Creative's E-MU 0404: Pro Sound Quality on the Cheap

Behavior At 24 Bits/48 KHz

When we move to 24 bits performance increases sharply, which shows the potential and the quality of this card.

Frequency response : Obviously no problem, with a frequency response that remained perfectly linear!

Noise level : Noise is very low, and though it shows a few minor incidents it is much lower than with consumer sound cards.

Dynamic capacity : A very good result in this area, as we might have expected...

Distortion : Far below 100 dB (under the fundamental), distortion is extremely low.

Intermodulation : No unpleasant surprises with intermodulation distortion, which is negligible.

Stereo separation : Stereo separation is programmed in the median zone of the spectrum and here again we see the slight reduction in the high frequencies that we found at 44 kHz.

Performance overall is quite astounding for a card in this price range. In any case, it's better than for any consumer-market sound cards, regardless of price. The 0404, then, is a very good choice for users looking for audio performance above all.