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External USB Sound Card

P

pellmell

When I need a second sound card for a PC, I normally use a Behringer UCA202. The really cheap sound cards don't always have the best driver support for XP and Windows 7. If you're using a USB sound card, which one?
 
Thanks for the heads-up on this little device. I see it claims to be able to work at 96k and 24 bit. Have you used it that way? Also I see they have a UCA222 that looks similar and is priced about the same. Other than being painted red, I wonder if there are significant differences.

For several years I have owned an M-audio TRANSIT which is a similar device. Cost me about twice as much. Can be a bit temperamental when setting up a recording session, but performs reasonably well. I don't like to take my primary machine out of the house. Too many programs, too many files, too many archives to risk losing, to risk having some one else pawing through them. So I take the Transit along with my wife's desk top or now the replacement NetBook she uses. I've done pipe organ concerts, seminars and all-day business sessions.

When doing musical recordings I like 96k/24bit to do the original capture. Keeps the residual internal system noise level quite low. That way when I NORMALIZE the segments up to a working level, the noise that goes along for the ride is not overwhelming. Able to do noise reduction with minimal damage to the primary sound. After the clean up, then transform it down to 44.1/16 or some MPG file that sounds quite clean.

It will be interesting to see what others use. I want my next one to be like the little Shure device that accepts XLR mic input so I can leave the little mixer at home. I haven't seen one of those devices yet that was able to do the 96k/24bit thingy.
 
GRC, I have not used it at 96Khz so I don't know, but installing it was a breeze and it's never given me a minute of trouble in almost 5 years.
 
I just ordered a Cakewalk UA-1G. It has RCA inputs and outputs, which I prefer over 1/8" stereo. It also has an input level control that the UCA202 doesn't have.

The UCA202 actually has a Burr Brown chip, which is quite good. The one I have does require a lot of input signal. For playback, it's great, particularly if you're trying to avoid the internal noise of a laptop computer.
 
I've used the M-Audio hardware, having used their internal sound cards for years. It's been awhile so I'm not up to snuff with the current models but you should be able to find something good from them.
 
Most of my internal cards are M-Audio Audiophone 2496. Once you get used to them, they're great.

The Cakewalk UA-1G has turned out to be a great little unit. Just last week, I had a last minute problem pop up with a computer. In very short order, I was able to plug the UA-1G into a laptop and get going in a hurry. The sound was spectacular.

The most likable aspect of the UA-1G for me is the sound drivers are up-to-date and well written.
 
On the low end of the scale is the Audio Advantage AMIGO II usb gadget.

I didn't need it but WalMart had some discounted to $20.00 so I bought one and it played nice with my XP box. A short time later, I saw one by itself on the rack and it was further discounted to $12.00.

Sometime I'm going to try one on a windoze 7 box just to see if it makes the 7 play nice with some older software I like to use... like Audacity and ZaraRadio.
 
I'm not familiar with this unit. Do you need XLR? It's only USB 1.1, but that's not a big deal for two channels of audio. Unless you need balanced IO, do take a look at the Roland UA-1G. I'm happier with it now than when I bought it, and it's less than a third of the cost of this unit.
 
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Thanks for the heads-up on this little device. I see it claims to be able to work at 96k and 24 bit. Have you used it that way? Also I see they have a UCA222 that looks similar and is priced about the same. Other than being painted red, I wonder if there are significant differences.
Click to expand...

Behringer's UCA202 and UCA222 appear to be functionally the same. They sound fine, and both need Behringer's downloaded driver in order to operate properly (despite what the company says.)
On either, the monitor switch can confuse things.

On the internal side, M-audio's Delta 44, 4 in 4 out balanced card is affordable and good.
 
M44 Delta is not balanced in/out. In and out of the card is unbalanced.
Both input & output of their breakout box has a 10k resistor in series with a 22 ufd cap from ring (-) to sleeve (ground). Have one open on the bench at this moment bypassing the R/C combo.
 
boiseengineer said:
M44 Delta is not balanced in/out. In and out of the card is unbalanced.
Both input & output of their breakout box has a 10k resistor in series with a 22 ufd cap from ring (-) to sleeve (ground). Have one open on the bench at this moment bypassing the R/C combo.
Click to expand...
Thanks for clearing that up. Indeed M-audio is cagey about it on the spec sheet, saying the card 'handles' balanced and unbalanced I/Os. What might be the advantage of floating the ring over ground?
 
If you're feeding it with balanced audio it won't be a dead short to ground on the - side. Maybe they're assuming output will be looking into > 10K.
 
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