Those of us who use DAW (digital audio workstation) come to different observations what make better DAWs. My personal observations are based upon a number or principles (mostly not empirical but intellectual prejudicial) that briefly might be surmised as:

1)  No data processing, no DSP, no sampling rate change, no Bit resolution change and no re-clocking at PC side.
2)  A sound card is just I/O device, no processing of any kind at sound card
3)  Better external AD and DA processors
4)  Better recording software and no processing with the recording software

So, as you can see “my way” it takes all responsibly for Sound out of the “noisy” PC and converts PC just into a device that spins hard drives. This approach might (reportedly) yield better result but it is also has 3 major disadvantages:

1)  Price
2)  Size
3)  Manageability

Perhaps for folks who do audio professionally the disadvantages might not an issue at all but for those people who would like to AD/DA once a while some tapes/LPs or to record off the air occasionally some FM broadcasts  the “DAW separates” approach would be too demanding. I received a number of inquiries from visitors of my site asking me about the alternatives for building or buying better DAWs. It kind of surprised me as I have no personal experiences with varieties of DAW options and all my evolution in the DAW world is well-observable at this site – a couple years ago I was asking very beginning questions…  I was looking for advice from others I went for Lavry AD122 -> Linx 16 ->WaveLab6-> Linx 16 -> Lavry DA924. I am very comfortable with my DAW’s results but for others, who would love to spend less blood for the entire DAW project, - what might be a solution?

I wonder if someone has experiences with a “second echelon” of options that’s still would allow having a transparent AD-storage-DA solution. Perhaps some sound cards with truly good sounding inboard AD/DA under a custom powered PC are available out there? Or perhaps some external recorders with good quality of AD/DA and ability to record/transmit data to external drives?

One visitor of my site was asking specifically about the “Sound Devices” recorders:

http://www.sounddevices.com/products/index.html

So, are any out “out of box” or “off the shelf” solutions that you have tested and might comment upon?