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

[Ian Dunham]

Also, if future-proofing an investment is a consideration, the Thunderbolt
connector and protocol should give you some piece of mind for express
cards. It can work with them if you use an adapter.

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
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