[Consortium] high-quality sound card for ExpressCard slot which is (well-)supported under Linux

[Martin T]

Ian,
yes, "Echo Indigo IOx" soundcard seems to be supported by ALSA. I have
always wondered how important is driver support in terms of sound
quality? I mean the digital-to-analog converter should determine the
sound quality and as this is done in hardware, drivers should not
matter (very) much, should they?


Jeremy,
thanks! I mailed my question to Linux Audio Users mailinglist as well.


Daniel,
I agree that USB if more future-proof and ubiquitous compared to
ExpressCard. On the other hand, for example current models of both
Lenovo T series and HP ProBook/EliteBook series support ExpressCard.
As and expansion slot, ExpressCard is currently the standard.


regards,
Martin


2012/12/11 Daniel James <daniel at 64studio.com>:
> Hi Ian, hi Martin,
>
>> They are highly supported in Linux and are
>> the best converters in the industry.
>
> Prism Sound may disagree about who's got the best converters :-)
>
> These days I would look at USB instead, because your next laptop may not
> have an ExpressCard slot. I'd be willing to lay a bet that USB 3.0 will
> kill off all other laptop interface standards. Also USB works with your
> Liquidsoap server today.
>
> The Lyra has basic GNU/Linux support:
>
> http://www.prismsound.com/music_recording/products_subs/lyra/lyra_home.php
>
> I'm not sure which features you lose by not having a native control
> panel. Maybe it could be made to work under WINE. However if you want
> something from Prism Sound for under $300 you'll have to be happy with a
> T-shirt :-)
>
> There are plenty of less expensive USB converters. Typically for
> Liquidsoap you only need a single stereo output, which means you can use
> any audiophile converter; you don't need a multichannel pro audio
> interface at all. See http://www.qnktc.com/ab_12.php for an interesting
> DAC project.
>
> Cheers!
>
> Daniel