new soundcard/converters

a bebop a rebop · Post by **a bebop a rebop** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 2:22 pm

So I did eventually get the Audiophile 2496, it came in yesterday and I've been messing around with it. Love love love, sounds great, I can run over one hojillion tracks and soft-synths and effects at the same time without the pops and the crackles when I use the ASIO drivers, blah blah blah. Fantastic.

I do have one question though. The fact that all of the audio inputs/outputs are RCA jacks surprises me a little. Of course I haven't used any professional or even semi-pro equipment ever, so I'm wondering how prevalent the RCA standard is compared to the typical 1/4" stereo jack, and what are the pros/cons of each?

Also I had to get some Radioshack converters to send the sound to my speakers (Logitech x230 2.1s -- I hope to upgrade to some real monitors at some point, or at least some decent headphones, but this is what I have for now). And whenever I get a mic, I'll have to get another converter to send it into the sound card, whether it's an XLR or a 1/4" mic. What effect will the converters have on the signal chain?

Post by jb » Wed Jan 25, 2006 2:41 pm

More noise.

ken · Post by **ken** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:26 pm

Get a mixer and hook it up to your sound cards in/out. It may even have RCA connecters. Then you can connect your headphones and monitors to the mixer.

Ken

a bebop a rebop · Post by **a bebop a rebop** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 6:06 pm

jb wrote:More noise.

I'm not really clear on what you're referring to here, I asked like 5 questions.

blue · Post by **blue** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 6:34 pm

he meant the converters will add more noise.

RCA used to be more of a standard when small format tape machines were more popular. it has faded to mostly home equipment at this point.

i agree with what ken said.. most small mixers these days have RCA outputs.