I want to upgrade from my Aardvark Q10 soundcard and my main concern is
sound quality. Is the Lynx2 soundcard still the best?

My acoustics, mic and pre-amp are top notch (I believe) so now my A/D
soundcard is the most likely candidate for an upgrade. I'd really
appreciate some advice.

Regards,

Iggy

wrote:
I want to upgrade from my Aardvark Q10 soundcard and my
main concern
is sound quality. Is the Lynx2 soundcard still the best?

I really appreciate the extremely high technical performance
of the LynxTWO, but I don't know that there is anything
wrong with the sound of a Q10. The fact that Aardvark is out
of business is of greater concern to me.

My acoustics, mic and pre-amp are top notch (I believe) so
now my A/D
soundcard is the most likely candidate for an upgrade. I'd
really
appreciate some advice.

Wow, that must be some mics and recording room that you have
there!

Well, the Aardvark is (was, alas) really good value for money but the
A/D's are only 24/44.1 (I have one of the early ones) and looking at
the age and price of the A/D's I'd be surprised if they would be top
notch.

In my little recording room I have a Neuman M149, a Manley Voxbox and
the acoustics are fairly well under control. So, the A/D conversion is
the most likely candidate for an update.


So... is there a soundcard with high-end A/D's (Lynx2 maybe?) or should
I buy an external A/D and route it to the PC trough a AES/SPDIF or
firewire connection??

On 8 May 2005 01:02:03 -0700, wrote:

Well, the Aardvark is (was, alas) really good value for money but the
A/D's are only 24/44.1 (I have one of the early ones) and looking at
the age and price of the A/D's I'd be surprised if they would be top
notch.

In my little recording room I have a Neuman M149, a Manley Voxbox and
the acoustics are fairly well under control. So, the A/D conversion is
the most likely candidate for an update.


So... is there a soundcard with high-end A/D's (Lynx2 maybe?) or should
I buy an external A/D and route it to the PC trough a AES/SPDIF or
firewire connection??


If you're DETERMINED to spend money, those are two possibilities. I
fear you may notice little difference though.

wrote:
I want to upgrade from my Aardvark Q10 soundcard and my main concern
is
sound quality. Is the Lynx2 soundcard still the best?

My acoustics, mic and pre-amp are top notch (I believe) so now my A/D
soundcard is the most likely candidate for an upgrade. I'd really
appreciate some advice.

Regards,

Iggy

Iggy,
I have a Lynx L22 that sounds great to me. Recently did some recording
using my PC in local studio. Tracked some vocals using an Amek pre and
a U87 through the Lynx converters. The results were first rate.

DaveT

I would use external A/D and D/A. Sound cards which do this inside the PC
usually have noise problems from the electrical noise inside the computer
and on the PCI bus. Convert it to digital externally and pipe it in that
way for best results; either AES/SPDIF or USB/Firewire, doesn't really
matter.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Well, the Aardvark is (was, alas) really good value for money but the
A/D's are only 24/44.1 (I have one of the early ones) and looking at
the age and price of the A/D's I'd be surprised if they would be top
notch.

In my little recording room I have a Neuman M149, a Manley Voxbox and
the acoustics are fairly well under control. So, the A/D conversion is
the most likely candidate for an update.


So... is there a soundcard with high-end A/D's (Lynx2 maybe?) or should
I buy an external A/D and route it to the PC trough a AES/SPDIF or
firewire connection??

Adam wrote:

I would use external A/D and D/A. Sound cards which do this inside
the PC
usually have noise problems from the electrical noise inside the
computer
and on the PCI bus. Convert it to digital externally and pipe it in
that
way for best results; either AES/SPDIF or USB/Firewire, doesn't
really
matter.

I have never experienced these noise issues
with my internal converters (Echo Mia).
I don't doubt however that it may be a
source of the garbage one gets with
a SoundBlaster.

rd

wrote:

Well, the Aardvark is (was, alas) really good value for
money but the
A/D's are only 24/44.1 (I have one of the early ones) and
looking at
the age and price of the A/D's I'd be surprised if they
would be top
notch.

What's wrong with 24/44?

It is fairly well known that in genearal, recordings made at
higher data rates are not audibly corrupted by being
recorded and played back at 24/44, given that it is
reasonably well executed.

In my little recording room I have a Neuman M149, a Manley
Voxbox and
the acoustics are fairly well under control. So, the A/D
conversion is
the most likely candidate for an update.

Speaking as someone who yesterday made a recording with 18
microphones, that's one simple sweet little situation you
have there.

So... is there a soundcard with high-end A/D's (Lynx2
maybe?)

I have a LynxTWO - its a fine audio interface. At the time
it was developed about two or three years ago, it had some
of the most expensive converter chips that were on the
market.

I'd challenge you though to do some *serious* testing of
your audio interface, though. www.pcabx.com is web site
whose home page sets forth standards for subjective testing
of audio interfaces that is as high as are known to exist.
Procedures for conclusively testing the sound quality of
audio interfaces are provided by means of example, at
http://www.pcabx.com/product/soundcard/index.htm . Try them
or some personal variation of them on your existing
hardware, and if you are so inclined, report back to us.

or should I buy an external A/D and route it to the PC
trough a
AES/SPDIF or firewire connection??

No, that's a waste of time and money - one that creates
unecessary additional complexity.

Adam wrote:
I would use external A/D and D/A. Sound cards which do
this inside
the PC usually have noise problems from the electrical
noise inside
the computer and on the PCI bus.

This is an old wife's tale.

Convert it to digital externally
and pipe it in that way for best results; either AES/SPDIF
or
USB/Firewire, doesn't really matter.

If you use a high quality audio interface such as a LynxTWO
as your standard, you will be hard put to find an external
interface with lower noise.

http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/LynxTWO/index.htm

The world is full of external converters with lower
technical performance.

Arny Krueger wrote:

or should I buy an external A/D and route it to the PC

trough a

AES/SPDIF or firewire connection??


No, that's a waste of time and money - one that creates
unecessary additional complexity.

While it may no longer have a noise advantage, I don't find
it additionally complex at all and value the flexibility
that such an external interface provides. I don't even look
at PCI based front ends any more.


Bob
--

"Things should be described as simply as possible, but no
simpler."

A. Einstein

Thanks for all the info! Arny, thanks for the link, I realize now you
know a lot more about SoundCards then I do.

You are probably right that I'll hear little difference between the Q10
and the Lynx2. Still, I'm a perfectionist and happy with that so I'll
probably buy the Lynx2. My only concern is that the A/D's are over
three years old and kinda aging as far as converter lifespans go..

wrote:
Thanks for all the info! Arny, thanks for the link, I
realize now you
know a lot more about SoundCards then I do.

You are probably right that I'll hear little difference
between the
Q10 and the Lynx2. Still, I'm a perfectionist and happy
with that so
I'll probably buy the Lynx2. My only concern is that the
A/D's are
over three years old and kinda aging as far as converter
lifespans
go..

AFAIK audio chip converters seem to have kinda hit the wall,
as of the ones in the LynxTWO. Ca. 120 dB dynamic range
seems to be the current SOTA.