Alternatives to onboard audio, for work on the train

[dkasak]

Hi all. When at home, I use my Focusrite 2i2, and all is good. When that's not practical ( eg on the train ), I have serious issues. I can't make my onboard ( 00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio (rev 21) ) work at all at the moment. When I used to be able to get it working, it stuttered very badly. There seems to be a Bitwig bug when switching between audio devices ( which I've raised with them ). I can get things "working" using pulseaudio ( running Linux, by the way ), but it also stutters very badly.

I'm told by a friend that a USB DAC might be what I'm after. But I have no experience with these. Would one of these bypass the onboard audio and my issues with it? Are there some USB DACs to be avoided, for similar reasons to why I'm looking to bypass the onboard audio?

[lunardigs]

Using Jack with Jacksink (for Pulseaudio integration), plus a small USB I/O should do the trick. I have one of these: http://www.centrance.com/products/mp/ -- circa 2007 model. It's small and works very well for the train. It's class compliant and works with Linux. I use it for monitoring via headphones predominately. It also works very well with electret condensers, plus dynamic mics.

CEntrance offers a lot of mobile pro-audio stuff; they've likely got what you need.

[Taika-Kim]

Native Instruments Audio 2 DJ is a very good small USB interface. The one downside is the shaky B type USB connector. Works great under Linux.