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ATM – USB ADC
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
Musings on the byways of popular culture
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Nerd alert!
I’m looking for a 2-channel line-input USB audio interface for vinyl rips.
The best-sounding ADC I own is in my 18-year-old Philips CD recorder. It’s limited to 16-bit/44.1kHz and the CD mechanism is on its last legs. I have a desktop PC with an ESI 24/192 soundcard but that’s in another room. I also have a Win 10 laptop, to which I’d like to add a USB audio interface.
Options I’ve found so far are:
ESI U24XL – proper line inputs but the USB is only 1.1, so the ADC is limited to 24/44.1 or 24/48.
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 – USB2, 24/96 capture, but the line inputs go through the instrument preamps so is possibly noisier. I’ve heard scare-stories about their Windows drivers.
My ideal would probably be a 24/96 version of the ESI unit. I have met the designer of ESI products and he’s a pretty hardcore German engineer, so at least it will work reliably (and arrive on time).
Anybody have any experience of either, or any better ideas? I am prepared to go over the hundred quid (ish) both these cost, if I can get usefully better.
Haven’t used it myself but my son’s guitar teacher has the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. He’s been recommending it to my son for recording so I assume he’s happy with it. I’ve got a feeling he’s a Mac user so Windows drivers probably haven’t been an issue.
Not sure if this will help as I’ve only used my Scarlett with a guitar and Garageband not to rip vinyl, but the inputs have physical switches on the front panel to choose between Line and Inst.
Thanks. Yeah, I know, but if you dig about in the smallprint they just change the input impedance and gain of the preamp, they don’t actually bypass it. Given the listed changes in gain, I could draw a circuit diagram of how they do it.
A muso pal has used one of the multi-input Scarletts, and confirms that the line inputs go through the preamp.
Your ability to draw a circuit diagram puts your level of knowledge way above mine. Hope you manage to find something suitable.
That’s the annoying thing with stuff like this. I could make one myself but it would end up costing much more than a mass-produced product. I no longer work in the audio hardware biz, and have no easy access to the bits I’d need.
Not done this myself, but from the equipment lists of folks that have done the hi-res vinyl rips that appear on the ‘net, it looks like the Creative E-MU 0404 is a popular choice – supports up to 24/192
https://www.creative.com/emu/products/product.aspx?pid=15185
I have a Scarlett 2i4, which has a couple more features than the 2i2. No major problems to report with Win10. But there’s a lot more competition out there now.
A friend asks ” Anybody got any idea what ‘multi-input Scarlett’s’ mean”? Also “2-channel line output USB audio interface”? Also anything else on this thread? I’m going to ring Bri now, he’ll know what’s going on (cue hysterical laughter)
Talk to my barrister!
rama rama hari rama…
Double Espresso please
Very funny, Mr Stiff Finger!
You’re not alone Lodes…completely beyond me.
Dobly?
I blame a misaligned cucaracha on the thermistor.
Thermistor: technician with responsibility for removing lobsters from Jayne Mansfield’s arsehole.
Not the best job, I’m told.
But apparently Theresa May has fired off an urgent application.
The Scarletts don’t have the best of reputations, although I don’t know anyone who’s been personally affected by reliability issues.
Apogee* and UAD** make the best prosumer interfaces in the business, IMO. But both come at quite a price.
*Duet
**Apollo Twin
They would both be in the “would Sound On Sound like me to review them in return for long-term loan?” category. They’ve both already been done, though. The best I could find at SOS was an empty Focusrite box.
Not sure they’ve been reviewed as USB / Windows interfaces. The Duet has only just gone Windows compatible. An opening 😉
Not really helping…. Still waiting for Bri
Jaysus man, if I rocked up on every thread I couldn’t make head or tail of and told it so, my daily post count would be… er… about… three higher?
Not sure if it’s what you have in mind but I have a Rega stand-alone phono stage (Fono A2D) which outputs digital via USB, and its pretty good used with software such as Audacity.
Thanks, but I don’t need the phono section – I already have a Naim preamp to do that.