PCI vs USB

I have always used a PCI-based recording device but need to upgrade. I have read lots of posts on the broad range of PCI cards (Link) as well as USB / Firewire based devices.

Obviously, if I dont like having lots of cables handing out of my computer an external device is a better option, and from everything I have read, a lot of them (Edirol, E-MU and M-Audio) all look like they don't suffer from latency issues when recording which is great. However, how do these external boxes function in terms of standard sound-card jobs like playback, eq and the like?

Is a USB device a straight replacement for your on-board sound card? Under what circumstances would you chose to have both?

Cheers

got a usb external midi+sound modules and works great on all levels..

Full plug & play

MJ

Yes the external boxes function as your sound card for playback and depending on your daw for eq also. you would not need to use both unless you had the out running through the audio interface and also had headphones plugged into your laptop. which is generally a bad idea.