USB uaudio soundcards question

[Barry Bouwsma]

Ahoj, folks...

I've a stupid question, before I spend money on a fancy doorstop:

Can anyone say anything about available external USB-connected
soundcards, like whether I can expect them to appear as a normal
uaudio device, or whether they require proprietary protocols and/or
firmware that would prevent them from working normally under a
Real Operating System?

Manufacturer brand names and such would be welcomed.  As I have
no experience with such, I have no idea where to begin.

In particular, I've been eyeballing the Creative Audigy 2 NX,
a USB device with S/PDIF in/outputs, and I'm most interested in
consumer hardware with S/PDIF in/out ability, should anyone have
feedback about such.  I've seen a couple other Creative products
in shops too, as well as a Hercules Muse knob that supposedly
also works on a Mac as only 2-channel, so may well work on BSD...

Surely someone out there has such a device and has tried it
under FreeBSD (or another BSD), and I'd be pleased as punch to
hear of your experiences.  Unless I must be the guinea pig, and
probably donate the device to some 'doze user if I have no success...


Thanks in advance for any comments
(don't reply to me directly -- I'll catch up from the archives)
barry bouwsma