Replacement for my M-Audio Audiophile 2496 card

[Dave46]

Hi,
I'm new here, hope someone can help.

Background is, I've been using an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI card for ages, in 2 previous PCs and very happy with it BUT the new PC I'm building does not have PCI slots. I looked into PCIE to PCI converters but apart from being a bit pricey, they are really only suitable for half height cards.

My setup is that I've got my good old HiFi hooked up to the PC via the M-Audio card for input (ripping vinyl LPs) and output of decent quality and volume sound. The HiFi is an old Quad 33/303 amp and pre-amp and I've got the M-Audio card inputs and outputs hooked up to the "tape replay" socket on the 33 pre-amp via a couple of Din to Phono converter cables. Works fine and I don't need anything other than Din level I/O connections from the card replacement. The new motherboard is an Asus Z690-P D4-CSM.

So, I'm looking for either a PCIE card or an external box (USB connection??) that will give me decent quality, same levels of input and output signal, same basic connectivity (phono ideal for a straight swap but OK if can be adapted to 5-pin Din) and not cost an arm and a leg.

As an interim, I'll try a couple of mini jack to Phono converters into the onboard sound jacks of my current PC but not being too optimistic and I have no idea of the quality of the onboard sound on the new motherboard.

Thanks in advance - BTW, I'm not young any more (the Quad 33/303 might have been a bit of a give away ) so my ears are not particularly HiFi these days!

 

[Bobmic]

I once had that M-Audio card and loved it! There is a practically unlimited selection of USB interfaces available that perform very well, and could easily work in your situation, but they aren't PCI-e. If it must be a card, the closest thing to an Audiophile 2496 is probably a Maya44 eX from ESI https://www.esi-audio.com/products/maya44ex/ or the spectacular Lynx E22 https://www.lynxstudio.com/products/e22/ (expensive, yes, but I found one used on Reverb). The Lynx has balanced analog I/0 on XLR via their breakout cable, but will work unbalanced as well, though you would need adapters in your case to get to phone plugs. An rather important feature for these things is drivers and longer term driver support. Some of the prosumer cards out there get little in the way of driver updating after their initial release, so look into that.

 

[Blumlein 88]

If you wanted to stick with an on board card, you might look into some of the Asus Xonar cards which are available in PCIE. I'd advise going with a external USB interface.

 

[LTig]

I'd advise going with a external USB interface.

Yep. Something like a Motu M2 should work fine. You need to adapt your cables though. Or a cheap Behringer which has RCA connectors.

 

[Dave46]

Thanks for the advice guys, started me down quite the rabbit hole! I'm probably looking in the AU$100-$200 price bracket, preferably the low end of that.
And, all I want is simple, basic, analogue line in and out device without other Mic/Guitar/Level adjustments etc.

I think that a PCIE card would be ideal but for my price bracket I'm probably looking at a Soundblaster or Asus and not sure how much better they would be than the on board sound?

A USB solution would be OK but, again simple - line in / line out, it seems that most of the USB devices have outputs that ate "for speakers", not sure if this means it can drive conventional speakers or if it is more of a "line out" to go to powered speakers?

The BEHRINGER UCA202 fits the design and price but Amrim's review reckons his laptop sound beats it, so that's probably not worth it!!

Obviously, I still need help

 

[restorer-john]

You can buy PCIE (motherboard slot) to PCI Drive Bay adapters. These will go in the space where a DVD-ROM would go and take two PCI cards. The M-Audio AP2496 would then move to the front of the PC which is cool.

But, not sure if you could hack the Win Vista 64 drivers to continue working under W11. They do work under W10.

 

[Blumlein 88]

The speaker or monitor outputs on recording interfaces are intended for powered speakers. Those can be used as line level signals. Most would put out a balanced 4 volt signal, but with adapters for RCA that voltage will be 2 volts.

I think you probably could trust the better Asus Xonar PCIE cards to be pretty good, likely better than the M audio you've been using. I've seen them tested at various forums over the years, and they might not quite meet some claimed specs, but were much better than most sound cards. You might need to get the one for around $100 US for a good ADC and DAC performance.

 

[jp4573]

Creative Sound Blaster X5 Interface Review

This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the Creative Labs Sound Blaster X5 audio interface (DAC, ADC, Mic input) plus DSP and headphone amplifier. It was sent to me by the company and sells direct for US $270. As you see, the X5 is a good sized box allowing for a large...

www.audiosciencereview.com

If you want something cheaper you can search for an used like this:

Review and Measurements of SoundBlaster X-FI HD

This is a review and measurements of the SoundBlaster X-FI HD DAC/ADC and headphone amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and it retails for USD $100 from Amazon with Prime shipping. The box itself is plastic but doesn't look too bad: The volume control is a rotary control of some...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[wwenze]

Personally I stick with internal cards if I'm doing any capturing or professional work.

Note that sound cards drivers get abandoned very quickly. Needless to say your PCI card is probably not going to work in Windows 11.

 

[Dave46]

Personally I stick with internal cards if I'm doing any capturing or professional work.

Note that sound cards drivers get abandoned very quickly. Needless to say your PCI card is probably not going to work in Windows 11.

That is something to consider, it's working fine in Windows 10 though.

 

[Dave46]

The speaker or monitor outputs on recording interfaces are intended for powered speakers. Those can be used as line level signals. Most would put out a balanced 4 volt signal, but with adapters for RCA that voltage will be 2 volts.

I think you probably could trust the better Asus Xonar PCIE cards to be pretty good, likely better than the M audio you've been using. I've seen them tested at various forums over the years, and they might not quite meet some claimed specs, but were much better than most sound cards. You might need to get the one for around $100 US for a good ADC and DAC performance.

4 volt would be OK, the Quad preamp has 3 settings for "Tape In":
High: 1V - 10V
Medium: 400mV - 4V
Low: 100mV - 1V

Xonar PCIE card could be an option, it's an Asus motherboard and I'm all set up for a card, I would need to do some re-cabling for a USB external one.
I can see a Xonar SE for AU$63 and a Xonar AE for AU$102 and an Strix Raid Pro for AU$195

 

[Dave46]

The speaker or monitor outputs on recording interfaces are intended for powered speakers. Those can be used as line level signals. Most would put out a balanced 4 volt signal, but with adapters for RCA that voltage will be 2 volts.

I think you probably could trust the better Asus Xonar PCIE cards to be pretty good, likely better than the M audio you've been using. I've seen them tested at various forums over the years, and they might not quite meet some claimed specs, but were much better than most sound cards. You might need to get the one for around $100 US for a good ADC and DAC performance.

The most expensive Xonar I can find is the AE at AU$102.

 

[Dave46]

You can buy PCIE (motherboard slot) to PCI Drive Bay adapters. These will go in the space where a DVD-ROM would go and take two PCI cards. The M-Audio AP2496 would then move to the front of the PC which is cool.

But, not sure if you could hack the Win Vista 64 drivers to continue working under W11. They do work under W10.

I had thought of that solution but it would be a lot of fiddling about and, as you say, may not work under W11.

 

[Blumlein 88]

4 volt would be OK, the Quad preamp has 3 settings for "Tape In":
High: 1V - 10V
Medium: 400mV - 4V
Low: 100mV - 1V

Xonar PCIE card could be an option, it's an Asus motherboard and I'm all set up for a card, I would need to do some re-cabling for a USB external one.
I can see a Xonar SE for AU$63 and a Xonar AE for AU$102 and an Strix Raid Pro for AU$195

I don't believe the SE has a line/mic input. The AE does.

 

[Dave46]

Yep. Something like a Motu M2 should work fine. You need to adapt your cables though. Or a cheap Behringer which has RCA connectors.

Motu is outside my budget, I can get a Scarlett 3rd Gen for about AU$130

I don't believe the SE has a line/mic input. The AE does.

Good to know, thanks

 

[Dave46]

Had a bit of a play around, plugging the Quad preamp into the onboard sound sockets on the current (H170 MoBo) PC.
Line out was fine, good signal to the Quad but both Line in and Mic very weak inputs, I have the Quad record outputs set to "High" which is 100mV, 5K ohms which was perfect for the Audiophile card but apparently not for the on board sound, so not sure what the answer is there?

Also, the Audiophile card has functionality that allows me to loop back the recording signal to the output so I can listen to the vinyl being recorded. This is functionality I don't want to lose.

I'm not experienced playing around with on board sound settings but, regardless of sound quality, these things might rule out on board sound with my current HiFi setup.

Any advice on PCIE sound cards or USB connected devices that will give me this functionality would be very much appreciated.

 

[restorer-john]

It looks like the AP2496 will work on W11 64 bit using the Vista/7 64 bit drivers. I have one working fine on W10 using those same drivers.

delta 6.0.8 win7 64.

 

[Dave46]

It looks like the AP2496 will work on W11 64 bit using the Vista/7 64 bit drivers. I have one working fine on W10 using those same drivers.

Yeah, mine's working fine on Win 10, I may gamble AU$30 odd on one of those PCIE to PCI adapters and try it out on the current PC before going with the new build, not much wasted if I run into issues and - everything perfect as it is now if it works.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Had a bit of a play around, plugging the Quad preamp into the onboard sound sockets on the current (H170 MoBo) PC.
Line out was fine, good signal to the Quad but both Line in and Mic very weak inputs, I have the Quad record outputs set to "High" which is 100mV, 5K ohms which was perfect for the Audiophile card but apparently not for the on board sound, so not sure what the answer is there?

Also, the Audiophile card has functionality that allows me to loop back the recording signal to the output so I can listen to the vinyl being recorded. This is functionality I don't want to lose.

I'm not experienced playing around with on board sound settings but, regardless of sound quality, these things might rule out on board sound with my current HiFi setup.

Any advice on PCIE sound cards or USB connected devices that will give me this functionality would be very much appreciated.

The settings aren't really different in Windows 11 once you get into that part of things. You may simply need to up volume in the Sound mixer or engage a boost using the line input as if it were a microphone. With the 5 kohm output impedance of the Quad 33 it may be interacting with what may be a low input impedance for line level which is dropping the sound level quite a bit. Enough so you might actually get more sound level switching the output of the Quad to medium level because it has only 800 ohms output impedance. But first check the sound settings in Windows.

https://www.howtogeek.com/749508/how-to-choose-your-microphone-on-windows-11/

 

[Dave46]

The settings aren't really different in Windows 11 once you get into that part of things. You may simply need to up volume in the Sound mixer or engage a boost using the line input as if it were a microphone. With the 5 kohm output impedance of the Quad 33 it may be interacting with what may be a low input impedance for line level which is dropping the sound level quite a bit. Enough so you might actually get more sound level switching the output of the Quad to medium level because it has only 800 ohms output impedance. But first check the sound settings in Windows.

https://www.howtogeek.com/749508/how-to-choose-your-microphone-on-windows-11/

Thanks, I'll check that and give it a try, would still be lacking the loopback part though.