Onboad Audio Interface with 2.5 or 1 ms of latency, no distortion

[theory28]

+1

this

how come quotes dont show up within quotes??? kinda lame

[sj03w4t]

explain to me what is the impact of the so called "better converters"

better audio quality? the audio quality that i had with M-audio Audiophile Firewire is about the same as with the onboard interface.

but I guess m-audio is not so famous for it's sound cards.
Also if you're gonna be playing @ 120dB the slightest crackle is at full power so audible which sucks

[sarasin]

explain to me what is the impact of the so called "better converters"

better audio quality? the audio quality that i had with M-audio Audiophile Firewire is about the same as with the onboard interface.

Well....all the NI Audio 4\8 owners can't be wrong!

I have yet to hear someone say the output of these cards are dodgey sounding.

Cirrus Logic are reknowned for making really good ADA Converters.

This is when the sound is converted from your PC's data to Audio data.

The switchable multiple channels ......this all plays a roll.

So you might not have gotten the best results from your M-Audio card....but i have also come to find that they don't make the greatest Sound Cards.
Could be many factors... Windows included!

[Archies'bald]

I do have to laugh when all of this rears it's ugly head every few weeks or so....

I have lots of vinyl and I remember playing most of it out through amplifiers and eq's that were so basic that some of the young ones wouldn't believe it. There were regular pops, crackles, hisses and the occasional jump of the record from time to time. Nowadays all I hear is how analogue sounds so much better than digital and how it feels so much warmer than it's numerical cousin. I have to laugh to myself in quiet......

I will agree there is something magical about vinyl, something you just can't get with a download, but as far as quality goes I'm going to stick my neck out and say that digital is at least on a par with analogue. There is a clarity of mids and highs that you just don't get with vinyl. The bass may be hugely understated but that can be compensated for. Anyone who has tried to eq out the crackles and hisses of an acetate would surely agree with me. No?

I may be an old man in DJ terms, but I don't feel that way when it comes to playing the sounds I love. I remember the best parties I ever went to. Were they supremely polished events that went off without a hitch, or were they the mad times when you never knew what was going to happen next and there was always the possibility of some kind of problem ?

The answer, as always, is somewhere in between. We need to stop being so anal about everything. We need to stop wanting to control the party as if it was ours. It's not. It's all well and good wanting to provide your customers with the best you can provide, but for god sake credit them with some intelligence. I guarantee you that that a party will rock with good tunes, good people and a good atmosphere much better than a party with a good venue, good sound system and good lighting.

The technical stuff is important but it's nowhere near as important as moving the crowd. We should all be learning the skillz first and the technicalities second.

[sarasin]

agreed...but surely if you being paid top dollar and the punter is paying top dollar... I would expect some to jam with at least with a proper setup. If i was playing along side a guy using onboard sound... I would seriously think he is taking the piss. If you starting out...sure. But not at that level. But i do agree. From the crowds point of view ...i doubt they will care whether you rock out with BCD or Lemur. As long as you use it well. I would just like my gear to serve me not work against me.

[DvlsAdvct]

Yes but i have a similiar problem when i use the M-Audio Audiophile Firewire. For example, there are moments when im navigating in Traktor's browser menu with the browser buttons of the vci-100 and everytime i push one of those buttons, it distorts the audio! Really weird. So, i needed a second option..

I remember when i used Windows Vista with Traktor. After about 15 minutes (with M-Audio Audiophile Firewire), the sounds becomes totally distorted and i don't know why!!!

Did you try upping your latency? I just have a really hard time believing that you can have a meaningful DJ experience using the main outs of your laptop. And it's not like having a latency between 7 and 11ms is going to make much of any of a difference to you.

And the article idea should be more "Why using your internal soundcard is a bad idea." If it works for you, rock on, but if it stops working mid-gig you're going to be one embarassed, and out of work, DJ.

[MiL0]

I'm a dnb producer by trade but dj as an unintentional side effect... I've used quite a few different pro-audio soundcards and yes, there is a difference with the D/A converters on the top end ones. You also get more reliable drivers which results in less likelyhood of stutters at lower latencies.

But, this the higher quality D/A converters are only really noticeable when you have high quality studio monitoring. Running an internal soundcard through most club PA's will usually suffice for most people - and the crowd will be none the wiser. The one problem I have noticed however is volume... internal soundcards seem to sound quieter but this could be down to the D/A's having less dynamic range and not being able to as accurately re-produce bass/treble as a proaudio soundcard.

My 2c...

[Str8upDrew]

So i have an ASUS K50, and i'm pretty sure that they both have the same soundcard, VIA HD onboard audio. And yes this is a great soundcard for home theater uses.
For your sake I ran a little test today, i compared it with my NI Audio 2, i used ableton live for all playback and set it at all different rates. On thing was obvious, the laptop soundcard was better than any other internal soundcard i've heard. But it just couldn't compare to the Audio 2. Even when i set the onboard at 96 and 192, it still wasn't as good as the audio 2 at 48. I did all of the test through my JBL Control 2P Monitors and then through my Sony MDR-SA5000 headphones. I could really tell a drastic difference once i put my headphones on

Side note, the internal soundcard sounded way better than my friends M-Audio Fast Track USB.

[dead_devil_66]

So i have an ASUS K50, and i'm pretty sure that they both have the same soundcard, VIA HD onboard audio. And yes this is a great soundcard for home theater uses.
For your sake I ran a little test today, i compared it with my NI Audio 2, i used ableton live for all playback and set it at all different rates. On thing was obvious, the laptop soundcard was better than any other internal soundcard i've heard. But it just couldn't compare to the Audio 2. Even when i set the onboard at 96 and 192, it still wasn't as good as the audio 2 at 48. I did all of the test through my JBL Control 2P Monitors and then through my Sony MDR-SA5000 headphones. I could really tell a drastic difference once i put my headphones on

Side note, the internal soundcard sounded way better than my friends M-Audio Fast Track USB.

care to explain why you said that the onboard interface doesn't compare to NI Audio 2?

my onboard interface doesn't have 192 kHz as a choice for sample rate

[Str8upDrew]

care to explain why you said that the onboard interface doesn't compare to NI Audio 2?

my onboard interface doesn't have 192 kHz as a choice for sample rate

The low end wasn't as punchy, didn't have the thumping feel. The high ends asn't as crisp. It almost sounded distorted, like a cheap compressor was being used over the mix.

I didn't even know mine had that high of a sample rate untill i did the test. Since i don't use my laptop for anything but music, i never even bothered to check the internal card.