Soundcard

[eeyssjr]

I need some advice on getting a new soundcard. I hope it doesn't annoy you guys too much, but some people would call me an "audiophile", so i my priority is the way the card sounds. It needs to be as good as the Meridian DAC i surrently use (a 563 - around £1000).

Other features i need are:

A headphone socket (with volume control if it doesn't automatically turn the main line outs off, which are going to the speakers).

An optical input and output.

A coax digital input and output.

Preferably the line outs will be on the PCi card/break out box as cinch type.


I've been looking at the Terratec Phase USB and also Echo Gina24 - which both look good.

Any suggestions from you guys as to whats going to sound best - are the terratec cards as good as an external Meridian DAC? Budget is anywhere up to £400 (say $550).

Many thanks,
Stephen

[Easto]

I personally like Echo products. (if you would like to know my audiophile tastes I use Arcam for my listening pleasure).

You might also want to look into...
http://www.rme-audio.com/english/soundcds.htm

[eeyssjr]

Thanks v.much. Will check these out.

The new Terratec Phase 26 USB looks interesting. I'm hoping by being completely external this should reduce the vast majority of computer borne noise i have experienced with internal PCI cards.

Has anyone got any experiences or thoughts on this new "professional" product in Terratec's producer range?
http://produceren.terratec.net/product.php?pid=2

Thanks,
stephen