramount importance (if both cards are comparable on this basis I will go for Emu as 2x I/O is better than one even if i wont actually use it day to day.

Would appreciate if you could vote and supply useful comments.
cheers guys

[imported_j0E_Tokyo]

I haven't used an EMU card, so I won't vote, but having owned an audiophile for nearly 2 years I can tell you it has never ever caused a crash/gone wrong/done something unexpected.

Never.

Not once.

Saying that; having XLR or balanced 1/4 inch jack ins and outs would've been nice.

[clootie]

Depends what you want to acheive, I personally sold my Audiophile after only 8 weeks as Id made a mistake with its Ins & Outs, it was simply too bare bones for the set up I was moving towards at the time. I had no complaints with its sound quality though.


Audiophile 24/96's have also come right down in price, you can now buy them brand new for a mere £68.

[Funky_Fred]

Hey guys...
This is my 1st post...so go easy...
I'm actually going through the same dilemma at the mo, looking for an entry-level type sound card to get me up and recording...A mate of mine, who's well into looking at spec.s, basically told me the cards are fairly similar, with the only real difference being the fact that the EMU 0404 has an onboard DSP which can be assigned to plugins etc...in effect, this eases the load on yr CPU, should let you run more VSTi's.
Now..keep in mind this is coming from someone who hasn't heard the results from either. Probably best trying to find a review somewhere first before spending...
Hope that helps.....or at the very least doesn't cloud yr judgement further.

[jacob]

Thanks guys, I suppose my question is: Does the Emu sound as good as the Audiophile and is the latency as low? (i know from countless reviews that these are areas where the audiophile scores well!)

[sxmichel]

Ive just recently bought the card, and have been experiencing some problems.
I keep gettting noise when running cubase and reason, with a single drum track, and I have also been struggling to get "sound" performance when using 3 or more midi tracks.
I have a new machine 2hgz p4/1 gig ram ,so its not my machine...
and also,

the emu website is down, so i cnat get support

[fizz]

Right, I had the EMU 0404 in a new build unit last year and it gave me all bloody manner of probs, it really did !! The patch mix mixer must be open and running at all times you use your sequencer or else you won;t hear anything. Secondly, you have to get you head around setting the Patch Mixer up - not to hard if you are familiar with basic mixer setups ( buit if you are not, well ... ). When the thingsd worked, it sounded good .... remember it has a very good dynamic range and this is celarly reflected in what comes through it. However, I could not get past the problems I had withe the card and so I opted for a retunr to my very sturdy and trusted Audiophile 2496. This card has been an absolute brilliant purchase, never causing me a problem when in use othwerwise letting me down. It's dynamic range isn't quite as good as teh 0404, but the difference in real term audio tests is slight, with the 0404 just sounding a little brighter and clearer. I would auggest that anyone seriosuly going the M-Audio route, buy the updated and newer Audiophile 192 card, it has moire inputs and slightly better dynamic range - it is also still relatively cheap at around £90 - 100 quid.

My vote still goes with the very reliabler and good sounding Audiophile 2496 ( used for almost three years now - even in my new more expensive AMD64 music pc ). 8)

[dR-Green]

Right, I had the EMU 0404 in a new build unit last year and it gave me all bloody manner of probs, it really did !! The patch mix mixer must be open and running at all times you use your sequencer or else you won;t hear anything. Secondly, you have to get you head around setting the Patch Mixer up - not to hard if you are familiar with basic mixer setups ( buit if you are not, well ... ). When the thingsd worked, it sounded good .... remember it has a very good dynamic range and this is celarly reflected in what comes through it. However, I could not get past the problems I had withe the card and so I opted for a retunr to my very sturdy and trusted Audiophile 2496.

Your opinion, like 90% of everyone who pass through "complaining" about emu cards, is based on the fact that you can't use it. No offence but your lack of ability to use it is not a very good reason why someone else should or should not buy a sound card.

On top of that, I would have thought learning how a basic mixer setup works would help with people who are making music, running away from it won't help anything. As with everything, if you don't understand it, learn it, and it becomes a powerful tool.

I won't vote for either, but I will say patchmix presents a lot of routing possiblities. I don't have a clue how the sound compares, as for the latencies "as low" as the other one, does it really matter? Both are capable of low latency.

[Slow Joe]

Really old thread.

[dR-Green]

So it is ops: