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Looking for an audio analyzer

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_Wim_:

--- Quote from: ci11 on January 07, 2017, 07:41:44 pm ---
--- Quote from: _Wim_ on January 07, 2017, 07:28:56 pm ---
--- Quote from: ci11 on January 07, 2017, 05:40:17 pm ---The advatnage of using an audio interface is its relatively low initial cost, the con is the opamp many of them have in the signal chain were not made specifically for sound and vibration measurement - but "good sound", whatever that means to the designer.

--- End quote ---

This is not true, I have this card, and it frequency responce is rules flat, so no sound tailoring. See meausurment I made in loopback (output connected to input)

Edit: addad summary

--- End quote ---

I think there is a misunderstanding. What I said is "The one that sits in this sweet spot is the E-MU 1616m". This means that the 1616m is good, not bad. My comment is about 2 points:

1. Not every audio interface is a good candidate for objective measurement. The circuit, parts and implementation must be carefully evaluated. The 1616m is a winner, many are not.

2, Many audio interfaces cost well under $1000, some costing just $100 to $200 retail. At these prices, parts quality are not always the best. And that means they do not last, or they are not always linear. Even if the circuit, parts and implementation are all correct, if the parts quality do not stand up to critical use, then it's only as strong as the weakest link. In the case of the 1616m, the problems are in the caps count and their low quality. You can see bulges in many of the caps in the pictures listed in the post.

As to the drivers, there has been no issues with Win7 X64 or Win10 Pro. Touch wood - I have not seen a BSOD ever.

--- End quote ---

Ok, I misunderstood, sorry.

About point 1, I agree they are not all as good as the EMU, but many are more then good enough.
About point 2, haven't checked the caps, but so far the card perform normal
The drivers, I run on win7 32, and gives sometimes touble on pc, and from googling for a solution, I was for sure not alone (but havent found a solution)

ci11:

--- Quote from: _Wim_ on January 07, 2017, 07:47:53 pm ---The drivers, I run on win7 32, and gives sometimes touble on pc, and from googling for a solution, I was for sure not alone (but havent found a solution)

--- End quote ---

This works for me - but be careful these are the exact drivers you need, which may not be the ones on the Creative support site.

1. Install first the driver (EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA.exe),
2. Reboot,
3. Then the app (EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00.exe)

Good luck. It may or may not work, so YMMV.

_Wim_:

--- Quote from: ci11 on January 07, 2017, 07:52:27 pm ---This works for me - but be careful these are the exact drivers you need, which may not be the ones on the Creative support site.

1. Install first the driver (EmuPMX_PCDrv_US_2_30_00_BETA.exe),
2. Reboot,
3. Then the app (EmuPMX_PCApp_US_2_20_00.exe)

Good luck. It may or may not work, so YMMV.

--- End quote ---

Thanks. If it start acting up again, will give that a try.

ruairi:
DajMasta,

A $200 soundcard, $100 measurement mic and free software will not be the limiting factor in your tests. Measuring audio equipment and running acoustical testing accurately is not a trivial business.  Relating measurements to subjective observations is even trickier.

Take for example what you said below.

"Most of the testing I have in mind is either strictly electrical or acoustic with as much of the room taken out as possible (a source and a mic in a small isolation chamber in a quiet room)"

The space you measure in will dominate any tests at real audio frequencies.  Are there things you can do?  Sure, windowing for example is very powerful and can create quasi anechoic measurements limited in low frequency range only by the size of your room (which determines when surface reflections make it back to your mic).

Get an affordable sound card, a cheap calibrated mic and start measuring.  You will learn a lot by doing. 

alex89:
I am in a similar situation but my budget is currently limited around 1K. So far these are the unit I'm considering:

* QA401
* AP SYS-222
* JensH Audio Analyzer
The QA401 seems a very nice product. Yes it comes with its own software but as far as i know it works well and the software team seem responsive to user request. I don't like the BNC connectors and the fact you need to make your own adapters cable but it is probably the best bang per buck. I'm very tempted to buy it. The AP system one is a very old unit but it is the only option if you want to bring the best brand audio analyzer in you shop. The performance I guess are in the same neighborhood of the QA401 (?) but you need an old pc with ISA card and that doesn't seem very attractive to me.
The last one is not yet a product available in the market but it seems the more promising to me. I haven't followed the entire discussion on diyaudio.com but it looks like will give better performance compared to a QA401 and also ASIO support. I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Alessio


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