On Mar 26, 10:11 am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
"main wrote in message
oups.com
On Mar 26, 9:23 am, "Arny Krueger"
wrote:
"main
wrote in message
groups.com
OK, I'd like to get some input on this one, as there may
be some "unknown unknowns" to consider:
(opens can of worms)
I have several M Audio Delta 1010LT souncards that I
have been using successfully for multitracking in a DAW
of my own assemblage. Recently, a friend of mine
mentioned that Black Lion Audio is offering an upgrade
package for the 1010. I was intrigued, and did some
comparative listening to recordings I've made through
the 1010's and recordings I made a few years back on a
Roland VSR-880. I noticed a difference in the sound
quality- I perceived less clarity in the newer
recordings.
There's your first logical mistake - the use of a
less-than-reference
quality standard, the Roland VSR-880. I'm not saying
that *your* Roland
VSR-880 is less than sonically transparent, but there's
no a priori reason
to believe that it remains perfectly transparent.
I'm not saying that *your* 1010LT is sonically
transparent, but there's no a
priori reason to believe that it is less than sonically
transparent. What
I'm saying is that you are comparing 2 unknowns. If they
are the same or
different, what does that mean?
On top of that, there's some doubt that your comparison
was
carefully-controlled, IOW recordings of the identical
same inputs,
level-matched and blind.
I'm not saying that *your* 1010LT is sonically
transparent, but there's no a
priori reason to believe that it is less than sonically
transparent. What
I'm saying is that you are comparing 2 unknowns. If they
are the same or
different, what does that mean?
The *right* way to test an audio interface is to loop
the outputs to the
inputs, re-record some representative music, and then do
a blind, level
matched comparison of the origional recording to the
copy. Then, you're
comparing your audio interface to a known standard -
whatever you used to
tie the inputs to the outputs, which in the case of the
1010LT is its
built-in connector bundle.
If you have even the most basic DAW software and skills,
you can set this up
as a comparison of 2 level-matched, time-synched stereo
.wav files using
test administration software that you can download for
free fromwww.pcabx.com.
You can apply this technique to both the 1010LT and the
Roland VSR-880. You
might be surprised by the results.
This is completely correct and reasonable. I may very
well have heard a difference because I wanted to.
Or, due to level mismatch, or actual defective equipment. Hard to say for
sure.
Does
Rightmark provide any useful tools for this kind of test?
Yes. You can Rightmark the 1010LT and compare your results to these:
http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/d...10lt/index.htm
Testing the Roland VSR 880 might take a little careful mouth-holding, but in
prinicple you can Rightmark anything that records and plays. For example,
I've rightmarked CD players by burning my own test CD.
Man, what I wouldn't do for some really high-grade
testing equipment!
You probably already have a good approximation of it in the 1010LT.
The performance shown here is not too far from the origional Audio Precision
test set:
http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/d...010lt/2496.htm
But, no way can it be confused with a System 2. You can come close to a
System 2 with a LynxTwo.
The 1010LT might be equal or better than anything that HP or Sound
Technology ever sold.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
Nice! Very helpful- I downloaded Rightmark about a week ago, haven't
gotten to use it yet but now I can't wait to test my system. I'll grab
a copy of that ABX software, too. Thanks, Arny!
What about the issue of jitter when using multiple Delta cards? Could
I try testing one card internally clocked vs. clocked from another
delta? Would jitter show up as the difference between noise figure of
each test? Or will it even be measurable?
-dave M.