About four years ago I was in a similar spot. Looking for a good AD/DAC to replace the M-Audio Firewire 410.... Firewire was going away... so I needed a USB interface.
Had some long discussions with a couple of commercial sellers who carried the Focusrite products. Both recommended the RME so long as I was willing to pay the price.
RME ADI-2 Pro FS R Black Edition is what I went with... Bought it used. Never looked back.
Had some long discussions with a couple of commercial sellers who carried the Focusrite products. Both recommended the RME so long as I was willing to pay the price.
RME ADI-2 Pro FS R Black Edition is what I went with... Bought it used. Never looked back.
In my experience you can't go wrong on a 3rd generation Focusrite for the price (no affiliation). They are well supported with nice drivers and plenty of features for amateur musicians and decent sound quality. For DSP (CamillaDSP) it would be interesting to get a multichannel Scarlett and it is also supported on Linux. The downside is that the inputs and outputs are 1/4" TRS jacks, to be used as balanced or unbalanced signal connections. While this is normal in a home studio setting, the absence of RCA connections is a pain in the ...., but you can work around that with adapters or custom cables.
@Horneydude I'm not fussy lol, the 4th Gern has a lower noise floor than the RME black editions. The 3rd gen is -120 4th gen is -128 while the RME ADI-2 is -124.....
I thought the giga-performing noise floor devices were mostly useful for modern amplifier testing; what matching noise floor environment does any mortal have on hand to test a speaker FR within?
The Focusrite Scarlet series is not cheap, in fact it is a perfect price/ quality relationship. Good measurements electronically and the solid quality of the mechanics, backed up by very good software/ drivers. Even the Gen 1 in reality have very good data. If you don't want to spend a fortune, this is a tool that will last very long, compared to the real cheap stuff you can buy.
If you are an electronics developer, you will not use a soundcard anyway, but for anything related to loudspeakers they are 100% all you need.
PS OK, you may need a Klippel, that is another story...
If you are an electronics developer, you will not use a soundcard anyway, but for anything related to loudspeakers they are 100% all you need.
PS OK, you may need a Klippel, that is another story...
And you gonna hear the difference between -120 and -128 and -124...
What, are you like measuring the Deep Space in intergalactic space?
At some point, it's not the noise floor, but the quality of the converters and the analog components.