New bargain soundcard: E-MU 0404

There is a soundcard out now that has been out for a few months but looks very promising indeed, and could well be a step up from the usual M-Audio / Terratec cards, and better still, it doesnt cost any extra than an Audiophile 2496.

The card is the E-MU 0404, a single PCI card based on the flagship AKM AK4395 DAC, a newer chip to the one used in the current SuperDAC 2496. The specifications look very impressive and the price is good too - £70.

This card should give superb performance for a modest outlay, and should be firmly at the top of anyones list now when considering sub £100 soundcards. I am likely to buy one myself at the end of this week, as it can also drive high impedance headphones very well too.

http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?product=2220&category=754&maincategory=754

 

I wouldnt pay anymore than 20 quid for a soundcard. But thats just me.

 

Fair enough

 

Argh i wish i had never seen this!!!

 

Well, it has a *theoretical* performance advantage. Not guaranteed. I intend to find out soon. However, you should be happy with your card, it is a fine performer.

 

That it is, make sure you let us know how you get on with this new one....if its night and day difference i should get nice price on ebay for my M-Audio :JPS:

 

??

I bought my Terratec after your recommendation Paul (Edit: good call BTW), and if the new (or months old ) card is as good as you suspect, I might buy it for my other PC.

However, in my case an onboard DAC might be a waste. I only need a digital (phono) output. Should I be looking at something else?

 

Hi Dev, I guess it would make an alright "transport" but maybe there is something cheaper that can do this job? I dont know to be honest.

Saddam, I dont know for certain if I will get it yet. It certainly looks good on paper, but our cards both use AKM DAC's anyway so I suspect it will probably be close, with a slight nod to the E-MU. I certainly would not expect it to destroy our cards, but it might be slightly better, yes. I'll let you know if I do get one though.

 

hmm this might be worth a look, its stilla creative product though not seen any of the pro stuff in action.

would like to hear from somone that has one.

 

Well Creative own E-MU, but their cards are a completely different kettle of fish to Creative cards. There is plenty of reading over at headfi for this card (and also its brothers, the 1212M and 1820M, which use Crystal DAC instead of AKM).

 

Well I've got the 0404 and I have to say it is a surprising improvement over the EWX that I had before (and therefore, all other soundcards around using the same DAC like the M-Audio range and other Terratec cards) - sorry Saddam

As I've probably already mentioned it uses the flagship AKM DAC chip, the AK4395, which I believe is actually a higher specification chip than the one used in the M-Audio SuperDAC 2496. It cost £70, and the card comes with 2 breakout cables, one to provide digital connections, the other to provide analogue connections. The card has 1 set of analogue outs (terminated with phone plugs), 1 set of analague in's, and it has digital optical, co-ax and balanced in's and out's.

The sound that this thing produces really is very good and clearly a step up from the likes of the M-Audio Audiophile and Terratec EWX, cards which already offered pretty high performance for the price. In comparison, the bass goes slightly deeper, the sound is that bit more dynamic, and theres quite a bit more detail to be had here. Its very musical and "emotional" for a soundcard source, and despite there being plenty of details, its never analytical. If you like music served up exciting, then this card will do it. If you like a bit more of a refined sound, you'd be better off looking at the E-MU 1212M, which with its Crystal DAC is said to sound more laid back & refined.

For £70 though, its a serious bargain, and it can hold its head very high against much more costly CD players. Lets just say for that money you arent going to get much of a CD deck, but if you have a computer, this will give you very good sound quality indeed. Its surprising that such quality can be had for such a low price.

In summary, this card is a no brainer. This is clearly better than the older generation of cards. The only disadvantage is you will need either a new cable, terminated with phone plugs at one end, if you wish to use the analogue outs, or adapters to re-use your existing interconnects.

 

OK Paul, how much for your old card?, does it have a digital (phono) output?

 

It only has optical output, I'm afraid.

 

I'll just carry on looking. I really don't want to buy a card with a good onboard DAC, I think it'll just be a waste (of either the onboard or my external DAC).

Any recommendations?

 

Maybe something like the Xitel Hifi link?

 

:grrr: Ah well, to be honest I have decided to keep this card for use at Uni and keep the NAD CD player for when i go home in summer. Ive compared the two and i prefer the NAD, no particular reason, it just sounds better to me. Very impressed with the card though so im sure that one you have is great, but to be honest the amount of time i spend listening to music is getting less and less by the minute and im happy with what i have. Thanks for the review of the card though. :beer:

 

Take a look here for a review on Toms Hardware

http://www6.tomshardware.com/consumer/20041104/index.html

Might be a techie sight, but comes to a good conclusion.


Chris.Gally

 

Thanks for the review. I didnt know this thing had a parametric EQ and compressor

 

So what are the capabilities of the parametric EQ. Can it be set up to take out a major room resonance at 45 Hz with a high Q (say 42 Hz to 48 Hz)?

 

Not really sure since I didnt even know it had one. I think I read at the moment it only does 80 Hz or above which if true, wouldnt be all that useful IMO.