Dear All,

I have recently set up a Pentium 4 / 2.6 Gig PC, with a view to
dumping my quad vinyl collection (SQ, QS, CD-4) to hard disk and then
to DTS or Dolby Digital CD-R. I'm sure that many on this list are
aware of the techniques involved :)

I'm now at the point where I need to buy a cost-effective sound card
with 4 channels of Analog I/O. Those who've done this before: any
recommendations?

I have scanned the Web and am aware of issues such as Latency -
normally this means delay between input and output, however this is
not an issue in this application. However _inter-channel_ latency is
a concern and I gather that this can be a problem with older cards
such as GadgetLabs etc. (also that it is less likely on a Mac where
the PCI buss timing is tighter).

I'm also aware that, rather than go with an internally-mounted PCI
card, many prefer to use "outboard" A/D converters (to minimize
problems with RF etc), however it seems that internal cards can now
be purchased with specs well in excess of that required for a vinyl
source.

M-Audio seem to have a good solution with the "Delta 44", which
provides four balanced / unbalanced I/Os on a 1/4" breakout box, at
24-bit / 96KHz (the latter is un-necessary as 16/44 would be fine -
but nice to have). It's US$200 - see
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Delta44-main.html for details.

Any thoughts or other suggestions? Thanks in advance,

Brett Crossley
Sydney, Australia.

PS: when I went to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quadraphonicquad/ I
was redirected to http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/. Will this
inquiry be mirrored to quadraphonicquad.com or should I post there
also?