Good C-Media USB sound card?

[Joerg]

Folks,

The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD was a major disappointment. It is
going back unless it decides to work properly very soon. Their customer
service is also sub-par.

So, looking for a better USB sound module. Miso mentioned C-Media but I
could only find chips on their site:

http://www.cmedia.com.tw/ProductsIndex.aspx?ClassifySerno=26

Who makes decent USB sound modules with these chips? Should be on a USB
cable, not a dongle. Must support Windows XP, have stereo line in and
line out. Preferably from an American company, or at least one that
lists phone numbers on their web site, actually cares about their
customers and has useful technical manuals.

I need this for EE stuff, not audio. So as plain vanilla as possible
would be good. Price can be up to $100.

 

[[email protected]]

Folks,

The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD was a major disappointment. It is
going back unless it decides to work properly very soon. Their customer
service is also sub-par.

So, looking for a better USB sound module. Miso mentioned C-Media but I
could only find chips on their site:

http://www.cmedia.com.tw/ProductsIndex.aspx?ClassifySerno=26

Who makes decent USB sound modules with these chips? Should be on a USB
cable, not a dongle. Must support Windows XP, have stereo line in and
line out. Preferably from an American company, or at least one that
lists phone numbers on their web site, actually cares about their
customers and has useful technical manuals.

I need this for EE stuff, not audio. So as plain vanilla as possible
would be good. Price can be up to $100.

something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UCA202-Audio-Interface/dp/B000KW2YEI/ref=pd_cp_pc_1


I think most dongles come with a short extender cable so it does have
to stick out
of the side of the pc


-Lasse

 

[Joerg]

something like this? http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-UCA202-Audio-Interface/dp/B000KW2YEI/ref=pd_cp_pc_1

Thanks, that looks like a good one.

I think most dongles come with a short extender cable so it does have
to stick out
of the side of the pc

The ones I saw didn't. You can get USB extender cables for $5-10 but
those tend to be thick and unwieldy.

 

[Jamie]

Folks,

The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD was a major disappointment. It is
going back unless it decides to work properly very soon. Their customer
service is also sub-par.

So, looking for a better USB sound module. Miso mentioned C-Media but I
could only find chips on their site:

http://www.cmedia.com.tw/ProductsIndex.aspx?ClassifySerno=26

Who makes decent USB sound modules with these chips? Should be on a USB
cable, not a dongle. Must support Windows XP, have stereo line in and
line out. Preferably from an American company, or at least one that
lists phone numbers on their web site, actually cares about their
customers and has useful technical manuals.

I need this for EE stuff, not audio. So as plain vanilla as possible
would be good. Price can be up to $100.

I buy those little cheap things from computer shows, the last one I got
cost something like 5 bucks but it works. It has stereo out for head
phones and mic input.

Jamie

 

[miso]

The ones I saw didn't. You can get USB extender cables for $5-10 but
those tend to be thick and unwieldy.

I got a few usb extenders from Monoprice. No issues. They seem to have a
tight grip on the usb device. I still have the bag handy. It says
PID:8604 USB(E)-AA-MF-01-W. I bought a dozen and just stock them since
they are relatively cheap.

The only reason I mention C-Media is they seem to have USB sound down.
The specs aren't great, but for something to take you from analog to
digital without spending hours tracking down usb isues, they are fine.
For a lot of what I use them for, I only need 8 bit "sound".

As an aside, a lot of these portable sound recorders also work as usb
sound cards:

http://www.samsontech.com/zoom/products/handheld-audio-recorders/

One advantage to using these external recorders is you can run them
without a PC to record, then analyze the sound later via download. I
know that isn't your situation, but this does allow for testing if the
PC is coupling noise back into what you are measuring. That is, you
record with and without the PC in the loop. Getting to the point where
there is no low level PC noise added to a system isn't easy since
everything shares the same ground.

The Zoom recorders don't have GHz CPUs and such in them, so they do
record without those artifacts. The microphone amps are a bit noisy, but
the line level is fine.

 

[miso]

You made my point. New OS, junk the card. Creative doesn't give a crap
about their customers. I used to buy their stuff back in the day, but
the company really went to shit.

I've already tossed my Creative cardbus soundcard so I don't know the
model, but it was flaky under win7. Playback would sound like bits of
sound were missing. Good riddance. It worked fine under win2kpro. It is
like they farm out the driver rewrites. It was working under linux,
though not in every program.

I use the C-media cards for sigint. No problems under linux. I have less
experience with them under windows. If there were sample rate errors, I
would see it in the BER.

I use the Diamond card for PCI. Again, I don't need dynamic range since
I'm dealing with a channel that has far worse SNR than the card,
probably by 30dB.

 

[Martin Riddle]

Folks,

The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD was a major disappointment. It is
going back unless it decides to work properly very soon. Their
customer
service is also sub-par.

So, looking for a better USB sound module. Miso mentioned C-Media but
I
could only find chips on their site:

http://www.cmedia.com.tw/ProductsIndex.aspx?ClassifySerno=26

Who makes decent USB sound modules with these chips? Should be on a
USB
cable, not a dongle. Must support Windows XP, have stereo line in and
line out. Preferably from an American company, or at least one that
lists phone numbers on their web site, actually cares about their
customers and has useful technical manuals.

I need this for EE stuff, not audio. So as plain vanilla as possible
would be good. Price can be up to $100.

What about these guys?
<http://www.usbgear.com/computer_cable_details.cfm?sku=USBG-SOUND-71&cats=136&catid=121,637,136>

They list what chipsets are used. not pricey either. Look thru the
website, there are other USB things.
Located in FL, phone number on website.

Cheers

 

[Joerg]

What is the problem?

Numerous ones. It stopped putting out signals on the line outputs out of
the blue, at random. Then one the input both channels worked only with
the RIAA amp, without it no signal was received. And so on.

Aggravating factors were that the installed SW caused an increadible
bloat, the company web page support link did not accept my inquiry, they
give no phone numbers, the only email I found was from their ivetsor
guy. Who chose not to even answer.

Long story short I have already sent it back and won't buy a Creative
product again.

I have uninstalled their software, now I have to figure out how to
uninstall their driver.

Been burned with C-Media hardware. Experienced sample rate
irregularities. Looks like sampling clock is done by divider with
variable ratio.

Oh, that would be very bad in my case. Looks like I need to reseach this
whole sound card topic out a lot more.

I've used SB Extigy for work for many years. Had to switch to SB THX HD
because Extigy is unsupported on W7. No problems with either one.

I am dreading Windows 7, big time, for such reasons. Eventually I'll
have to buy a couple of simple netbook for this. My Samsung NC-10 with
XP works like a champ but with XP I can only buy used and then the
batteries are mostly shot.

 

[Joerg]

I got a few usb extenders from Monoprice. No issues. They seem to have a
tight grip on the usb device. I still have the bag handy. It says
PID:8604 USB(E)-AA-MF-01-W. I bought a dozen and just stock them since
they are relatively cheap.

The only reason I mention C-Media is they seem to have USB sound down.
The specs aren't great, but for something to take you from analog to
digital without spending hours tracking down usb isues, they are fine.
For a lot of what I use them for, I only need 8 bit "sound".

I really need all 16 bits. Plus I have to measure phase accurately, to
within 1/10 of a degree. So if they really do clock dither like
Vladimiar mentioned that would be bad.

As an aside, a lot of these portable sound recorders also work as usb
sound cards:

One advantage to using these external recorders is you can run them
without a PC to record, then analyze the sound later via download. I
know that isn't your situation, but this does allow for testing if the
PC is coupling noise back into what you are measuring. That is, you
record with and without the PC in the loop. Getting to the point where
there is no low level PC noise added to a system isn't easy since
everything shares the same ground.

The Zoom recorders don't have GHz CPUs and such in them, so they do
record without those artifacts. The microphone amps are a bit noisy, but
the line level is fine.

I need it realtime, it's not recording sound but measuring resonant
structures via phase. And things should be too bulky.

 

[Joerg]

What about these guys?
<http://www.usbgear.com/computer_cable_details.cfm?sku=USBG-SOUND-71&cats=136&catid=121,637,136>

They list what chipsets are used. not pricey either. Look thru the
website, there are other USB things.
Located in FL, phone number on website.

Thanks. Finally one company with real information on their site. Now I'd
have to find out whether the CM6206 chip in there does the clock
dithering that Vladimir mentioned. Because that would mess up my
application.

 

[[email protected]]

Thanks. Finally one company with real information on their site. Now I'd
have to find out whether the CM6206 chip in there does the clock
dithering that Vladimir mentioned. Because that would mess up my
application.

could try the demo board for this: http://www.ti.com/product/pcm2902

-Lasse

 

[Joerg]

could try the demo board for this: http://www.ti.com/product/pcm2902

Yeah, but I really need somthing in a box, plug and play.

 

[Joerg]

Folks,

The Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD was a major disappointment. It is
going back unless it decides to work properly very soon. Their customer
service is also sub-par.

So, looking for a better USB sound module. Miso mentioned C-Media but I
could only find chips on their site:

http://www.cmedia.com.tw/ProductsIndex.aspx?ClassifySerno=26

Who makes decent USB sound modules with these chips? Should be on a USB
cable, not a dongle. Must support Windows XP, have stereo line in and
line out. Preferably from an American company, or at least one that
lists phone numbers on their web site, actually cares about their
customers and has useful technical manuals.

I need this for EE stuff, not audio. So as plain vanilla as possible
would be good. Price can be up to $100.

Some more research hints that the UCA202 that Lasse suggested does not
use a C-Media chip:

http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html

Quote "The UCA202 uses the ubiquitous TI PCM2902 integrated USB DAC
chip. It’s an old design, but as you’ll see, it easily outperforms the
much newer C-Media chip in the similarly priced Turtle Beach Micro II
when using the line output. In this case, newer isn't better".

http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/pcm2902c.pdf

A bit old, only 16 bits and can't do 96ksamples/sec. However, sometimes
the old stuff is better than the new. So there is hope.

 

[[email protected]]

So, looking for a better USB sound module.

I use an application that listens to a radio scanner for packets and
does DSP to recover the data bytes; it's a software dem. My setup uses
the motherboard audio on my desktop PC, but the "troubleshooting"
section of the software manual says that the Griffin iMic is "known to
work well in data applications". The brochure is at
http://store.griffintechnology.com/imic ; that page says stereo line
in, XP and 7 compatibility.

Griffin's Q&A page at http://www.griffintechnology.com/support/imic says
it is 24-bit internally, but limited to 16 bit/48 KHz with the default
drivers; "third party USB ASIO drivers" are supposed to give you the
full 24 bits. They don't seem to tell you where you can obtain these
drivers.

I tried to find out what chip(s) it uses internally. There is a rather
amusing answer at
http://www.griffintechnology.com/su...ac-and-pc?backref=node/626&backref_title=iMic
that basically says the only specs they guarantee are 16 bit, 48 kHz,
$40.

Again, I don't use an iMic myself; I am just passing along what I read.

Griffin has their own store but they are out of stock. Some other
online stores (including B&H and Sweetwater) say they have it; it seems
to go for about $40. (It should be $20, but a white housing on hardware
means it's for Mac, which doubles the price.)

Standard disclaimers apply; I don't get money or other consideration
from any companies mentioned.

Matt Roberds

 

[Joerg]

I use an application that listens to a radio scanner for packets and
does DSP to recover the data bytes; it's a software dem. My setup uses
the motherboard audio on my desktop PC, but the "troubleshooting"
section of the software manual says that the Griffin iMic is "known to
work well in data applications". The brochure is at
http://store.griffintechnology.com/imic ; that page says stereo line
in, XP and 7 compatibility.

Griffin's Q&A page at http://www.griffintechnology.com/support/imic says
it is 24-bit internally, but limited to 16 bit/48 KHz with the default
drivers; "third party USB ASIO drivers" are supposed to give you the
full 24 bits. They don't seem to tell you where you can obtain these
drivers.

I tried to find out what chip(s) it uses internally. There is a rather
amusing answer at
http://www.griffintechnology.com/su...ac-and-pc?backref=node/626&backref_title=iMic
that basically says the only specs they guarantee are 16 bit, 48 kHz,
$40.

Well, I don't like such flip answers on the part of manufacturers. I
won't buy unless there's full specs and informationn what chip is in there.

Again, I don't use an iMic myself; I am just passing along what I read.

Griffin has their own store but they are out of stock. Some other
online stores (including B&H and Sweetwater) say they have it; it seems
to go for about $40. (It should be $20, but a white housing on hardware
means it's for Mac, which doubles the price.)

Standard disclaimers apply; I don't get money or other consideration
from any companies mentioned.

Thanks, but I think I'll go with Lasse's suggestions because it has good
reviews and info about the innards:

http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/02/behringer-uca202-review.html

 

[George Herold]

I got a few usb extenders from Monoprice. No issues. They seem to have a
tight grip on the usb device. I still have the bag handy. It says
PID:8604 USB(E)-AA-MF-01-W. I bought a dozen and just stock them since
they are relatively cheap.

The only reason I mention C-Media is they seem to have USB sound down.
The specs aren't great, but for something to take you from analog to
digital without spending hours tracking down usb isues, they are fine.
For a lot of what I use them for, I only need 8 bit "sound".

As an aside, a lot of these portable sound recorders also work as usb
sound cards:

Nice, do you know how much?
I wanted to record shot noise on our tarpaulin in the rain,
waterfalls, and culvert whistlers (and then do the fft's). It's not a
very big itch though.

George H.

 

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

I have uninstalled their software, now I have to figure out how to
uninstall their driver.

Which is why performing a system state save is a good idea before
unknown hdw installations.

 

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

I am dreading Windows 7, big time, for such reasons. Eventually I'll
have to buy a couple of simple netbook for this. My Samsung NC-10 with
XP works like a champ but with XP I can only buy used and then the
batteries are mostly shot.

There is no such thing as "extigy"

My SB Audigy card is working on my W7 box, just fine.

 

[DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno]

Always Wrong!

I owned one, and still, for some reason, I thought that he had spelled
it wrong.

BTW, Vlad, old boy... **** YOU for jumping on the Larkin's Retard Crew
bandwagon.

And then you stuttered it three times, so maybe you are going senile as
well as the bandwagon stupidity.

 

[miso]

Perhaps I didn't make this clear, but the recorders work by themselves
OR as a USB sound card. My point was I could record without a PC and
with a PC to determine if connecting the PC caused artifacts. The noise
from a PC can set into your circuitry.

These oversampled converters often share a lot of DSP between channels
to reduce the cost, but if designed property they will act as if the
sampling is simultaneous, with of course some significant delay.