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Your worst audio hardware purchase(s).


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So, tell us, what was the worst audio hardware you've ever bought that u wouldn't recommend to anyone, not even to your worst enemies? :ph34r:

 

Let me be the first to start off with my worst purchase: :posford:

Terratec - Aureon 7.1 Universe (Sound Card)

 

It cost me about cca 184$ , I should of settled with the Realtek onboard tbh :lol: . First thing thats really pissin me about this card is it's software. The updates come once every year, and even tho this card was on the market since '04, they only released "stable" drivers in middle '07. But stable isn't really the word. Here's why:

 

#1 The master volume bar should not be touched, Ever! It really depends if you're lucky enough, because sometimes when u tweak with the master chan volume you either get what you want or the left channel just drops dead. Solution? Restart (wtf!? <_< ).

 

#2 If you want to turn on the "sensaura" mod in the control panel, which is used for enhancing audio effects in games, the only way to turn it off properly is to reinstall your drivers (whaaatt?!), otherwise the "Wave" channel volume faders allways follow the master chan, and theres no way to unlink them.

 

#3 Another fancy thing is, if you want to change you're master clock, you better think hard before doing so, as you can only change it once. Once it's set, there's no coming back. Solution? Reinstall drivers.

 

Ok, but enough about software. Let's talk about hardware: :)

 

#1 What company has ever made such a mistake and release a product with Inverted Channels on the Front Panel's stereo headphone output. Yeah, I've talked to Terratec, and they said it really was their fault. They offered me a cable that would invert the channels from the Front Panel to the soundcard, they didn't want to explain to me how I can invert them myself tho, so I had to wait for 2 months to recieve a peace of cable they made. (oh and I had to pay for the mailing ofc) :/

 

#2 The Input lines of the front panel are plain useless, there's so much static in them I can't even hear me scream on the mike.

 

So is there any good side to this awful sound card? Believe it or not there is, the ASIO latency is pretty low, and even with all those software problems it's very reliable when working with software sequencers. But at the cost of what? 184$ and a huge headache :(

 

In short: Avoid this product at all costs! This company is known for the nickname Terrortec! :ph34r:

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Numark DM 1050 DJ Mixer

 

I bought this to feed my vinyl turntable into before outputting to my main mixer. as a sub-mixer I guess it is ok, but this is marketed as a DJ mixer and would not do that job at all well. with minimal use the crossfader broke and now produces a scratchy hiss when moved. The EQ knobs may as well be painted on for all the gain/cut they are capabale of

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Behringer Mixer (cheap quality! The contacts of the "knobs" (potentiometers) don't work properly and that results often in incorrect stereo-panning)

 

Behringer Pre Amp (noisy as hell!)

 

M-audio Radium (I don't like the keys. Maybe it's a matter of taste. Sometimes notes get stuck, different keys respond differently to pressure. Programming is not intuitive at all)

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Yeah, Behringer is definitely crappy. I have only bought one thing from them and used it once, so I haven't had any problems, but overall they're pretty bad.

 

I don't generally buy things that I'm not sure of, so I don't get burned much. Plus, I don't buy many things period, I'm in too much debt. But I suppose my MXL mics. A package with a LDC and SDC. They look pretty and sound like ass, but I didn't expect any more than that when I bought them. No serious problems in functioning though. At least so far. I only bought them to have a LDC.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Any midi keyboard from Edirol.

I've had 3 and they all broke. Ok, I accidentally poured whiskey on one of them but the other two broke for no reason.

:lol: I'll try to avoid that.

I have given this much thought....and...I guess

 

my worst purchase was my drumkat, I ended up selling it after a few months.

You had to really hit the pads hard to get anything loud out on the highest dynamic setting.

Also I wouldn't want to go in to work I just wanna bang on da drum all day...

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yeah, Edirol, never gonna touch that midi controllers again, 2 of them died on me.. all of a sudden, 2 of the C and D keys just DIED.... weird as.

I, on the other hand, have owned two Edirol controllers and have had 2 problems with them. The only reason I've had two was because I upgraded one of them to a bigger and better model and solid the first one.

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I, on the other hand, have owned two Edirol controllers and have had 2 problems with them. The only reason I've had two was because I upgraded one of them to a bigger and better model and solid the first one.

well, i have one edirol pcr-a30 for 3 years and it stills works well ;)

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Behringer Mixer (cheap quality! The contacts of the "knobs" (potentiometers) don't work properly and that results often in incorrect stereo-panning)

 

Behringer Pre Amp (noisy as hell!)

 

M-audio Radium (I don't like the keys. Maybe it's a matter of taste. Sometimes notes get stuck, different keys respond differently to pressure. Programming is not intuitive at all)

Behringer products are most definitely crap! I'm not too familiar with M-Audio products, but I know Xyla has told me that they're one of the worst brands out there for anything.

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I'm not too familiar with M-Audio products, but I know Xyla has told me that they're one of the worst brands out there for anything.

Depends, I had a PCI Delta 410 and it has been my most stable and problem free soundcard to date. That said I'd heard of endless problems with their firewire products...

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i just picked up an oxygen 8 and ive had no problems with it so far, although i dont know enough about anything yet to have an informed opinion about its functionality or anything else m-audio makes...i was just sick of doing everything with the mouse+keyboard.

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