Audio advice and discussions with audiophiles and professionals. Free discussion forums, open to all and frequented by industry experts. Ask questions and get advice on stereos, speakers, hi-end amplifiers, pre-amps, home theater, tube hi-fi, turntables, vinyl, tweaks, music, films, video, DVDs and more.
I am in the process of building a computer that will be used specifically for editing the audio of various personal compositions. The sound card I have in my system now is only 144 Khz sampling and the sound is not the quality I need to create a CD. What is the best sound card (money is no object) I need?
Don't worry about sample rate. 44.1 or 48 is just fine. The thing is that every single thing in the signal chain has to be studio quality to get any extra mileage. I was recording myself with 192Khz and found it to sound far worse than 48Khz because of the microphone's inability to reach that high in the sound spectrum. It can't get to 22hz either. The harmonics of very high order audio are extremely critical. It is best to leave them out beyond 24Khz unless you can do it flawlessly. There is no such thing as 32-bit audio yet and don't let anyone tell you different. It all gets converted down to 24 before it's all said and done.
As far as sound cards. They are all very good these days with a 24-bit 10-96Khz range being standard. Do some research on the tonal characteristics of different op amps and find out who's selling a card using them.