Great sound card?

Hi guys.

Anyone got suggestions for a decent pci sound card for my PC?
Anything under 100quid would be good.

Please bear in mind that I don't want 7.1, recording facilities or whatever, just a decent analogue stereo out, and a decent stereo headphone out, with enough beef to drive some 100 ohm or less cans (probably less).

Just want a decent stereo sound card for my PC for streaming and library browsing etc.

 

£50 buys you an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 which is an internal PCI card. I have had excellent results, and you need not be worried about it being an internal card.

Alternatively you could consider an Edirol UA25, which has variable gain on the line in and out and is an external USB device at £135.

For replay only the 2496 is perfectly ok and will outperform most cdp's. The Edirol has a very good headphone amp.

 

I run the Firewire rendition of this and can confirm that it's pretty good - particularly if you mostly want it for headphones. D/A conversion is fine (if a little thin sounding) - sticking a Meridian 203 on the back via coax is still an improvement to my ears. My Copland CD player is better, but the cost differential is substantial. Definitely worth a punt and well supported.

I've used it for 2 channel live recording too, to good effect.

 

Does anyone know how well Linux (ubuntu and SuSE) supports it?

 

I'm not a linux guru but these people do a driver for it.

http://www.opensound.com/download.cgi

I think it's free nowadays but info is on the m-audio website.

 

I am very satisfied with the ESI Juli @.
cheap and good, an I think simple use, simple interface also for a non technical person is an advantage.

 

I've had the 24/96 for a year now, its a brilliant sound card, but for me it just makes MP3s a lot more enjoyable and my CDP no longer impresses me as much.

What the 24/96 does so well it show you that bit rates of 320kbps+ are a must.

On a built in sound card the difference between 196/320 are hardly noticeable, on the 24/96 it is like listening to a different recording.