ISO Siglent scope for audio-rate work. Is there anything better than the 804x?

[bicstrom]

newb, but have tried searching.  Not a lot of threads about audio-rate applications. 

I'm interested in synthesizers, kit building, solid state and tube amps, microphones, hardware effects, and all associated audio electronics at various parts of the signal chain. Calibration, exploration, troubleshooting, repair, etc.

I understand that modern scopes may be overkill for this kind of low frequency work. I still want to get myself something nice to grow into and depend on for a long while. 

I've decided on Siglent for its relative polish & responsiveness vs. Rigol.  I have my eye on the SDS804X HD but  I am also looking at other bandwidth adjacent scopes in the 1000X-E, 2000x Plus, and 2000x HD series.

The 804x seems to check all the comparative boxes that I can think of. It is 12 bit and can be upgraded to 824x performance which puts the entry level scope seemingly on par with all the other (much) more expensive options on my shortlist.

So I guess the question becomes:  What meaningful improvements do other more expensive oscilloscopes offer for audio work over the 804x, if any?

The only things I can think of would be more processing power or resolution to provide "Better" analytic experiences for things like FFts or Bode plots. Also higher fit, finish, or everyday functionality to offer higher quality of life improvements that I might not know I need.

But I am prone to upselling myself.  I guess talk me out of it! 

[tautech]

The pick of the bunch is SDS2204X HD, very quiet, advanced memory management and slightly better quality encoders but all that comes at a cost....

[EvgenyG]

Narrow down your choices to 12bit. Going from 8bit to 12bit is like going from VGA to FullHD. Get the SDS804X HD. The "upgrade" also gives you more memory.
If you change memory depth to 10k it becomes super snappy, feels like analog scope which is probably what you want.
Roll mode works pretty well, you might need that too.
Touch screen is nice, but make sure you put screen protector on (Steam deck ones fit fine).
If you have money to spend, get an arb gen to pair with the scope.

[bicstrom]

The pick of the bunch is SDS2204X HD, very quiet, advanced memory management and slightly better quality encoders but all that comes at a cost....

  That's one heck of a machine!

[bicstrom]

Narrow down your choices to 12bit. Going from 8bit to 12bit is like going from VGA to FullHD. Get the SDS804X HD. The "upgrade" also gives you more memory.
If you change memory depth to 10k it becomes super snappy, feels like analog scope which is probably what you want.

Definitely what I'm after.  sluggish UI is a huge pet peeve for me!

Roll mode works pretty well, you might need that too.
Touch screen is nice, but make sure you put screen protector on (Steam deck ones fit fine).
If you have money to spend, get an arb gen to pair with the scope.

thanks for the rec, and the steam deck screen protector tip!

[tautech]

Narrow down your choices to 12bit. Going from 8bit to 12bit is like going from VGA to FullHD. Get the SDS804X HD. The "upgrade" also gives you more memory.
If you change memory depth to 10k it becomes super snappy, feels like analog scope which is probably what you want.
Roll mode works pretty well, you might need that too.
Touch screen is nice, but make sure you put screen protector on (Steam deck ones fit fine).

Yet Siglent displays use toughened glass so there's no real need for display protection unless in filthy environments.
Sure they get a little grubby if you use touch a lot but combine touch with the buttons and encoders and a mouse and the need to use touch is dramatically reduced ....who want's to use a scope without turning knobs/encoders anyways ? 

If you have money to spend, get an arb gen to pair with the scope.

Inbuilt Arbs output levels are very limited and while that might be fine for Bode plotting (FRA) passive filters they limit you to possibly not meeting thresholds on some devices.
An addition channel from a 2ch Arb opens up a multitude of other uses with 1 channel used to trigger the other for complex bursts, combining channels and the like. 

[egonotto]

Hello,

of the devices mentioned, I would go for the SDS804X HD.
 
Perhaps additionally a Siglent SDG1022X Plus or an Analog Discovery would also make sense.

Best regards
egonotto

[EvgenyG]

Inbuilt Arbs output levels are very limited and while that might be fine for Bode plotting (FRA) passive filters they limit you to possibly not meeting thresholds on some devices.
An addition channel from a 2ch Arb opens up a multitude of other uses with 1 channel used to trigger the other for complex bursts, combining channels and the like. 

On this topic, someone from Siglent actually sent me a personal email yesterday asking how my experience was so far. I told them it would be great if they had educational videos with basic and advanced use cases and apparently it is coming soon!

[Fungus]

Definitely what I'm after.  sluggish UI is a huge pet peeve for me!

Siglent is about average in that respect. The days of slow Rigols are long gone.

If you're looking in the 2000X-HD price level though, the Siglent is the one to go for. Rigols don't really have a competitor there.

(But yeah, that's total overkill for the jobs you mention, like saying "I need to do some shopping" then buying a $100,000 car)

[Conrad Hoffman]

I do mostly audio and went for the SDS824X HD plus a SDG2082X arb waveform generator. The combination is a joy to use. Be sure to get something like a tp-link TL-WR802N nanorouter so the scope can pick up the time from your wireless network when you switch it on. They don't cost much. The SDG2122X arb gen would be better because it covers the FM band, but it's more money and I have other generators for RF alignment. The 2082 seems to be the sweet spot in terms of price.

[bicstrom]

> Perhaps additionally a Siglent SDG1022X

> I do mostly audio and went for the SDS824X HD plus a SDG2082X arb waveform generator.

I am very inexperienced with AWGs.  Other than frequency difference, why might I want one over the other?  Doing a feature comparison on tequipment:

https://www.tequipment.net/product-comparison/?Items=972568,496371

I'm not immediately seeing differences othern than the 10vpp vs. 20vpp.

[tautech]

> Perhaps additionally a Siglent SDG1022X

> I do mostly audio and went for the SDS824X HD plus a SDG2082X arb waveform generator.

I am very inexperienced with AWGs.  Other than frequency difference, why might I want one over the other? 

I'm not immediately seeing differences other than the 10vpp vs. 20vpp.

It don't show......much.   

They both do 20V p-p into HiZ and 10V p-p into 50 Ohms.

[KungFuJosh]

Doing a feature comparison on tequipment:

Don't ever buy anything from them; they're the worst.

[mikes]

Doing a feature comparison on tequipment:

Don't ever buy anything from them; they're the worst.

No, it's just you. I've bought from them several times. No issues, I'm a happy customer. They even offer a discount code for users here.

[J-R]

They may not be "the worst", but there have been some bumps reported: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/issues-with-tequipment/

[mikes]

You can find issues with any vendor. People are more likely to post about bad than good. But there are also some people who like jump in at any chance to disparage, based on something which happened 7 years ago.

[KungFuJosh]

Doing a feature comparison on tequipment:

Don't ever buy anything from them; they're the worst.

No, it's just you. I've bought from them several times. No issues, I'm a happy customer. They even offer a discount code for users here.

It's not just me, plenty of people have had issues. You not having issues makes you special.

If there's no issue with your order or product, you'll never know the quality of customer service from a company.

I ordered from Tequipment twice in 8 years. Both times, they were scumbags. The first time, they tried to sell me an open box scope as new. The second time, they bait and switched a product in an order that ended with me reporting them to 3 attorneys general, and the FTC. Fuck Tequipment. Fuck them hard with pineapples.

I ordered a few times from Saelig, and every single time, they were awesome. The one time I had an issue with a product, they forced the manufacturer to make it right.

There's no comparison.

[J-R]

My issue happened less than two years ago.  Placed an order on the 30th for about a dozen items.  On the 10th I received notice that they shipped one of the items but nothing else.  On the 15th I got another notice that they had shipped the remaining items and I received them a few days later.  So two weeks to receive.  None of these items had any indication on their site that they were out of stock and would take weeks to get.

Another company on my bad list is Test Equipment Depot.  Similar issue where I placed a somewhat larger than normal order to consolidate on shipping charges, but some days later they e-mail and tell me the primary item I wanted would have to be special ordered and would take a week or so longer.  I cancelled the entire order.

I have zero use for any of that behavior.  Other companies like Jameco, Mouser, Digikey, etc. are 100% upfront on what they have in stock now, what might take a few days to receive to their warehouse, and what items are just not available.  Also, when I pay extra to get something fast, I get my money's worth.

[TomWinTejas]

They may not be "the worst", but there have been some bumps reported: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/issues-with-tequipment/

FWIW I purchased a Siglent SDS804X HD and a Keithley DMM6500 from them a week ago and the shipment arrived in a few days in great condition.  I previously ordered some Sensepeek PCBITE sets and had no issues as well.  Most people with great experiences don't bother leaving reviews and feedback...

[Calvin]

Hi,

while a oscilloscope is still a quite valuable tool in audio development, I´d regard a dedicated audio analyzer to be of higher useability.
The Quant Asylum beeing probabely the most capable and cost efficient in this regard and it´s clearly ahead when classical analog audio measurements are required.
If the audio analyzer doesn´t match your budget a good audio interface and open source software might do.
The Siglent has the edge when You concentrate on everything digital and off-audio.
The afore mentioned Digilent is kind of a inbetween device - less BW than the Siglent, but more than the Analyzer, less resolution than the Analyzer but more than the Osci- offering more analytical measurement techniques like VNA etc.

When things get more serious You´ll end up with both or all three devices anyway, Osci+Analyzer 

regards
Calvin

[Fungus]

If the audio analyzer doesn´t match your budget a good audio interface and open source software might do.

Download the Analog Discovery's "Waveforms" software and check it out, it's free to use with a PC sound card and does far more than a 'scope. You can use a 24-bit sound card, no problem.

https://digilent.com/reference/software/waveforms/waveforms-3/start

(most PC sound cards are probably good enough for audio analysis these days ... but a nice USB audio interface won't hurt)

[mikes]

Fuck Tequipment. Fuck them hard with pineapples.

With that juvenile method of communications, I wouldn't blame them for ignoring you.

[2N3055]

Fuck Tequipment. Fuck them hard with pineapples.

With that juvenile method of communications, I wouldn't blame them for ignoring you.

While the wording is not very appetizing, IMHO you should stop confusing cause and reaction.
Him using those words does not make him a bad guy here. He was wronged, he has right to be mad.
How you express it is different issue. You can call him vulgar, but do not pretend that means he is not right.
Everybody can be frustrated to the point of losing their temper.
And while you had good experience, there is other people that had bad one.

I personally like to hear bad experiences too. Like he told you, with other vendor he also had complaint that they handled valiantly. All praises.

While the one he  has colorfully complained about  sent him used equipment as new and then tried to pretend it ain't so.
Other time he had to make a legal action.. To other person they lied about delivery schedule..
So that is a vendor to be vigilant about. Good to know.

And for good/bad posts ratio, that is somewhat debatable. Sometimes it is like you say, and sometimes not.
People usually write in length (and hold grudge) when something really bad happens. But smaller anomalies, or those that get sorted out before they get really mad nobody will bother to spend time to write. But those are real problems that some other vendors don't have and there it is really smooth. So in real life you would be better of with other vendor. Not a big deal, just easier.