Re: What Mid-range USB Sound Cards Work with Linux?
Martin McCormick wrote:
> I went to a local electronics emporium and asked for a
> USB sound card that might possibly work under Linux. I have been
> messing with Linux and USB long enough to know that a number of
> USB sound cards mostly work well enough for one to play and
> record stereo but some special features may not work without
> proprietary drivers available to Windows or Mac users. These
> features are usually not show stoppers so there is no real
> problem.
>
> The only USB sound card they had was a SoundBlaster XG5
> designed for the gaming market but, I thought, this is probably
> pretty good and, if most everything on it works, how can you go
> wrong?
>
> Well, here's how. Firstly, I am not bashing Creative Labs
> or the product itself but this is what happens when things become
> overly specialized.
>
> What I was looking for was a sound card which would
> record stereo. They usually will play, also but recording two
> line-level channels is a must.
>
> This is a really neat little device in that it has
> optical line input and output ports and a stereo headphone output
> but there is only a microphone input--(game over.)
>
> I did power it up and ran amixer on it to see if maybe
> there is more to that Mic input than originally meets the eye but there
> is actually less. There are several PCM inputs and maybe one is
> the microphone but it isn't clear what each PCM channel does.
> Again, if there are not two discrete analog line-level audio
> inputs, it can not be used as a normal sound card.
>
> I rarely need to return products to a store, but I am
> glad this one has a reasonable return policy because the device
> is so highly specialized that there is no way to use it for
> anything but playback only or as, in a game, good sound with a
> Mic for one to talk over.
>
> Basically, are there any good new USB sound cards these
> days that record and play stereo under Linux?
>
> Thanks for any suggestions.
>
> Martin McCormick
I suggest you check here
http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main
and try the alsa mailing list.
I would stay to the PCI cards if possible because with USB you will have
lesser speed and quality, but it is up to you.
Consider CPU and hard drive speed as well.
regards
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