DrWho Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 I'm talking about running that 1/8" DIGITAL output into an RCA type connector [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwc Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 That is a good question. Manual states only the Creative labs adapter can be used there. Not sure. Will the signal remain digital through an RCA connector. Wasn't aware you could do that. jc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 19, 2006 Share Posted July 19, 2006 that creative thing is bs... All you do is get the 1/8 mini stereo to 1/4 rca and one side is pcm and the other is regular digital. I forgot which one, just try the red first and then try the white.... only one should work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 ummm, pcm = digital Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 the other is ac3 I believe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwc Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Well. I know that the $17 adapter was a good buy as it converted that one jack into 2 digital inputs and two digital outputs - optical or coaxial. I may consider digital recording at some point. I guess I wasn't aware the digital signal would continue through RCA conector or just a 1/8 " mini plug. jc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 all in all unless its a optical connection, the digital and analog signal is still being sent through copper (hopefuly) wires is it not? I never knew cables rejected certain signals (ok don't get all crazy, there are optimal cables and there are cables that just work) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heideana Posted July 20, 2006 Author Share Posted July 20, 2006 Mike and all...thanks for the explaination about why an external sound card is better then an internal one a few days ago, along with various intracacies of getting audio out. After looking at CompUSA and web surfing this afternoon, I ended up going down to Guitar Center to look at what kind of external sound cards were available for recording, etc. in pro-audio. I ended up settling on this M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB unit that will be here next week http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=MAFTP&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=393375 It has DIN, RCA and S/PDIF coaxial in/outs along with A/B source monitoring via 1/4" headphone jack and ability to easily interface with Pro Tools if I ever want use it for portable recording. The specs. look pretty good and was told it should be on par with the DAC's in my Digi002. I also learned that ART stuff is on a quality tier below M-Audio and Lexicon electronics, although I'm not sure how that translates into Creative Audio Audiogy and X-Fi lines... Did I make to much of a mistake? Thanks...Hopkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Sounds like you made an educated decision - no need for buyer's remorse already [] But be sure to let us know how it performs. Btw, ART is top of the middle grade or bottom of the top grade depending on where you draw the line. I suppose I would agree that M-Audio and Lexicon tend to be better, but it's not always the case and is rarely an apples to apples comparison. I will say I have been involved with a few recordings that made the radio and were using ART gear... So though I agree with the guys at Guitar Center I would also take their advice with a grain of salt too - their profit margin on ART gear isn't as high [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heideana Posted July 20, 2006 Author Share Posted July 20, 2006 Thanks...I will. Also for explaination about ART vs. M-Audio - Lexicon. Btw. I see that I got xlr mixed-up with din...opps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forte91gti_wolfsburg Posted July 23, 2006 Share Posted July 23, 2006 I have a Sound Blaster X-Fi. This sound card has destroyed every other computer sound card, internal or external that I have ever listened to. All of the solder joints that count are soldered using a gold based solder as opposed to a lead-tin type solder. The sound processor actually is powerful enough to need a heatsink. The fidelity is amazing. On my system, see signature, it really made an impressive difference. With regards to a USB based sound card, they lack in performance because of the lousy interrupt request (IRQ) that they are assigned. When the PC is asked to perform a more strenuous(sp??) task, if need be, the USB sound card gets placed on the back burner until it has the processor time to finish what it was doing with that sound file. IMHO a PCI based sound card is the way to go. The Creative X-Fi has an onboard DAC, as well as a ADC, and is also compatible with a single digital I/O for the fancier digital computer speaker systems/recievers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 With regards to a USB based sound card, they lack in performance because of the lousy interrupt request (IRQ) that they are assigned. When the PC is asked to perform a more strenuous(sp??) task, if need be, the USB sound card gets placed on the back burner until it has the processor time to finish what it was doing with that sound file. That is a driver based issue - not even universally inherant with all USB devices. The easy work around is to run at a "higher priority" and increase buffer sizes (I believe it's called different things for different operating systems). And for what it's worth, simple audio playback should not involve any processing whatsoever and is an extremely small load for any computer to handle. If your computer is having problems streaming music then you've got bigger issues to deal with. That's not to say the X-Fi is a poor performer, but if one is just sending a digital signal to a reciever (which is certainly going to have better DAC's) then it seems to be a bit overkill since there should be no change in sound quality. For what it's worth, all the major recording studios are running outboard digital conversion and are interfacing either with USB or Firewire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 firewire is the prefered method but since usb2 is everywhere and firewire sorta died (when the 5g iPod came out only with firewire it marked the death). Firewire though is preferred still as firewire is a constant speed while usb2 can varie as much as 11mbps to 480 mbps (theoretical) and is dependant on the computer load. Try running 3 big programs (adobe, 3dstudiomax, and autocad at the same time) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 Firewire isn't dead..... yet.... [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted July 24, 2006 Share Posted July 24, 2006 I know but I wish firewire became the popular options instead of usb2.0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heideana Posted July 25, 2006 Author Share Posted July 25, 2006 My M-Audio Fast track Pro arrived and I got it up and running without any real glitches. I initially ran it off a hub on my monitor and had all kinds of background noise. However, the manual recommended running it off a dedicated hub, so I moved my USB connections around and started it up again which got rid all the high-pitch computer stuff and now I hear tape-hiss off older material instead...[]. I initially got messages about the device taking more power then the USB hub could provide and will be investingating the wallwart power supply soon... For the time being, I'm happy that I've managed to salvage an old Dell desk top and convert it into a audio server with the addition of this box and a 500 gig hard drive...I'm sure down the road I'll be upgrading it, but for the moment its' sounding pretty clean over my Cornwall III's and the bass is back that was missing when I used my Echo card in my laptop...[] I spotted this on the M-audio web site: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Conectiv-focus.html For folks interested in pulling vinyl over to digital, it might be an option...thanks for all the help...Hopkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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