ADCs seem to have less problems than DACs, despite both using sigma-delta modulators. Some of that may be because opamps are at the input of an ADC but at the output of a DAC. There is a lot of RF noise coming out of a DAC that opamps have to be able to tolerate. The non-PSS distortion residual Scott Wurcer posted was, I believe, taken at the output of an I/V opamp.
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Useless effort, he still buys into products named after alien Trek Voyager technology and advertised to affect polarity of close proximity fermions.
I do not doubt that they do there math inside with 32bit floating point - but there is no codec known to me that digitizes deeper than 24bit linear. And it is obvious that calculations are done with higher precision as incoming date. And btw, what exactly does 32 bit floating point mean? 24bit mantissa and 8 bit exponent?
Maybe the term "bit" means something different in the marketing department, but this is a quote from their press announcement:
Many will instantly notice the absence of any gain controls, which have been omitted due to the extensive dynamic range offered by the device's 32-bit floating point A-D conversion.
Here is the link:
https://www.soundonsound.com/news/zoom-release-uac-232
Oddly one would expect this "Star Trek" technology to be rather pricey, but it is advertised by the typical online music stores for $200, but nobody has them in stock.
A bit of Google and YouTube detective work yields a plausible explanation. The key words in the marketing blurb is that the UAC-232 is based on the technology found in their F series recorders:
There's a thin line between "processed" and "learned", based on experience.
Agreed, but analog audio has a century advantage over digital.
Maybe it is not a matter of technology, maybe it is only a matter of time.
@ulogon
"Agreed, but analog audio has a century advantage over digital.
"Maybe it is not a matter of technology, maybe it is only a matter of time."
I have to say that it's also a matter of marketing strategies, which make people nuts, obsessed, and continually investing in "the latest".
Decades of time passed, and people were generally satisfied with what some people would call "mediocre quality" by todays definition.
The roots of analog audio were based on factual, proven designs, tweaked through the years, cresting around the 1970's/1980's.
The Golden Era as it's known.
However, when digital reared its head, along with outsourcing manufacturing, and indeed having some impressive results, I believe the products overall quality suffered.
The reliability that once was paramount, isn't there like it used to be.
It's easy to see too - take a look at the plethora of comments on here, and across the internet of all the 'newer' products, and complaints/issues.
And the many discussions of incompatability involved.
Marketing/innovation created that mess.
That's why me, along with many others, cling to the 'vintage' stuff, because we know that being satisfied and content with it is not worth the currently marketed 'convenience features' that create more hassle than they're worth.
"Agreed, but analog audio has a century advantage over digital.
"Maybe it is not a matter of technology, maybe it is only a matter of time."
I have to say that it's also a matter of marketing strategies, which make people nuts, obsessed, and continually investing in "the latest".
Decades of time passed, and people were generally satisfied with what some people would call "mediocre quality" by todays definition.
The roots of analog audio were based on factual, proven designs, tweaked through the years, cresting around the 1970's/1980's.
The Golden Era as it's known.
However, when digital reared its head, along with outsourcing manufacturing, and indeed having some impressive results, I believe the products overall quality suffered.
The reliability that once was paramount, isn't there like it used to be.
It's easy to see too - take a look at the plethora of comments on here, and across the internet of all the 'newer' products, and complaints/issues.
And the many discussions of incompatability involved.
Marketing/innovation created that mess.
That's why me, along with many others, cling to the 'vintage' stuff, because we know that being satisfied and content with it is not worth the currently marketed 'convenience features' that create more hassle than they're worth.
I do not clinge to vintage stuff and do not share the opinion that the golden era of audio lied in the seventies. At that time I tried to record my acoustic guitar with a professional tape recorder and learned that the dynamic range of 65dB was quite unsatifsfying to my ears. After some experiments I decided that 90dB S/N would be the goal - everything beyond that being superfluous. With 16bit digital audio you achieve this goal - and todays codecs typicalle resolve 18~24bit. It has never been easier to do extensive audio measurements and documentate the results automagically - with cheap off-the-shelf equipment, no need to buy an expensive AP. For me the "golden era of audio" - if any -
is today.
is today.
The lack of specifications these days is due in part to manufacturers knowing that general society isn't interested in such things.
The 'earbud' generation has been groomed to accept what decades ago was important and useful.
Marketing pushes superficiality, glamor, lack of styling, fancy features, and IMO boring cloned looks.
Those expensive new amplifiers (class D?) in a stark plain case, with a single knob on the front for volume are once example.
You can shove them.
The 'earbud' generation has been groomed to accept what decades ago was important and useful.
Marketing pushes superficiality, glamor, lack of styling, fancy features, and IMO boring cloned looks.
Those expensive new amplifiers (class D?) in a stark plain case, with a single knob on the front for volume are once example.
You can shove them.
And that's where your beliefs are at, and free to reside there.
Ebay has them, albeit at 2-3X the $200 retail. Must be a supply problem, if you want it now.
I find no direct mention of S/N. The spec sheet shows an equivalent input noise of -127 dBu and a maximum input level from +6 dBu to +24 dBu depending on input and impedance settings. This would imply a S/N of well over 120 dB which is impressive even if it's only attainable in a "clean room" environment. Turn on a few LED lights, the computer, monitor, and other SMPS based noise makers and nobody gets 120 dB.
Spec Sheet:
https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/audio-interface/audio-interfaces/uac-232/
I think you meant "blindly accept". I think, in terms of the masses, it's a matter of education. Decades ago, education was important. One of my neighborhood best friend's father had a PhD in Physics, 7 kids, kept a boa as a pet, a rat colony to feed it, was an artist, inventor, deeply religious - and had the only good stereo system on the whole street. He also got the very first IBM PC immediately. As a kid, he was an impressive fellow.
These days we've multiple examples that any 'ol POS can make it millionaire big, if they're lucky and talented. Masses of youngsters see that and say "See? You dont need to bother with any of that s___; doesnt matter what the numbers say or do to make it in life".
A specification of S/N is not found there. Nonetheless the trick with 2-stage A-D conversation may yield pretty good audible results. I do not see this for 200$ but >600 Euro street price here.
None of those things!
I can't be bothered with something so idiotic and stripped of features.
Meaningful, useful, controls that do something besides a single stinkin' volume control are what I value.
According to the Zoom web site the release date is March 2023 so in theory, nobody has them. Give it some time and the official retail price will rise, or the discounters will drive the street price down. The direction the price goes depends on market acceptance. I bought a Zoom 505 DSP guitar pedal when they first came out in the mid 90's. I don't remember the price, but they were selling for half what I paid within a year. Their portable digital field recorders are however very well received and many still go for list price on Ebay and Amazon.
If I take my synth or guitar on a road trip or to the beach, I just use an old Focusrite Scarlett Solo interface and a laptop. It's good enough for what I do.
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