mbox from digidesign...help?

Tom -- what do you consider the cleanest USB or Firewire DAC interface?

Well, for under $80, you could get the M-Audio Transit, which is very small and portable, but leaves you with 1/8" mini jack connections, if that bothers you. But you also get a digital optical output. In truth, the Creative Labs Audigy 2 External, while made more with the gamer in mind, is not bad, either. You could get the MBox to work, and it would sound great, it just wouldn't be as intuitive. I have a Digi 002 system, and it kicks, but Pro Tools LE can be a bit system finnickey. The Mackie Spike or the M-Audio USB Audiophile DAC recommended above could work, too.

Tom.

I have the M-Audio USB Audiophile. It sounds good and is an improvement over using the headphone out, but I am always looking for improvement. I'm curious about the Apogee Mini-Dac, or other ways to take a digital feed from my computer and convert it to analogue.

I had forgotten about the Apogee Mini-Dac. Great little unit! Well worth checking out.

Tom.

Going through a catalog last night, I came up with a couple of additional options that you might want to look into:

Aardvark USB3
Edirol UA1X (this seems like the best option, to me)
Edirol UA1D
UA3FX
Edirol UA5

The UA1X sells for under $80, and is a 16-bit/44.1 kHz USB audio interface with stereo RCA I/O as well as digital SPDIF output (and a headphone minijack). The UA3FX and UA5 seem to offer better A/D-D/A converters, but might also incorporate features that you don't need.

And the more I look into it, the M-Audio Audiophile USB does look like a very nice unit, though again, it is packaging some features that you don't really need (though not to the same extent as the MBox).

Good luck, Tom.