PCI-e audio card

[folderol]

Still planning bits for my new computer, I would very much like to go for a PCI-e soundcard rather than USB. With USB you have the fixed 1mS granularity before you even think about buffer sizes, whereas with PCI-e (or the older PCI) you have pretty near zero granularity and can effectively work with much smaller buffer sizes.

But there is a problem. They seem to be as rare as rocking horse poo
Also while you have as much as 8 in 8 out balanced with USB at around 300 ukp, to get even half that with PCI-e it seems you need to add a zero on the end of that!

Does anyone know any different?

I've no experience of firewire devices, so don't know if they have the same granularity issues as USB (or any other ones come to that). At a quick glance they seem to be cheaper than PCI-e but still considerably more expensive than USB

[Lyberta]

Some obvious problem with PCIE is that if it uses the default slot on the back of the case then it is too small for XLR. I personally have ASUS Xonar Essense STX. Worked fine out of the box on Debian. I think it requires PulseAudio to properly use all output connections.

[folderol]

Some obvious problem with PCIE is that if it uses the default slot on the back of the case then it is too small for XLR. I personally have ASUS Xonar Essense STX. Worked fine out of the box on Debian. I think it requires PulseAudio to properly use all output connections.

The better ones I've looked at so far either use a breakout lead/plugs or are fitted with TRS sockets.
Hmm, I tend to avoid pulse audio. It always seems to produce issues of some sort.

[stanlea]

What are your needs ? In and outs, preamps ?

[folderol]

Absolute minimum 4 in balanced, pref. TRS (8 would be better) and 2 out.
At least 1 input with mic capability.
Currently I'm running a no-name mixer into an elderly 2496. This is far from ideal!

[stanlea]

I am afraid that you will not find any Linux compatible PCI-e card working natively without struggling hours with alsa settings. The old RMEs 96/8 and Hammerfall PCI (not PCI-e) used to work nicely, but with some latency though. If you motherboard has a PCI slot, you can go for one used.

[nikgnomicradio]

According to ESI website, Juli@ XTe pci-e card works in Linux
https://kb.esi-audio.com/?goto=KB00188EN

But Maya44 pci-e versions don't work

I have the Maya44 pci, it can do mono mic capture with p48 phantom power, but not good with internal noise.
But used at line-level with external preamp or channel strip it is excellent

[folderol]

I actually gave up, and got a USB one which seems to run very well. Thanks anyway