Gonna buy a new oscilloscope, which one to buy?

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silversweden

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Joined 2007
#1
Im going to invest in a new scope and a bench model is preferred but i can also think of something like the picoscope if the performance is better. My budget is around $300-600 but i can stretch a bit if its going to give me a better performance.

It will be used mostly in audio circuits, power supply, for both development and troubleshooting.

One really important function for me is FFT with a good resolution.
I will do comparisons between different transistors and transformers in the signal path and want to do measurements on frequency response.

The display should be quite good. 2 quality channels is needed. Don’t think i will be doing digital circuits but you never know.

Here are some options that came up when doing research:

Rigol DS1054Z
DS1054Z 50 MHz Digital Oscilloscope | Rigol - Beyond Measure

Tektronix TBS1032B
TBS1032B Tektronix | Mouser

Uni-T UTD2052CEX
Digital Storage Oscilloscopes-UNI-T

PicoScope 4262
https://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope/4262/picoscope-4262-overview

Lecroy Waveace2002 (this one has a 20% discount right now on ELFA)
https://www.elfa.se/en/oscilloscope...1+-+162170&page=18&origPageSize=50&simi=97.12

If you have some experience of the models i listed or you have some other options i would be glad if you want to share.

I rather pay a little more and have something i can use for years.

What is the advantage having a signal generator built into the scope compared to using an external one?
 
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#7
silversweden said:
Thanks! Interesting, have you used it? I will def look up this piece. Would you recommend an analog scope for audio waveforms?
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I was waiting for the QA405 but they brought out the 401. It is available in the USA and should become world wide soon.
I think they are checking to see if it needs debugging in any way before going world wide. Software can be updated at any time and seems to be an ongoing development.
 
#11
silversweden said:
I was hoping to but maybe thats out of my price range. From what my research tells me the cheaper scopes are not that great for FFT measurements. Any recommendations? Would the picoscope give me more value for the money here?
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No money will buy you a scope with decent audio-analysis capabilitis (for scopes, more money mostly means more bandwidth). It's simply the wrong tool for this.

Samuel
 
#13
Samuel Groner said:
No money will buy you a scope with decent audio-analysis capabilitis (for scopes, more money mostly means more bandwidth). It's simply the wrong tool for this.

Samuel
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Thanks for the advice, thinking of buying the QA401.

If i go with the Rigol also has this version:
DS1074Z-S 70 MHz Digital Oscilloscope | Rigol - Beyond Measure

It has a built in signal generator, but i don't know if its worth twice the money.

I need a quality signal generator but i can only find really expensive ones...

Although i have a quality sound card ~$2500..
 
#14
I think you are in the wrong price range for good FFT. I think it's better if you get a good sound card to begin with. You'll need 16 bit or more and how many reasonably priced scopes have that?

Samuel is right, you'll need an Audio Precision (or similar). The best spectrum analyzer can't handle audio very well either.
 
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#15
peranders said:
I think you are in the wrong price range for good FFT. I think it's better if you get a good sound card to begin with. You'll need 16 bit or more and how many reasonably priced scopes have that?

Samuel is right, you'll need an Audio Precision (or similar). The best spectrum analyzer can't handle audio very well either.
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Okay i have the Apogee Ensemble TB, really nice. But dont think i can use it for measurements?
 
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