[LAU] M-Audio Audiophile Line Level Inputs

[Loki Davison]

On 9/17/07, Bearcat M. Sandor <HomeTheater at feline-soul.com> wrote:
> Loki,
>
> Because doing D/A on an internal soundcard is noisy. I can hear the hum of
> my
> fans coming through my tweeters. Having the D/A outside of the box is quiet.
>
> Granted in a year or so i'll be replacing this with something better like a
> RME ADI-8 QS or universe willing a Lexicon MC12.
>
> I do know how to use ebay, but i don't have much money at the moment. $100
> is
> about my limit to spend on this.  Firewire? Last time i looked almost all of
> it was proprietary and not useable on linux.  I would love to use firewire,
> but you can't run firewire D/As on Linux (RME, MOTU are out for sure).
>
> Yes, USB is ugly, but it's better then the noise you get using internal D/A.
>
> My next build will be much, much quieter, but even a fanless system still
> creates hum that can be heard through the speakers, doesn't it?
>
> Bearcat

oops. sorry last reply was just to you not to list, keep making that
mistake. It's totally not true that outside the system is a lot better
than inside. Higher end pci cards are far better than any usb card.
The hum of your fans has nothing to do with it unless electrical
interference is a major issue. Any decent card won't worry about it. I
wouldn't buy USB stuff if it was damn near free. I used a usb card for
a few years...

If you want the total proof of the inside computer vs outside
http://www.lynxstudio.com/lynxtwo.html lynx 2 is a nice (expensive)
bit of gear and "fan hum" isn't going to be an issue.... i'm not sure
how you heard about this fan hum / speaker thing unless you have mics
that are picking up the fans. If your mics are picking up the fans and
playing them through the speakers that is an issue but not related in
any way to the soundcard choice. if your keen on firewire check out
http://www.ffado.org/

Loki