[linux-audio-user] External DAC for mastering use?

[Daniel James]

> I don't see 44.1/16 as a problem unless the final product is going
> to have a higher resolution than that. If you are mastering for
> eventual CD-Audio, monitoring the exact digits that will go to the
> final product seems an eminently sensible idea :-)

That was my thinking - as interesting as higher sample and bitrates 
are, for the time being the majority of demand in digital audio 
distribution appears to be for CD quality and lower. This might 
change quickly if DVD-Audio becomes popular though.

> I don't understand the "no analogue input" restriction - are you
> simply saying that because you aren't bothering to fit a sound card
> there won't be any analogue input?

Just trying to keep things as simple as possible! As far as cost goes, 
you can get a good quality external DAC on eBay for about the price 
of an M-Audio Audiophile PCI.

> I doubt if you'll need one.

You're probably right, as I don't intend to try mastering from 
analogue sources. I'm undecided as to whether I also want to digitize 
vinyl on this particular machine, which would need an analogue input 
of course. 

> What  
> input are you using - S/PDIF in, or audio files accessed over LAN?

Project files copied over the LAN from the studio machine, probably.

Cheers

Daniel