[linux-audio-user] A nice PCI audio card for the PC?

[Jos Laake]

I asked this same question a while back.  The answers were about
the same and sent me scurrying to e-bay.  No need to scurry actually.
There seems to be a steady stream of Audiophile 2496's, Delta 44's 66's,
1010LT's and 1010's flowing through the system.

<FYI>
There are a few Audiophile 2496's selling for as low as $129.00 on
the "Buy It Now" button.  I haven't followed anything to completion
but the 2496 that ends auction in 13 hours is currently at about $100.00.

There's also a pair of BX-5 studio monitors "New in box" (Retail
$399.00) currently at $107.50 with a day and a half to go...
</FYI>

I still haven't decided what to get for myself, but I'm leaning toward
the 1010 models because they have multi-I/O > 4 *and* MIDI.  I also like
the idea of an outboard rack mount unit.  I have an empty space in my
rack anyway.

I'd like to save some $$ and het the 1010LT, but I am  curious,
has anybody had trouble with having that rats nest of cables behind
the computer?  Seems like that would be noisy.

Also, how many inputs can you *really* record at once without xruns?
I'm running a 2.4GHz Pentium 4 in an Ice Cube small footprint system.

OTOH, I could cut my costs back and get an Audiophile 2496.  But does
it really record/capture clean enough for semi-pro work?

Useful answers to these questions would be very cool and much
appreciated. :-)

Peace,
~Jos~