On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:44:52 +0100, Laurence Payne
wrote:

On Tue, 07 Oct 2003 16:58:36 -0700, Garry wrote:
I haven't been too happy with my M-Audio A-Phile 2496. As mentioned,
the input is VERY hot and not adjustable which is a pain in the ass.
Plus the midi adapter cable died right away (they replaced it), and
the manual does little to explain the odd mixer controls.

Yes, it's a sensitive input. You can attenuate the signal you send it
with a cheap passive device. If it was less sensitive, low-output
devices, directly connected, could never drive it fully, resulting in
a low s/n ratio.

It's interesting to see this point of view, because there are a great
number of people out there who think the AP2496 input is not sensitive
enough! A typical tape feed from a consumer receiver isn't hot enough
to get full scale levels into this card.

Is the AP2496 a low-end semipro card (in which case the input is too
sensitive), or is it a high-end consumer card (in which case the input
is not sensitive enough)? Have M-Audio achieved the dubious
distinction of failing to satisfy *anyone* in this respect?

FWIW, I use an AP2496 in a consumer-level setup, and am very happy
with the results. Despite the impracticality of its input sensitivity,
it is still more than capable of making transparent recordings from
any domestic analogue source. But I do drive it from the main outputs
of a preamp in order to achieve decent record levels.