[linux-audio-user] Opinions on M-Audio Audiophile 2496 / USB or similar?

[Frank Barknecht]

Hallo,
daniel.vincent at blueyonder.co.uk hat gesagt: // daniel.vincent at blueyonder.co.uk wrote:

> It's that time of the year when I convince the missus that a studio
> PC upgrade is "necessary" and I go out and buy new hardware :-)
>  
> Is anyone on the list running either of the two M-Audio setups
> currently available: the Audiophile 2496 (PCI) or the Audiophile
> USB? Alternatively, can anyone recommend something similar?
> Incidentally, I'm currently running Mandrake 10 (Community), with
> the 2.6x kernel...

The USB won't run on kernel 2.6 at all, because it, ah again, violates
the USB specification. There are some patches that can enable this
card, but you'll need to patch the kernel yourself, AFAIK. Plus: I
don't know if the USB is supported by ALSA. Last time I looked (about
two months ago) there was no firmware loader.  Conclusion: Don't buy
it, there are many USB devices which are easier to set up.

The PCI Audiophile however is a fine card, I myself own it for over a
year, maybe two years. OSS-emulation for the mixer doesn't work, but
you can use native ALSA mixers like alsamixer and of course
envy24control. Also has a slight problem sometimes with delayed
startup in OSS mode, which can be fixed with a driver module option,
but I don't know which one that was. Otherwise: Great card, good
quality, maybe a tiny bit too expensive compared to some very similar
Hoontech or Terratec cards. I'd probably buy it again.

Ciao
-- 
 Frank Barknecht                               _ ______footils.org__