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George W.
Posts: 33
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 Posted - Fri Jul 04, 2003 2:37 pm
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Any thoughts on which of these is the better card, or are the differences minimal? The M-Audio is $150 and the new MiaMidi is $200. Some places were blowing out the original Mia for $100 but they all seem to be sold out. They're still listed for $180.
Thanks
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SteveG
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 6695
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Posted - Fri Jul 04, 2003 3:52 pm
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The differences are not really sonic, but in the connectors and replay facilities - the Mia has eight 'virtual' outputs which comes in quite handy sometimes. There is a thread with little more detail on the differences 'Audiophile 2496 and Echo Mia questions'.
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shagrock
Location: USA
Posts: 137
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Posted - Fri Jul 04, 2003 8:35 pm
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The MIA uses 1/4 inch balanced jacks, for input and output. The M-audio uses RCA plugs.
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George W.
Posts: 33
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Posted - Sat Jul 05, 2003 9:00 am
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| SteveG wrote: |
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The differences are not really sonic, but in the connectors and replay facilities - the Mia has eight 'virtual' outputs which comes in quite handy sometimes. There is a thread with little more detail on the differences 'Audiophile 2496 and Echo Mia questions'.
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Thanks Steve, that was very helpful. Just a followup on something mentioned there: as I understand it these cards don't permit input level control via software. Is this done with an external mixer instead?
At this point I'll probably get the Audiophile card unless I come across a better deal on the original Mia. I admit that the Audiophile USB has a certain appeal to me over the card. I have no problems with opening the case but I like the idea of an external unit isolated from the PC with it's own power supply and headphone output. I know there are bandwidth issues with USB but I would never be doing more than two tracks at once anyway. In any case since these cards only have two lines in and out I assume the two track limitations are the same.
For reference my system is a Dell 2.53 P4, 768MB RAM.
Thanks again.
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shagrock
Location: USA
Posts: 137
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Posted - Sat Jul 05, 2003 10:08 am
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| George W. wrote: |
For reference my system is a Dell 2.53 P4, 768MB RAM.
Thanks again. |
Just to let you know I am running a DELL with a PIII-800 mhz, with 384 meg of memory. I am using the Audiophile 2496 for audio restoration, works great. I kept the soundblaster in for my sons games, the two cards play well together, no problems.
Oh yes I do my recording at 24 bit (32 in CE2K although the options thing tells me 24 bit is not supported so I still wonder), and at a sample rate of 88.2 khz. Runs smooth, and you have much more computer than me, of course, I am running WIN98 SE so that helps.
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SteveG
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 6695
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Posted - Sun Jul 06, 2003 1:12 pm
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| George W. wrote: |
| SteveG wrote: |
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The differences are not really sonic, but in the connectors and replay facilities - the Mia has eight 'virtual' outputs which comes in quite handy sometimes. There is a thread with little more detail on the differences 'Audiophile 2496 and Echo Mia questions'.
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Thanks Steve, that was very helpful. Just a followup on something mentioned there: as I understand it these cards don't permit input level control via software. Is this done with an external mixer instead?
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Usually, but it doesn't have to be a mixer. If you have an uncontrollable source, just arrange to get the best level you can, and record at 32-bit float. Then normalise, and unless you've got a really small signal, everything should be fine - there is a pretty low noise floor on both cards, so within reason, yo'll get away with this. But obviously, some sort of signal level control is desirable.
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Echo Mia vs Audiophile 2496