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My cable test enterprise - Page 11

post #151 of 437
2/9/09 at 3:52pm
I should give myself an award for being an idiot. It never occurred to me that you are using the USB DAC/ADC for input. All audiophile gear is output (DAC) only.

If you can get the financial support for it, I strongly suggest you consider the EMU-0404 USB. It costs $200.

A review

This is a top class USB DAC/ADC. It can even be used as a standalone (without a computer) DAC. It has been tested by people in pro audio and is highly rated. Unfortunately it does not have analog RCA inputs. I'm not sure how many pro interfaces do. You need an RCA to 1/4 converter, but that could be seen as a conflating influence on your tests.

Newegg is a great online store. It's one of the best.
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post #152 of 437
2/9/09 at 5:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by odigg View Post
You need an RCA to 1/4 converter, but that could be seen as a conflating influence on your tests.
Indeed, I did look into the EMUs but discounted them for that reason..
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post #153 of 437
2/10/09 at 12:52pm
Thread Starter 

Edirol update

Neither Audacity, Cool Edit Pro or Vista for that matter will recognize the Edirol as a recording device without both 1) The Edirol drivers and 2) the Advanced setting selected so that is out. However I do have an XP machine I can try with...
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post #154 of 437
2/10/09 at 4:43pm
Could this help in any way maybe?
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post #155 of 437
2/10/09 at 5:27pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kees View Post
Could this help in any way maybe?
Thanks for the reply but I need a USB ADC with RCA analog inputs. I must keep to this spec, it does not matter about the DAC side but it must have a decent ADC section. I believe the Infrasonic will be okay if I cannot get the Edirol or Behringer to work as well as needed.

The problem is that apart from musicians nobody really needs an ADC very much these days so I daresay that section gets short shrift in low end commercal designs(*), heck why record a CD from the analog output section when you can rip it with zero errors ?


* - My Edirol ADC is okay as long as you do not demand too much from it such as low level linearity which judging from my results is quite poor.
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post #156 of 437
2/10/09 at 5:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nick_charles View Post
Neither Audacity, Cool Edit Pro or Vista for that matter will recognize the Edirol as a recording device without both 1) The Edirol drivers and 2) the Advanced setting selected so that is out. However I do have an XP machine I can try with...
It might be a Vista Issue. I had a UA1-EX at one point. I don't recall all that I did with it, but I think I used it with advanced mode on and off. In either case the Edirol worked without loading special (other than what windows automatically installed when I plugged it in) drivers in XP.

Ubuntu also recognizes it...if you care about that particular headache.
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post #157 of 437
2/10/09 at 6:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by odigg View Post
It might be a Vista Issue. I had a UA1-EX at one point. I don't recall all that I did with it, but I think I used it with advanced mode on and off. In either case the Edirol worked without loading special (other than what windows automatically installed when I plugged it in) drivers in XP.

Ubuntu also recognizes it...if you care about that particular headache.
I have used the Edirol in XP without the advanced settings okay, this was before my XP media center notebook HD went belly up, but I have not tried to record with the advanced setting off.
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post #158 of 437
2/11/09 at 10:57pm
This is a fascinating thread; a true credit to the community of enthusiasts. Although I am a newbie to head-fi, this thread, provides a bit of insight into the complexity of “prosumer” audio. Excellent methodology Nick, you should be commended for your honesty, especially when your methodology did not meet your standards. Subscribed and looking for forward to future installments.

-PB
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post #159 of 437
2/11/09 at 11:26pm
Thread Starter 

minor update

The Edirol will work under XP as a recorder and I have reloccated the Behringer so I will be able to start rerunnning the calibration tests over the weekend. This may take some time...
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post #160 of 437
2/11/09 at 11:49pm
And you should have my set of cables soon if not already to add to your mix.
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post #161 of 437
2/11/09 at 11:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxvla View Post
And you should have my set of cables soon if not already to add to your mix.
Ah, sorry, I forgot to mention that they arrived a couple of days ago but I have not had a chance to test them out.

Cheers
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post #162 of 437
2/14/09 at 9:14pm
Thread Starter 

New reliability tests completed

It seems that aligning to within +/- 1/1000 of a second is not good enough.

I fired up the Behringer and ran ten tests using the cymbals crash. Then I carefully trimmed and aligned the samples to within +/- 1/100,000 of a second, which will be my protocol from now on.

Results, maximum difference between min and max for any frequency point is 0.102db (at 19K and -61db) , average difference between min and max at all frequency points is 0.0122db.

Signal level varies from - 8.89 db to - 62.85. ADC remains reliable down to lowest recorded levels

I can happily restart my tests. Phew !
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post #163 of 437
2/15/09 at 1:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nick_charles View Post
It seems that aligning to within +/- 1/1000 of a second is not good enough.

I fired up the Behringer and ran ten tests using the cymbals crash. Then I carefully trimmed and aligned the samples to within +/- 1/100,000 of a second, which will be my protocol from now on.

Results, maximum difference between min and max for any frequency point is 0.102db (at 19K and -61db) , average difference between min and max at all frequency points is 0.0122db.

Signal level varies from - 8.89 db to - 62.85. ADC remains reliable down to lowest recorded levels

I can happily restart my tests. Phew !
Back in business! Perhaps in time you'll be able to compare results with Tyll's...
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post #164 of 437
2/15/09 at 10:25pm
Thread Starter 
New test of Sidewinder vs Stock cable with cymbal crash
-------------------------------------------------------

Max difference 0.102340db average difference 0.003539db

Average overall signal
Stock------------ Sidey ------------ difference
-37.743888 ******-37.742651 ****-0.001237







This graph shows the stock cable with the sidewinder dropped by 20db so you can see the patterns




For the Anoraks - the distribution of differences against frequency




And finally difference vs signal level

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post #165 of 437
2/16/09 at 12:11am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by CompressionalFlagellation View Post
Back in business! Perhaps in time you'll be able to compare results with Tyll's...
May take some time. Trimming and aligning 10 samples to the required accuracy takes about 2 hours...
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