Hi,

I was wondering if there is any difference between various sound cards in terms of recording from analog source (line-in). Is a simple, bulit-in sound card sufficient?

Best regards,
rosemay

Sorry for bumping this topic, but I really need this information - I don't know if I should buy a better sound card . In my theory (I don't know if it's true or not) sound card should only get the amplitude information at some specified rate, and this looks (for me) much more simple than reconstructing analog singnal from PCM.
Thank you for any help.

Yes - to both questions.

There is a lot of difference between cards. Not just the hardware but the drivers too - I've had reports on $600 "pro" recording cards that just stop dead after 70 minutes of recording, while a $15 card (which is no longer in production - the Ensoniq AudioPCI 1370) gave excellent recordings.

What matters is S/N (noise), distortion, jitter and similar parameters. In general, "simple" cards perform better at recording than complex cards designed for 3D gaming because there's less interference from the other components.

Final advice: Listen to the card you have. If it sounds good to you, stop looking.

Maybe when a manufacturer makes a card for 3D gaming, he doesn't take care much of the line in, but the presence of 3D gaming abilities does not give an indication about the audio quality.
For example, between an SB64 PCI, simple audio card, and an SB live, with 3D gaming options, the later should have a better sound : the SN ratio is much better, and the frequency response is more linear.

Another important feature for line input, in my opinion, is the presence of an analog level setting. Most current soundcards can record line signals up to 1.4 Volts. If your source is louder (some CD players, many phono preamps), you can't record it without clipping, because the digital level setting acts after the ADC has clipped the source !
See
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=12102
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=12349
about this problem.

A signal of more than 2,0 Veff (RMS analog SACD player output against 50 kOhms) will clip my analog soundcard's (Terratec EWX 2496) input no matter what (I would need analog source attenuation first to record from sources with higher output) ... everything below 2,0 V is just fine and (real) analog gain can be easily applied to operate the ADC within it's optimal working range.

Personally, I would agree that a no-bulls**t audio I/O soundcard would be the best choice for HQ recording. But if you are satisfied with e.g. onboard sound (and today's codecs aren't that bad anymore in terms of linear frequency response, S/N and THD), why not use it ?

Yes, I have considered comparing the recorded material but unfortunately I don't have any other soundcard now . The problem is that not only I will be listening to recorded sound... But thank you for your opinions. I'll try to get a decent soundcard and do some ABX tests

PS. What is a "no-bulls**t audio I/O soundcard"? (I apologize for my English - it may be not very well).

"no-bulls**t" is a censored version of "no bullshit". i suppose this could be kinda strange for non-english as first language. JeanLuc means a sound card that is made only for recording and outputting, not applying 3d effects or doing other things that aren't immediately useful.

if you're wanting something better than an on-board sound chip, then you might as well go the full distance and get an external one, whether a breakout box, or USB sound card, or whatever.

basically, no matter how good an internal sound card is, it'll be sharing a power supply and an enclosure with some seriously badly interfering devices.

i can record the sound of minimizing a window, because my video card goes nuts when i do things like that.

basically, lots of high-RPM spinning magnetic devices in the same place as a sensitive piece of recording equipment is not a good idea. some cards will handle it better than others though.

I thought that the interference problems had become a non existent problem with nowadays cards.