In 2003 RME released the HDSP 9632, a PCI 2.1 interface that incorporated their latest 24-bit converters and stereo analogue I/O. It was a 16 channel FPGA powered juggernaut capable of 192kHz. The thing is, eighteen years later, RME is still churning them out.
I managed to yoink one off eBay for $160 so let’s find out if this critter knows how to Linux in 2021.
Have questions about your setup? Ask in our forums.
SOFTWARE
In order to use the HDSP 9632 we’ll need to install some extra ALSA bits.
sudo apt install alsa-firmware alsa-firmware-loaders alsa-tools-guiSETUP
First thing to do is configure the HDSP 9632 using hdspconf.
ALSA
You can control the HDSP 9632 directly with alsamixer.
IMPORTANT: You need to launch hdspmixer before using the HDSP 9632 with Jack.
JACK
Jack setup is straightforward, the only catch being the Periods/Buffer must be set to 2.
LATENCY
While many kinds of audio latency metrics exist, one useful and well-understood metric is round-trip latency; the time it takes for an audio signal to enter the input of a device, get processed, and exit the output.
The following measurements were taken using jack_iodelay.
TESTBENCH
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5600G |
| RAM | Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB |
| Motherboard | MSI B550-A PRO |
| GPU | NA |
| SSD | Samsung 840 |
| PSU: | EVGA 600 B1 |
| Firewire: | Syba SY-PEX30016 |
| Network: | Intel i350-T4 |
| OS: | Debian Testing |
| Kernel: | 6.1 RT |
| Desktop: | XFCE 4.16 |
VERDICT
Why in the world would you want to use a PCI recording interface in 2021? The answer is surprisingly simple: you need the functionality of the RME HDSPe AIO, but $899 is not in the budget. In all fairness, $500 for a new HDSP 9632 might not be in the budget, but $200 for a used one is.
Have questions about your setup? Ask in our forums.
RME Hammerfall DSP 9632
Pros
Wicked-low latency.
Stability.
Flawless A/D conversion.
Kernel drivers.
Cons
PCI in 2021.
No preamps.
Limited analogue options.
Price
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