Subject:Soundcard Hiss Problems

Posted by: bolt

Date:1/4/2005 1:25:23 AM

Got a scenario where we are trying to record from a cassette deck. Even before the tape deck is switched on we can see that there is an awful lot of hiss being picked up.

At the moment the Pc is being built so we are using the on board sound. Is this hiss down to the internal noise? If so, will a sound card eliminate this and which sound card to go for?

Subject:RE: Soundcard Hiss Problems

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:1/4/2005 8:44:13 AM

Not sure about audible hiss but my internal motherboard sound chip has –48dB of noise when nothing is plugged into it! Motherboard audio chips are inherently very noisy. Once I switch to my M-Audio Firewire 410, the noise floor drops to –Inf. I would definitely say that a good sound card would eliminate this problem. The M-Audio Audiophile 2496 is only $99 and has great sound. So is the Echo MiaMIDI. Avoid anything from Creative Labs (i.e., Soundblaster, Audigy, etc.) like the plague. They are game cards fixed at 16 bit/48KHz internal sample rate and are not suitable for pro audio recording.

~jr

Subject:RE: Soundcard Hiss Problems

Reply by: bolt

Date:1/4/2005 3:37:06 PM

Thank you . Very useful post and answers my question. thanks