Equipment Review
Product Reviewed:
Digital Audio Labs CardDeluxe
Made by: Digital Audio Labs
Cost: $479.99 USD
Submitted by Todd Wilcox
Rating: 
Features:
The CardDeluxe is a PCI Audio Interface card. It has two 1/4" TRS balanced/unbalanced analog inputs and two 1/4" TRS balanced/unbalanced analog outputs. It also features S/PDIF in and out, and a plug on the card allows you to connect a pair of AES/EBU dongles (sold separately). It is capable of sampling at up to 96 KHz at a maximum depth of 24 bits-per-sample.
Technical Specifications:
What I liked:
The DAC and ADC on this card are both great. If you're used to a Sound Blaster for digital audio, this card will blow you away. The DAC actually sounds better than many that come with consumer CD players. Digital Audio Labs keeps updated Windows drivers on their website, and the driver interface is very easy to use and powerful. The card is literally plug and play, with the possible exception that you might have to upgrade the firmware. The drivers support both DirectX and ASIO APIs. All of the I/O (except the optional AES/EBU) is built right on to the card, so there's no annoying external dongle cables to mess with. Since it has DirectX-based drivers, you can even hear the sounds from any DX-based games you have through the CardDeluxe. This card is very reliable, and ever since I installed it I haven't given it a second thought. It's totally transparent to me in the recording process. You can also slave two CardDeluxes together to get a total of four synchronized analog ins an outs.
What I didn't:
I certainly don't enjoy dropping almost $500 USD on anything, but this product is definitely worth it. The main drawback to using this card is that it runs quite hot. I leave the hood off of my computer all the time now because of all the heat the different components generate. This card isn't a replacement for a "regular" PC sound card either: it doesn't have inputs or mixing for your CD-ROM drive or anything like that, just professional quality inputs, outputs and ADACs.
User Tips:
Probably the best way to use this card is in a separate computer dedicated to your home studio. I actually have one computer for everything (games, music, work, and whatever) and sometimes I run in to trouble trying to do it all on one machine. Also, you'll notice the biggest difference if you get some nice speakers and a good mixer to go with it. I'd recommend the Mackie 1202, which has balanced ins and out, and phantom power for mics!
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