Soundcard review: Echo Indigo IO portable audio

The race to have the ultimate portable audio device is mounting as more manufactures are bringing out either Firewire or USB 2.0 based systems. The beauty of these products is that you don't have to plug it into a PCI slot to use it, but you can have the same functionality and audio I/O capacity as the PCI devices. So it's a natural assumption to make that these systems are portable as they are compatible with most modern notebooks.

The big “however” that enters into this equation is that a 19” rack mount audio device is starting to liberally use the term ‘portable'. An ideal application of the term portable is something that can fit into your pocket and the Echo Audio's Indigo I/O is one item that fits that description.

It is a PCMCIA card (or Cardbus) format audio device, and the whole thing is only slightly bigger than a PCMCIA card. That is there is no external breakout box or ugly cables or small proprietary connecters that break 1ms after the warranty has expired. It has one mini-jack connector for line level input and one mini-jack connector for line level output. There is a volume knob neatly recessed into the device and a well-cool blue LED to let you know its working.

My PCMCIA network card has the same shape, so I can't use both devices simultaneously, but most recent notebooks (mine is a 2000 model) have built-in NIC's.

Installation

The installation is quick and painless. As with all new devices these days, I go straight to the manufactures website to get the latest drivers and install that way. I have no idea what's on the CD it shipped with. You have to install software first, and then plug in the card, which seems to be procedure that is gaining in popularity again. It's an unsigned driver, which goes against Microsoft's wishes for greater world domination, but ‘live on the edge' I say.

From there it's installed and running!

Note: The version I had had a slight hardware fault, which at first caused some frustration as it would occasionally freeze the PC, and hang during boot up. Luckily a little percussive maintenance solved the problem and it was hassle free from there.

Additional Note:  After reviewing the card I really liked it so I bought one, but the problem persisted. I swapped out the card and had the same problem again. Alister from CRN (the local supplier) was patient enough with me and eventually the third one I got worked. So my advice is to test the card on your notebook before you buy one.

Functionality

This is a very straight forward sound card. It has one stereo line level in, and one stereo line level out. No guitar/mic in, no SPDIF, no giant external breakout box. Hence its an ideal portable companion. If you use a mixing desk, you simply bring the output from the desk into this device and away you go.

The software drivers (similar to the others in the Echo range) run virtual outputs and inputs. That means you have 4 stereo output pairs that are accessible as windows audio devices, but they all route out of the same physical hardware interface. So you can run Reason™ on the virtual out 1/2 and Reaktor™ on virtual out 3/4 with the sound all coming out the one physical interface. No software complaints that the interface is already in use. Similarly the inputs also have virtual routing.

The virtual I/O's are controlled using the echo console application that installs with the drivers. You can set the volume, mute and pan for each virtual interface.

Whilst the card itself is quite simple, the power comes from the portability, there is no other card on the market that will give you 24bit/96kHz noise free recording at this size.

Audio Quality

All notebooks have built in soundcards, and they are without exception terrible and woefully unsuitable for pro audio applications. Amateur audio is another story for another day though.

The problems you face with current notebook audio are low quality AD-DA devices and an abundance of noise and electrical interference. If you have a notebook, by way of an experiment, plug in some good headphones, shut down all apps that will make a noise (MSN being a big culprit) and turn up the notebooks volume to maximum. “Crrrrssshhh, bzzzzzzzz, weeble, weeble” etc. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is about as bad as our exchange rate. With the Indigo it's silence all the way up to 11.

I assume that there is some form of optical decoupling between the AD-DA and amp section and the rest of the card, because this card has without doubt the best SNR of any pro audio card I have ever used and that includes the Echo Gina. Obviously it will not be in the same league as the very expensive Apogee or MOTU systems. It is however, the best I have seen in a device directly attached to PC, i.e. no breakout box, and in some cases better than some devices with break out boxes.

Latency

On my PIII 1 GHz I was able to run the card successfully at 4ms latency. That being said I was a little restricted in terms of the complexity of the software setup as the CPU ran out quickly. But that is a problem with the age of my notebook, and less to do with the card itself.

Input latency could also run down at 4ms without hiccup. It's odd though that even at 4ms, you can still tell there is a delay. I ran my bass through a virtual amp simulator, and when you play really fast, the delay becomes noticeable. Again no fault with the card, just the human condition.

Stability

No problems with this card with any of the software apps I ran it with. The ASIO implementation is very good and seems to have been thoroughly tested.

Complaints

It's hard to find fault with this card, but then I'm hard to please so I'll give it shot.

The volume adjustment is for output only, and while this system is intended to be used with a mixer or other device that has its own volume adjustment for the input, a second volume knob for recording level would have been handy.

Also the indicators for which is the input and which is the output is on the underside of the card, so you either have to mark it or, the terror of all terrors, try and remember. Given that the intended user is a musician, and we only remember things with years of practice, and little help here would have been good.

Lastly is the shape. It is the standard PCMCIA card with a big block attached. Whilst functionally it's ok, it feels a little flimsy when attached to the notebook, and if handled a little roughly it may break. I have seen other implementations of this format with slightly better structural design. So you need to be a little cautious.

Conclusion

The Echo team has come up with ideal portable companion for the notebook musician. It is not all things to all people, but rather a simple, well spec'd interface to get from a line level output to the PC while taking up a minimum of space. The care and attention to eliminating noise from the notebook allows it to be used in any pro-audio situation and turns your notebook into a proper DAW without adding to the size and weight.

Price: R1695 incl. VAT
Available from: CRN, call them on 011-315-6687
More info: www.echoaudio.com