Which External Sound Card?

[Gordon J]

Hi there, Merry Christmas to you.

A hardware question for you please, I think I need an external USB sound card but I'm not sure which one to buy.

I used Cubase and CLab notator in the 80s with an Atari ST then fell away from the hobby.

About 15 years ago I got into Reason 5 on the PC (Windows 7) and was blown away with how far it had developed but life took over and again the hobby was shelved.

Yesterday I treated myself to Reason 12 on an HP 600 G4 Mini PC i5-8500T/16Gb/512Gb (Windows 11).
A tiny form factor to save space, purchased second hand solely for that software.

It runs Reason just fine, I bought an AOC CU34G2X/BK Wide Quad HD 34" Curved Monitor and the setup looks great but the quality of the sound output is nowhere near as good as I know it could be.

The speakers are Trust Tytan 2.1 PC Speaker Set which sound very bassy.

I'm considering a pair of Sennheiser 599 headphones too. (Is that good or bad?)
Most of my time playing and composing will be with headphones on, I'll be in my own little world.

I'm thinking an external sound card might be the next best purchase but I'm back to being a noob so any advice or recommendations on hardware upgrades to attain audiophile level sound quality would be greatly appreciated.

I can't call myself a musician, any recordings will be input via mouse or an old M-Audio Oxygen 3 61 key controller which works fine although the keys have yellowed badly. (Retro bright in the post, but if the chemists among you say this is a bad idea, I'll avoid using it.) I think I've sorted the latency issue by using ASIO for all drivers.

One day I might be a pianist who composes electronic music. (I also have the Arturia Keylab 88 mk2 controller on my wishlist.)

Any and all hardware suggestions are welcome.

Thanks a million in advance.

Gordon.

[dakta]

I'm not going to tell you what to buy as I'm not an expert but I used onboard audio (don't laugh) until I bought proper headphones and needed audio in for a new guitar, as well as finding performance with cubase (though not reason) awful.

So I went on the market and bought myself a presonus studio 24c, and for my little workshop pc an M-audio m-track 2x2m - not for any particular reason except they were available and had the basic features I needed.

both are knocking on a bit now, can actually be acquired quite cheaply and seem to do the job fine. I've had a few audio glitches with reason with the presonus - not sure if this is a design flaw, reason bug or just a nuance specific to my particular config but on the whole both are absolutely fine for playback, recording etc.

I don't think, unless you've a specific need for a feature you need to go too much to town on it. Apart from performance with cubase, integrated audio held up pretty well if you want nothing more than playback. Yes I would invest in some decent hardware but I don't think you need to break the bank on it.

[PhillipOrdonez]

What’s wrong with the quality of the computer output?

[RobC]

I have the Audio Technica ATH-E70 in-ear monitors, and they sound literally perfect with Topping's E30 II DAC and L30 II Headphone Amplifier.

Or, not premium quality like the above, but it goes, I have a Focusrite Scarlett Solo, too. It rather shines for microphone recording.

[miyaru]

I used Focusrite Audio Interfaces for about ten years now, and I'm quite happy with that brand. Surely not the best for sure not the worst, plenty of options and the quality overall is OK.

I have a Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen right now, and it does it's job good and without any problems........

Just my two cents for Focusrite!

[Gordon J]

I just realised you kind folks had replied, I thought I'd get e-mailed but I didn't. No matter.

Thanks a million to dakta, RobC, miyaru and PhilipOrdenez for your replies.

The Focusrite amps came up in my top three everytime but in the end I bought a Creative Labs X4 because it was on sale for a good price. As all of my sound will be generated one way -Reason on PC- Ext Sound Card - Speakers/Headphones and it looks and sounds great so far. I'll need to do some tweaking I think but everything sounds fine.

PhilipOrdonez, the PC Sound was OK but I'm certain I can hear a difference with the new sound card, I've also bought some Sennheiser 560s and they're so comfortable and crystal clear, I'm sure they're giving me an accurate representation of how the sound engineers wanted their music to be heard.

It's only entry level equipment I've bought but for the moment it all sounds great. If I get any better at the hobby I'll consider upgrading.

I had the chance to 'play'on a Nord 4 synthesiser recently. Oh my oh my!!

Thanks again to you all

Gordon.

[dmitrijsorokin]

Reason doesn't require a sound card (unless you're using voice recording or external instruments).
Realtek's modern built-in audio solutions are pretty good.
Although I myself use an old Roland DUO-Capture card (I bought it a long time ago).

[Rising Night Wave]

just my humble thought about external sound card i own: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen.

everything is fine although i use it only for playback and not recording.

but the main knob for leveling sound loudness is producing "squealing" if i say so.
if you are technical type of a person you will know what i mean - the design of a knob, of this potentiometer, when you are turning the knob and when the metal slides on that graphite ... is producing that "squealing" sound. pure and bad quality of a knob. and this is my 2nd card i own. the 1st was damaged by a very strong thunder strike so i bought another one. and on both, the same sound cards, is ths problem with a main knob that is producing this "squealing" sound.

so... conclusiin: avoid it. agt least for the 3rd gen. now there is a 4th gen launched. so if you will be imnterested into this card... please take a look at reviews.


PS: sorry, i did not read the whole thread so i do not know aboutyour decisions so far. any way, avoid 3rd gen of Scarlett 2i2 sound card.

[Faastwalker]

Another vote for Focusrite Scarlett. I'm on my 2nd. Upgraded for more I/O, including ADAT I/O. They seem to be well made, have good control software and the line of products available accommodates a broad range of budgets and requirements. Can't go wrong with these

https://focusrite.com/scarlett