Anyone using a E-MU 0404 USB for recording?

[Denosha]

I've been eyeing the E-MU 0404 USB for quite a few months but it's like always out of stock according to the Creative web site. And they don't list any numbers for their HQ store (which i believe is one of the few places that actually sells E-MU branded stuff).

Anyway, any folks here using the above mentioned for recording purposes?

 

[amptones]

hi i am using the 0404 pci card for rec its pretty gd considering the sepcs and all and price, u can get them at sim lim cybermind i believe

 

[Denosha]

Yeah, the PCI card is readily available but I want the 2 balanced XLR+1/4" mic/hi-z/line inputs. Anyway, they finally had stock yesterday (my bro left his contact with them months ago) and we immediately went down to the Creative HQ to pick up our reserved set. There's now only 1 more set left (which i think was also reserved). Weird that stock levels are so low.

Recording quality is indeed very good but I'm getting crackling/popping from the output. Also, the spdifs don't output from normal windows based programs. (ie. my winamp won't play thru the spdifs). *sigh*

 

[wasp]

How's the quality for mp3 playback for these kind of cards compare to X-fi? Eyeing 1 too but hate to lose that nice x-fi sound

 

[Denosha]

Can't really judge for sure since I can't seem to get rid of the snap/crackle/pops. But ignoring those and using headphones, the output seems better than on my x-fi, with regards to clarity and instrument separation. It's probably the dedicated headphone amplifier?

 

[gutturalpiss]

beware of C****m**d the last time i checked their prices were $100 more than retail price, because that time Singapore Creative didn't launch here first. Do check creative's price first..SLS is a place for those who know their stuff, if not u'll get trapped like tourists.

Back to the product, its as bang-for-buck as it can get. Compared to the M-Audio solutions its a better choice at the price point..dont think twice.

About mp3 playback, please note emu line of cards are for semi-professional use so it cannot b compared to a mainstream card like creative's gamer and home studio ones. The core of the audio chipset is different and currently there are only a few cards in the world that can act as both multimedia and professional. Normally it is suggested that u use a separate card (or ur onboard sound) for normal playback..latency and performance is affected in the longrun if u use ur professional card as default for desktop audio. FireWire and PCI should b prefered over USB due to inferior throughput, but not really a big matter.