While USB 2.0 qualifies as 'enough' bandwidth, the fact that it's a uni-directional protocol that has to be directly managed by the CPU/driver to be bi-directional, along with its data framing requires causes lower limits.
BEST EXTERNAL SOUND CARD VS INTERNAL DRIVER
The larger problem is having the wire protocol and driver agility to manage the stream. A mere 400Mbits/sec is enough for 128 channels of 96K audio.
I've used the factory-shipped USB 2.0 adapter, a Klark-Teknik DN9630 USB-to-AES50, a Lynx PCIe-to-AES50 adapter, and an RME MADI adapter.Īs for bandwidth, audio isn't any big deal in that respect. I recently was able to zoom in and compare the samples from the Audient ADAT conversion with the Audient analog signals coming through the Midas M32 preamp circuits at 0-dB gain, and they were identical.Īs for the latency, I've attached the round-trip latency figures of the various ways that I have attached this Midas mixer to my DAW computers. In addition to the native preamps, I have four channels of Audient ASP800 Retro Channel preamps connected into the M32.
I have a Midas M32 mixer as the center of my studio. I can help you along the path with some data from my studio. The complexity of your question comes from the fact that there are so many products, and that sound quality is a subjective element. No wonder there are so many threads from unsure users, not knowing what is the best option for their setup. Now, some modern external digital mixers also seem to have this ability, that the external audio interface does, to be able to record several tracks simultaneously over wire (USB or whatever) right into the DAW.īut the question here is, how good are those recordings really?Īn external digital mixer with all the knobs and faders that cost less then an external audio interface can not give the same quality recordings as the latter, or can it? The answer should be no.īut where are all the tests? The real world tests, that measures latency and audio quality in actual recordings, between these three options?
And because of the wired connection it should have more latency than an internal sound card, and also be more limited to bandwidth throughput compared to the PCIe alternative (althugh this doesn't seem to be a problem with USB 2 or the even faster USB 3). Today there's also digital mixers which can act as an external audio interface with multitrack throughput through USB, something that makes the choice even harder.īut what on earth should one chose? What are the difference between these options quality wise? Why haven't I found a single site on the Internet with actual test comparisons?Īn internal PCIe sound card should be the best choice latency wise, also this should give the highest quality recording together with the external audio interface.Īn external audio interface is more or less the same thing as the internal audio card, only it is an external audio card, but communicating with the computer through a wire (USB, Firewire, etc.), instead of PCIe (or the older PCI for that matter). I wonder why.įirst of all, an internal audio card, an external audio interface and an external digital mixer can all do the same thing - to convert analogue audio into digital form for the computer to recognize and being able to record.Įspecially the internal audio card and the external audio interface is more or less the same thing but in a different form and sometimes with different options. There are tons of misconceptions and misunderstandings regarding this topic. Why can't I find more definitive answers? Can it be because there seems to be no real life tests/comparisons between these 3 different types of analogue to digital conversion to be able to record external gear in a computer DAW? YES! There are tons of threads with this question, but I have read so many threads about this without a more definitive answer, I want to lift this question.
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