I’m about to upgrade my system to a new PC. Currently using an edirol UA-25ex external sound card which works really well. I think any issues with latency or performance are related to the processing power of my 10 yr old PC rather than the sound card. It records at 96khz etc.
I’m just wondering if there is any point upgrading my soundcard when I get my new system. The technology doesn’t seem to have changed much in the past decade and the soundcards on the market appear the same as the one I’ve got. Any danger that using my ua25ex will hamper the performance of a swish new PC?
Thanks
We probably get somewhat better sounding converters with maybe more functionality for less money in at least some price ranges these days. Whether or not it’s worth switching is another story.
If I were you I’d just upgrade the computer first and see if you’re happy with everything. A great interface typically has very good low-latency drivers, so if you have any issues you can make the decision to switch then… no?
I have had quite a few different audio interfaces. I started with a Audiomedia 2 card which was a real pain to use. From there I got a terratec ews88mt. You needed a mixing desk with this but it worked great and latency was low enough to play vst instruments in real time. If I still had it I think it would be a decent interface. After that I got a Yamaha n12. This did ha e noticeable sound quality improvement but not enough anyone would notice in a final mix. I used this for quite a few years and only sold it when I bought a zoom L-20 as I needed to do location recording. This again is great although latency is not as low as it could be and found it overloaded a bit from Cubase. Sound quality wise not as good as the Yamaha n12 but easily useable. The L-20 is now used for location or full drums recording and I now use a rme babyface pro fs. The sound quality is a step above the others I’ve used.
Saying all that I think the older interfaces are easily useable. The big advantage I would say on newer interfaces is you can get iPad control of some of them. The L-20 as an app to control it as does the rme interface. The other thing is if your interface uses a pci slot and you can still fit it in a new computer and you can still get drivers. My n12 was FireWire which were disappearing on motherboards. I sold it when I got a new computer. I also found the desks taking up too much room in my home studio.
If your interface was a quality one and still works then it will still be a quality interface.
I agree with mkok. If you record a Grammy-winning single with your actual sound card noone would ever complain. You could upgrade to RME Babyface or Focusrite Clarett. The converters and preamps in there are certainly better, yes. If you have the money you can do such an upgrade and it will help you to sleep better. I upgraded from Scarlett to Clarett.
But will anyone notice a difference after your song is mixed down and finally mastered…? → probably not.