02-20-2010, 08:49 PM
I have always used a PCI-based recording device but need to upgrade. I have read lots of posts on the broad range of PCI cards (Link) as well as USB / Firewire based devices. 
Obviously, if I dont like having lots of cables handing out of my computer an external device is a better option, and from everything I have read, a lot of them (Edirol, E-MU and M-Audio) all look like they don't suffer from latency issues when recording which is great.
However, how do these external boxes function in terms of standard sound-card jobs like playback, eq and the like? 
Is a USB device a straight replacement for the on-board sound card? Under what circumstances would I chose to have both?
Obviously, if I dont like having lots of cables handing out of my computer an external device is a better option, and from everything I have read, a lot of them (Edirol, E-MU and M-Audio) all look like they don't suffer from latency issues when recording which is great.
However, how do these external boxes function in terms of standard sound-card jobs like playback, eq and the like? Is a USB device a straight replacement for the on-board sound card? Under what circumstances would I chose to have both?