mbox from digidesign...help?

If you are into home recording at all, you have bought a great little unit. If not, then you probably should look for something else. The quality of the hardware on the MBox is really quite good for the money, but it is designed to operate in the Pro Tools LE environment, and while it can be done, Pro Tools isn't the cleanest interface for straightforward playing of music.

Tom.

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 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.