Help! Which sound card should I buy?

If you want to edit music, record sound or add a more professional device to your existing capabilities, you may want to consider a sound card, also known as an audio interface. But choosing can be difficult, as there are so many manufacturers offering such devices. How do we know which manufacturer has the right product for us? Of course, it's helpful to browse YouTube for an answer, but many videos are very biased and don't give a true picture of the true capabilities of each sound card. So I'll try to give you a brief overview of the sound cards currently on the market and their capabilities.

Basically, we can divide these devices into five categories based on their sound quality

The first category is the cheapest segment. These sound cards typically don't use a custom driver, you just plug them into your computer and these work. The downside of these is that these can only operate at 16Bit/44.1kHz. Their signal to noise ratio also lags behind other cards. These units are only worth buying if you don't need extra sound quality and your main job is not composing, sound editing or recording.

The second category is a little more expensive than the first, but still a bargain. The price, by the way, roughly reflects the capabilities of the instrument. These devices are now capable of recording at higher bit depths and higher kHz. Most of these cards are excellent for basic tasks. However, in this field you will find many devices that fall short of the professional devices in many respects. For example, the signal-to-noise ratio. The better products can have output signal-to-noise ratios of up to 120 dB. This is considered extremely good. And, generally speaking, their harmonic distortion is also significantly lower than that of cheaper products, where the output signal-to-noise ratio can be as high as 85 dB. The big difference, if you look at it as information only, is big indeed. In use, however, it is not so tragic.

The third category is in the decent mid-range range of devices. Here you're looking at an overall sound quality that's already adequate for quite a few tasks. Relatively good preamp, relatively noiseless mic recording, relatively noiseless line-in out outputs. In most cases, a sound card with this capability is enough for almost anything.

The fourth category shows professional capabilities in many respects, rivals the best, but is still relatively easy to get for the price. Here, some features are typically basic, with no extras, but the overall sound quality is excellent.

The fifth category is uncompromising in almost every respect. But what is good quality? You have to measure it against something. And this information is readily available in the online description of the device. Here's what to look out for:

Preamp: signal-to-noise ratio. The higher, the better

Threshold: THD Total harmonic distortion value. The lower the better.

Line-In: Signal to noise ratio and THD value.

Line-Out: Signal to noise ratio and THD value.

Focusing strictly on this, these values matter. The decision may be influenced by the number of outputs and inputs, the amount of other added features, such as DSP, or special function keys, convenience features.

Now let's see the list. I warn you in advance that it will be long.

Microphone preamp input Signal to noise ratio dB(A):

As you can see, Behringer, Steinberg and M-Audio are not at all good in terms of signal-to-noise ratio. The fact is that you can make an average recording with most of these without feeling you are missing anything. But a signal-to-noise ratio below 90dB in a professional environment can be a problematic choice.

Next is the output dynamic range. At higher values, the output sound will be noticeably more accurate, with less of a harsh feel. For professional use, aim for the maximum value.

In the output dynamic range, Behringer and M-Audio continue to lag behind, but while M-Audio is still in the acceptable range, only the HD cards from Behringer perform better. It's almost a foregone conclusion that the UM2 and UMC22 cards are not necessarily designed for studio-level work.

The amount of total harmonic distortion in the conversion of an analogue signal to digital is a difficult case, as not all manufacturers provide this information. If such an indication is seen, the value is low and this is considered an outstandingly good value: <0.0003% Most manufacturers' products are around <0.002. This is not yet a negative value in sound to significantly affect the signal, but Behringer typically does not give this value that is worth thinking about, as chances are it is not a very good value. But harmonic distortion matters not only at the input, but also at the mic input and output. The sum of all these values determines how good a sound card is considered to be.

Based on these, the Focusrite Clarett 2Pre, Motu Ultralite-MK5, and RME Babyface Pro FS interfaces are the best and this is reflected in the price. This also includes most of the Audient sound cards, but these are cheaper and can be an excellent choice for lower budgets.

In some ways the Antelope Zen Go is amazing, in others it is average. Unfortunately, the plugin pack that comes with it only works when using the internet online. The analogue to digital converter is average.

The popular UAD only reaches the level of the stable mid-range. The weakest values are achieved by Presonus and Behringer sound cards in combination with M-Audio cards.

All but the weakest Behringers can be used for music, but for mastering where the signal-to-noise ratio is important, it is better to choose the more expensive cards.