Very good!
I bought this sound card with some reservations because I couldn't find the necessary details online to clarify if it's what I was looking for. So I bought it at risk, guessing it might be what I need. Yes, it works flawlessly! Yes, it has a very good signal-to-noise ratio, with barely noticeable hiss on headphones and line outputs. Yes, it outputs both balanced and unbalanced signals at high levels; with adapters or mono jacks, it connects to speakers with unbalanced inputs or to a receiver. Yes, it can be used as two separate sound cards, as required for DJ programs that need two separate stereo outputs, like BPM Studio, DJ Traktor, etc. Yes, you can connect two sets of monitors or speakers that can run simultaneously or separately; you can switch from one set of speakers to another for comparison, a very useful and necessary feature in a studio, but also in room installations when you want to compare two sets of speakers. For jack outputs, the signal needs to be reduced to -10db, otherwise, it's too strong. Yes, it also works with a USB-C to USB-A cable, which is not included in the box and needs to be purchased separately. It only comes with a USB-C to USB-C cable. Yes, the power is sufficient to work fine with a standard USB cable. I don't know if it works on 32-bit systems, like Windows XP 32 bit, but it works perfectly on Windows 10 64 bit. Yes, it can handle 4 mono microphones at once, which will be heard in both speakers. Yes, it has mono or stereo output, selectable on each channel separately. I really like that it has software VU meters for each channel separately, with very good precision. It's an almost perfect sound card, hard to find fault with. It's for studios or professional DJs who have high demands regarding audio quality. The headphone outputs sound good and loud, quite loud but it can go even louder, still sufficient for DJs, where it needs to sound very loud when there are powerful speakers next to you. On a Presonus HD9 headphone, it sounds perfect. It has exceptional linearity, both on headphones and line outputs, across the entire frequency range. It's a pity it doesn't include a graphic equalizer; I expected it to have one, you can't adjust the sound at all! I really like the multifunction rotary knob, versatile and complex. The downsides would be that the VU meter surrounding it is not stereo; I would have liked it to be so, and all the LEDs are only one color - bluish white. The box is quite thick and because of that, somewhat ugly; I would be happy if the manufacturer made efforts to make it flatter, which I believe could be done. I would have liked it to have a mute button that can be pressed from the volume knob, like I had on my older Creative sound card. Also, in this price category, I expected it to have a metal casing to be more shielded against radio interference, as it buzzes a bit when you talk on a smartphone close to it. It's shielded inside with some aluminum, but not perfectly. I expected a screw case for this money, not plastic clips. So for the box, I give it a 5; it could have been much better! The box is large and heavy, thick as a brick, heavier than you would expect. I don't like how the volumes 1-2 and 3-4 change in the software; it's complicated and clumsy. The manufacturer should make a modification here so that both master volumes are visible at the same time, one next to the other, not just one or the other; I don't know why they made this confusing. So there's still room for improvement; I expected more from such an expensive sound card. Overall, it works flawlessly, so all in all, it's worth buying; it won't disappoint, it's a 5 for the box but a 10 for audio quality. I recommend!
