Now that the Emu drivers are fairly stable, its cool. However, that took a while.
I did notice a "better" sound to the converters - crisper, you might say, or more natural sounding to my ear.
Are you sure? Any chance of this being in your head? Any chance your recording different music with different people or different songs? Are you 100% certain that your Emu sounds better than the Delta 1010? If so, is this "better" something that is always better or is it more a creative thing where the Delta 1010 may be better for certain things?
I don't mean to be a jerk or anything.
I own 2 Delta 1010s and a 2 Mytek AD96s. Those same converters are found in some of the top studios in the country (although they usually use the 8 channel versions).
I remember the day I got them. The singer I was working with couldn't really hear a difference between the Myteks and the Delta 1010s. I could hear a difference. It was fairly subtle, but made me really happy for whatever reason.
I still use the Delta 1010s everyday although I seldom use the analog inputs anymore. (Most of my work focuses on overdubs these days).
More than likely your songs, arrangements, gear, musicianship, mixing, and room are weaker in the chain than the Delta 1010. Spending big bucks on pro converters did not make more than a subtle improvement to me.
Sometimes I capture pretty good tones, sometimes I screw it up. The fancy converters do subtlely help, but they are not good enough to save me when I screw up.
Brandon