# Best ASIO PCIe sound card?



## Scalms (Mar 7, 2021)

Hi all,

Looking for quality internal PCIe sound card that is Asio compatible, between $100-$500 range. From what I can tell there is not a ton of options out there. I know for music production external device is preferred but for several reasons I need to get internal one. Please let me know any suggestions or ones to stay away from, thanks!


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## muk (Mar 7, 2021)

What are your requirements for inputs/outputs? Do you need mic ins? Preamps? Headphone amp? What connections (XLR, jack, SPDIF, Adat...)?

From your short post I assume that low latency asio performance is most important for you. In that case, this test of soundcard latency might be interesting for you:









Gearspace.com - View Single Post - Audio Interface - Low Latency Performance Data Base


Post 15205348 -Forum for professional and amateur recording engineers to share techniques and advice.



www.gearslutz.com





Full thread here:









Audio Interface - Low Latency Performance Data Base - Gearspace.com


Hey All, I am sure all of us have seen posts over the years where end users have purchased a new audio interface and have experienced varying degrees o



www.gearslutz.com





From that chart, the only option that fits your bill is the MOTU 242. I have no idea about the audio quality and longevity of that card though.

Your other option is RME, which is tried and tested. They have a good reputation for hardware quality, and stable low latency drivers. But that would mean stretching your budget to 600$ or buy used.


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## Summa (Mar 7, 2021)

Check the Marian Cards I'm using an Seraph A3 MWX in one of my PCs, they tend to be pretty affordable, but feature wise missing some of the RME goodies like multiclient MIDI and Audio.


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## Scalms (Mar 7, 2021)

muk said:


> What are your requirements for inputs/outputs? Do you need mic ins? Preamps? Headphone amp? What connections (XLR, jack, SPDIF, Adat...)?
> 
> From your short post I assume that low latency asio performance is most important for you. In that case, this test of soundcard latency might be interesting for you:
> 
> ...


Thanks muk, I’m looking for something fairly simple, headphone amp mainly, but rock solid stability and can take some load off my CPU, I mainly work with sample libraries on this pc, and any recording I do is on my laptop rig. I’m basically looking to upgrade my default windows sound card. I’m aware of the RME but didn’t know there were some under $1000, so thanks for the suggestion, will check it out. The only big names that keep coming up are creative labs sound blaster and asus, but wasn’t sure if anyone had any experience with those


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## Scalms (Mar 7, 2021)

Summa said:


> Check the Marian Cards I'm using an Seraph A3 MWX in one of my PCs, they tend to be pretty affordable, but feature wise missing some of the RME goodies like multiclient MIDI and Audio.


Thx for the suggestion Summa, will check it out


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## Summa (Mar 8, 2021)

I guess you're curently using ASIO4ALL on your Desktop PC?
You could try using the build in sound output of your GPU/iGPU, it's PCIexpress and possible to lead that to an Optical Output and a proper DAC using a HDMI Adapter. This is probably the least expensive way, unless your build in audio device comes with a digital output.


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## strojo (Mar 11, 2021)

Scalms said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Looking for quality internal PCIe sound card that is Asio compatible, between $100-$500 range. From what I can tell there is not a ton of options out there. I know for music production external device is preferred but for several reasons I need to get internal one. Please let me know any suggestions or ones to stay away from, thanks!


I think your budget is going to be a challenge on this one. RME is probably the most solid contender here, but you won’t find a new one in that price range. My advice would be to look at the used market or save your pennies a bit longer if you can wait.


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## Scalms (Mar 11, 2021)

Summa said:


> I guess you're curently using ASIO4ALL on your Desktop PC?
> You could try using the build in sound output of your GPU/iGPU, it's PCIexpress and possible to lead that to an Optical Output and a proper DAC using a HDMI Adapter. This is probably the least expensive way, unless your build in audio device comes with a digital output.


yes, ASIO4ALL, 

hmmm, interesting idea, thanks for the suggestion


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## Scalms (Mar 11, 2021)

strojo said:


> I think your budget is going to be a challenge on this one. RME is probably the most solid contender here, but you won’t find a new one in that price range. My advice would be to look at the used market or save your pennies a bit longer if you can wait.


I think you're probably right. I may look to upgrade a little from the built-in soundcard to something that can take the strain off my CPU (like Soundblaster AE-7), and in the future, when I build a proper studio be able to invest more heavily into something like RME


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## Henk (Mar 11, 2021)

LYNX pcie card ,sound great,and buffer so good


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## Summa (Mar 11, 2021)

Scalms said:


> yes, ASIO4ALL,
> 
> hmmm, interesting idea, thanks for the suggestion


I tried that with one of my laptops (Intel iGPU) using a rather cheap little box to convert HDMI Audio to TOSLINK, worked fine but NVIDA Cards tend to be not detected by ASIO4ALL after reboot. With TOSLINK connected DACs one can get around groundloop problems as well.


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## Snoobydoobydoo (Mar 14, 2021)




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## sostenuto (Mar 14, 2021)

Using this for Update when older, larger Nvidia died. Cost-effective and worth chceking ... IMHO


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## Summa (Mar 15, 2021)

Snoobydoobydoo said:


>


This is PCI not PCIe


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## chimuelo (Mar 16, 2021)

Henk said:


> LYNX pcie card ,sound great,and buffer so good


I still have their stereo card on a Gigastudio PC. 
Great low latency cards. Tight MIDI timing.
To be expected as they have decades of experience designing cards with the highest quality component.


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## Henk (Mar 16, 2021)

chimuelo said:


> I still have their stereo card on a Gigastudio PC.
> Great low latency cards. Tight MIDI timing.
> To be expected as they have decades of experience designing cards with the highest quality component.


Gigastudio，woo.........sounds great


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## Jeremy Spencer (Mar 16, 2021)

Snoobydoobydoo said:


>


Now that brings back memories! Good old M-Audio 2496. I used one for many years, great cards.


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## Summa (Mar 17, 2021)

Have one lying around too as well as an ESI [email protected]


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## kitekrazy (Mar 17, 2021)

Jeremy Spencer said:


> Now that brings back memories! Good old M-Audio 2496. I used one for many years, great cards.


 I still have one in my Intel 4790 system along with the original Oxygen 8, a FW410 in an older AMD system. Some PCI cards wont work as well with modern systems that still have a PCI slot. M-Audio made great PCI cards.


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## John Longley (Mar 17, 2021)

No chance unless you can use a PCI card (not Pcie) then you could likely grab an old Motu 424 PCI with associated I/O box.

for Pcie the best you’ll do super cheap is a used hdsp aio or 424 Pcie, which will cost you more.


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## Snoobydoobydoo (Mar 18, 2021)

Summa said:


> This is PCI not PCIe


Ya i know, was just for the feels.  No driver for Win10 anyway.


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## Summa (Mar 19, 2021)

Same here for some of my stuff, I even have a PC running with Windows 98SE, one with XP and one still runs Windows 7, just for compatibility with certain HW.


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