I agree that sound cards are expensive and I cannot afford many at all.

But the argument that that makes it OK to buy what are essentially products based on stolen designs is spurious.

The Chinese won't innovate and make new sound cards with new features that many, including yourself, appreciate. Buying Chinese pirated copies drives folk like Benedini, who do innovate, out of the market and result in the only thing left to buy being no manual, no support, low quality Chinese crap knock offs.

That 4 independent makers in three countries all have landed on similar prices indicates to me that that is the price of developing, producing, marketing and supporting such a product on a very small scale. That its cheaper to produce them on a slave labor scale is neither here nor there.

While Chinese pirate no support no manual stuff satisfies a short term itch......buying and promoting such stuff to the market base of the person they stole it off is going to leave a very bleak sound card landscape in a few years.

It's not like Open Panzer has managed to save the day.

And why would they I guess? When the Chinese will steal the design and the very people asking for developers like OP to make sound cards will then be rushing off to the buy cheap knock offs from the Chinese.

For a hobby as small as this it's suicide not to support the developers making interesting products available. And if you cannot support them......at least don't sabotage them by promoting products that were stolen off them.

P