Would I be able to play MP3s with an 030?

[johnklos]

sound cards are really necessary for mp3s. Paula is great for synth, recordings not so much.

Using 14 bit mode on the Amiga works very nicely and gives good quality sound, but I doubt there's an '030 out there that can decode an MP3 and do 14 bit Amiga sound at the same time... Maybe you can do 14 bit with WAV or AIFF files with an '030...

[johnklos]

Well, 14bit is certainly better than 8bit, but "good quality" in absolute terms is stretching it...

I wouldn't agree. I used to have my Amiga connected to my stereo and used to play all of my CDs over SCSI via 14 bit audio. The quality was pretty good - with the exception of the CDs used to test audio gear, my audiophile friend could not tell the difference between the Amiga and a good CD player.

Considering how horrible MP3s sound, you're not losing anything at all by going with 14 bit Amiga audio over anything else.