 "Not what I thought." | 2009-06-03 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1CTHS41FH7KR2 |
+Works good on guitar with high impedance plug-in.
-Noisy on both mic plug-ins. If I yell into the mic it will spontaneously cut noise out and randomly come back (faintly). Happened with different mics. I can't really troubleshoot if it's noise from the PSU or my USB 2.0 card.
-USB chord was DOA. Had to use a spare. Tested with spares. Some chords created more pops than others but noise was the same for all. Get a high quality chord.
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 "Does the job" | 2009-03-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3T5QEJMREZVG8 |
Pros:
+ Works like it should and is easy to use
+ Awesome price:performance ratio
+ Has output for 1/8" stereo and for studio monitors
+ Has several difference input connectors and direct monitoring
Cons:
- Plastic case
- Direct monitor volume knob is sketchy as it turns around, and around and around
- Can not use recording software and desktop media players simultaneously (i.e. I can't have both Sonar and iTunes/Windows Media Player working at the same time). Sometimes I have to power cycle the 0202 to audio working again if you try this.
Overall I am pleased with this as it does exactly what I need for not a whole lot of money or hassle. B+! |
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 "A lot of potential, but unrealized for me" | 2009-03-10 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1ZX06TUKIITZS |
After years of diddling around I finally got serious about song composition so I needed a good audio interface for the effort. I found an E-mu 0202 here on Amazon for under $80, and after making sure it supported Windows XP 64-bit I ordered it.
Setup was straightforward and easy, leading me to hope I would not be one of those reporting problems. Alas, it was not to be.
I cannot get the 0202 to work with a microphone. Period. Sound output is great, with none of the crackling reported by others, but my main need was to get vocals into my compositions (using Sonar 8 Pro) and this device won't allow it. I have scoured the internet for a solution and found others claiming the same problem but none of them reported fixing it. Strangely enough, with the original drivers I could access the Windows sound mixer (which lost all input modes and some output modes that my internal sound card has) but when I upgraded to the latest version that is now totally disabled. Some people recommended using a mixer that E-mu provides for free but the link for it is no longer valid.
Naturally I contacted E-mu support and provided a lengthy description of the problem along with steps I have taken, but over a week has passed with no response from E-mu. That doesn't make me happy.
Based on my disappointing experience, I cannot recommend this troublesome device for anyone. I am glad it works for some owners, but behavior and performance are too spotty and in my case, fatally flawed. I may try the device on other workstations but odds are I will return it if I can. |
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| "Good hardware, poor drivers" | 2009-01-09 |
| - Reviewed By croddie |
The hardware is decent: useful to have a card with a microphone in, line and headphone outs, and decent quality converters for a reasonable price. Note that if you need phantom power you should get the 0404 USB instead.
Software is poor however. The driver is basic with a single sample rate choice that is reset to 44.1khz on system restart. The sample rate does not obey Vista's sample rate setting so this needs to be set to 44.1khz.
More significantly, in the words of E-MU support:
"The 0202USB was not designed to "survive" through sleep, hibernate, or stand-by modes. It will need to be restarted any time these modes are used."
These modes are standard and important features of a modern computer and you should realize that the 0202 USB is incompatible with them before buying. |
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| "Not the best..." | 2008-12-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A11IQ2DOQ3GR09 |
| I just purchased this unit and am disappointed with the features (my own fault for not looking into it enough) and the performance. As far as performance, the unit's Direct Monitor output distorts now and then for no reason (strange pixelized digital distortion, not because of a signal that's too large). As far as features, the unit has a headphone out, but no main output volume control. When I use it to send my Mac's audio out to powered monitors there's no way to turn down the monitors when the headphones are used. |
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| "iTunes and emu 0202, perfect together" | 2008-11-07 |
| - Reviewed By thefrugalquaker |
If you use iTunes to listen to your music at home, you owe it to yourself to try this wonderful digital to analog converter.
Got emu 0202 digital to analog converter several months ago. Originally hooked it to an xp machine, now with a new vista system. What an amazing upgrade to the integrated soundcard.
When I initially used iTunes, it was to simply load music to my ipod. once i had the database of music, though, i realized that the pc made a much easier interface to access songs than did the ipod. so began my quest...
using the speaker out from the pc soundcard left me with sound inferior to listening to the ipod from the dock hooked to my stereo. which was inferior to listening to a cd on my onkyo cd player. I knew i needed better but did not have the ability to drop $700-$1200 for a high end digital to analog converter (which i assumed i would hook up to the toslink digital out on an apple airport express - another $100). When i stumbled across the emu 0202 on audiophile discussion boards, then found it on amazon for around $100, i knew i had to give it a try.
I have the emu 0202 output to a pair of 20' RCA cables to my living room system (parasound hp-850 preamp, adcom GFA-545 amplifier, castle durham 3 loudspeakers). The sound is remarkable! Listening to my favorite music, i have heard nuances that i never heard before. Great base, detailed midrange, lovely highs.
Almost immediately, i removed the cd player to the basement, and our ipods have been relegated to walkmen duty (travel and working out).
One caveat: the vista machine is a little quirky in its relationship with the emu. it is worth a little trial and error to plug the usb connector in upstream of slower usb devices (like keyboards and mice), otherwise the pc does not always allow you to use the highest sampling rates. also, when vista goes to sleep, it resets the sampling rate to the lowest quality.
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