On Wed, May 16, 2012 at 11:26:07AM +0200, Robin Gareus wrote: It depends on what you want to measure... For the S/N ratio of a line input all you need is jnoisemeter. If you want to measure the mic input EIN you need a bit more: * A passive, balanced and calibrated attenuator, 70..80 dB, and having a output impedance of 150 and/or +/- 30 ohm. In practice that means a small metal box with 2 or 3 XLR connectors and some resistors inside. Details on request. To calculate the attenuation you need a precise resistance meter, but only once. * A calibrated truly balanced - antiphase signals of equal level - line level signal output. You could use two unbalanced outputs driven in antiphase for this. You need a sound card with an exactly reproducable output gain (just setting it to max will do in most cases), and measure it using real calibrated *audio* RMS meter. Provided you can reproduce the output gains exactly this needs to be done only once, so you could borrow the real RMS meter from an electronics lab. To measure AD/DA phase noise you need either a high quality analog sine generator, or a soundcard that is at least as good as the one to be measured. Ciao, -- FA A world of exhaustive, reliable metadata would be an utopia. It's also a pipe-dream, founded on self-delusion, nerd hubris and hysterically inflated market opportunities. (Cory Doctorow)