wrote in message
ups.com...
I've seen ATS-1's go in the threes on eBay, and a desktop PC with a
first rate sound card is a thousand bucks even today, times two-we're
not an order of magnitude apart.

So why not compare to a S/H PC? A couple of hundred for a PC and a couple of
hundred for a pro soundcard, will do the job.
Software is another matter though, but there is reasonable freeware
available, adequate for many people.

The beauty of the PC option is that it can do the same job as a number of
test instruments, plus automatic data acquisition, plus data analysis, plus
data storage and presentation etc.

Yes dedicated instruments have their benefits, but even multi million dollar
test labs are full of PC's as well, and have been for decades.

MrT.