A/D Conversion - Revisiting an old topic

[Unknown]

Recently, somebody asked about some suggestions on analog -to- digital conversion for the home/consumer market (i.e., I can't afford what Steve Hoffman probably has). I heard the best shot was to pipe the signal into your computer.

Discussion then turned to sound cards.

Okay, suppose I can't stand my computer with all the noise interference it causes (however slight) to the sound channels. My sound card is OKAY, but I wouldn't trust it with A/D conversion. What are your recommendations for an out-of-the-case soloution (i.e., seperate A/D converters, non-PC equipment, etc.)? Remember it has to be priced in the home/consumer market, not the Steve Hoffman/professional dude market or even the I-drive-a-Lexus market.

[Unknown]

How about an Art DI/O? Great bang for the buck, and does DAC as well as ADC, up to 24/96. The price is right, and it has a real tube inside.
http://www.artproaudio.com/products_detail.asp?PRODUCTID=75

That's what I use, and a few people on this forum have vinyl rips I've done with it. It has also developed a great reputation as a budget audiophile DAC.

Besides that, I don't think there's much in the low-end consumer market. There are the various Midiman flying moo moos, and the Holt ACKDAC.
http://www.midiman.net/midiman/html/products/cow.htm
http://www.midiman.net/midiman/html/products/calfad.htm
http://www.holtmods.com/

I had the Holt for a while and returned it. Not nearly as versatile as the Art overall -- the Holt *only* does 18/48 DAC. It does, FWIW, do Toslink and has RCA interconnect jacks (two sets). BTW, with either the Midiman or ART units, you'll need to convert from instrument jacks to RCAs (simple enough).

Also, ART customer service is divine.

[Paul C.]

I don't know a lot about this stuff, but I believe there is a product called the Marian Marc 2, which is a good quality sound card for PC, with RCA and optical connectors (http://www.marian.de/english/main.htm).

There is also one called the Audiophile 2496 (RRP $229) (http://www.midiman.net/m-audio/product.htm) that has RCA connectors.

They are off course not out-board cards, but I think they would do a reasonable job compared to most PC cards.

[Grant]

Don't forget the cards by Echo (Layla, Darla, Mia, Mona, and Gina), and the M/Midiman cards. Some have breakout boxes, some are onboard, but they are steps above the usual consumer gamer crap.