Just picked up an E-MU 0404 USB, from Creative. This is a USB audio breakout box that boasts frankly improbable S/N ratio specs (~120db). But since I had some extra cash buring a hole in my pocket, I decided get one to hook up to my laptop.
The verdict? Sound quality is unbelievable. By that I mean that I'm discovering new sounds in old music. Take two acts from the sixties that I enjoy: Cream and the Turtles. In both cases the studio mixes were pathetically flat and presumably irrecoverable. But the E-MU DAC is scraping just enough new sound out of the digital file that I get much more separation and even some texture. Those are throwaway buzzwords, I know, but the difference was huge. And I would point out that, apart from replay gain, I'm sending an unaltered ASIO signal out to the box, which has no DSP effects apart from the DAC.
With Creative products there is always a downside. Difficult installation is a given. But not until I took the product out of the carton did I finally comprehend how stupidly gigantic the mechanism is. The website talks about "portable audio" and the tiny picture gives you the impression that this is something you could put in your pocket. Ominously, the specs don't show dimensions.
Well, it is the size of two bricks sitting next to each other, and almost as heavy. It is 7" on a side, and 3" high. Four of these would take up more room than a typical pre-amp. And this is portable audio?
The verdict, part 2: At $200 and with sound quality this good, I can forgive a lot. Conveniently, there's a lot of it to forgive. But I love it so much I can't imagine how I ever managed without it. So I guess I'm still in the market for a "portable" USB audio device.
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Topic: E-MU 0404 USB--Ooooh, She Da Kine! (Read 7726 times)