Products > Test Equipment
Cheap and Small Dynamic Signal Analyzer?
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maxwell3e10:

--- Quote from: electrolust on August 17, 2020, 09:56:50 pm ---Signal Hound USB-SA44B (1Hz)
Bode 100 (1Hz)
Keysight E5061B (5 Hz)

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I wouldn't get an instrument primarily designed for RF, it likely will not have a good performance down at 1 Hz, not to mention the cost. SRS does make a nice low-frequency spectrum analyzer with 5 nV/Sqrt(Hz) noise level down to a few Hz, but it's a dinosaur.
Berni:

--- Quote from: electrolust on August 17, 2020, 09:56:50 pm ---
--- Quote from: maxwell3e10 on August 16, 2020, 02:03:00 am ---Surprisingly there doesn't seem to be a new instrument-grade low-frequency spectrum analyzer.

--- End quote ---
Signal Hound USB-SA44B (1Hz)
Bode 100 (1Hz)
Tek RSA7100B (1Hz)
Keysight E5061B (5 Hz)

--- End quote ---

You typically wouldn't want to use a spectrum analyzer for this. The noise floor down there might be too unpredictable and you might be lacking the dynamic range of a proper DSA.

But there are spectrum analyzers that go down to actual DC:
https://www.keysight.com/en/pd-1000002367%3Aepsg%3Apro-pn-89410A/vector-signal-analyzer-with-w-cdma-capability-dc-to-10-mhz?cc=SI&lc=eng
I got scored once of these cheep and it is a pretty capable DSA like instrument except it goes DC to 10 MHz. Ignore the W-CDMA part (It is capable of analyzing digital I/Q data from a separate giant 3GHz RF downconverter box that optionally goes under it) it does the usual DSA stuff like measuring the noise floor of opamps or distortion tests. Also includes a signal generator to sweep the phase and frequency response of your DUT.


--- Quote from: exe on August 17, 2020, 11:43:14 am ---What are recommended sounds cards for the job?

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I don't know what sound cards to recommend because i ended up building my own that is designed for the job and includes galvanic isolation from USB. It was mainly used to measure noise and THD. Got down into something like 0.0004% THD and down into -150dB of noise.

But if you want something off the shelf id say the QuantAsylum QA401 is a pretty good choice. Its not just for audio.
KE5FX:
+1 to that.  The 89410A / 89441A is one of the most underrated boxes around.  Unlike so many other HP DSAs, it 'drives' like it was designed by the 8568/8566 team, even though it was created in a completely different era by a completely different engineering group. 

Beautiful piece of hardware.  Shame they never published a CLIP for it.
avlijas.sladjan:
https://www.picotech.com/oscilloscope/4262/picoscope-4262-overview

It is 16bit 5MHz oscilloscope but for low frequency can oversample to 20bit.
maxwell3e10:

--- Quote from: KE5FX on August 18, 2020, 06:02:38 am ---+1 to that.  The 89410A / 89441A is one of the most underrated boxes around. 

--- End quote ---
Looks promising and maybe a little cheaper than a used SR780, plus a color CRT, that's progress!
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