how do soundcards/audio interfaces affect quality?

stashspliffs

@hank_chill
I've heard plenty of talk that a good soundcard can make a great difference in the overall sound of a production. My question is how greatly does this affect the sound quality? Also, can an external audio interface act in place of a soundcard and affect the quality other than just through vocal recording quality, physical instruments, etc..
 
There's a few things...

* The analog to digital converter affects anything being recorded from "the outside" - mics, instruments, outboard effects and such...the exception being digital gear with digital outputs, which of course needn't to be converted to digital. The differences are subtle, but tend to stack up - like when you're recording a lot of out real instruments: as an example, if the converter introduces an inaudible EQ hump @ 400Hz, it'd probably become somewhat prominent if you stack ten tracks with the same hump on top of each other.

* The digital to analog converters affect the outgoing sound from the computer...but only what you hear. It doesn't change the files in any way, so it's an indirect influence. There's a lot of talk about the converters these days, but let's just say that 95% of us amateur music-makers need not to worry about them - the converters (both ways) are pretty good even in all but the cheapest of the cheap interfaces (and even the cheapest stuff is rarely so bad you'd instantly hear "that horrible conversion").

* Latency tends to affect playing, especially if you're monitoring through your DAW (instead of direct through the interface) - but that depends on what you're doing. With a guitar, even a few milliseconds can throw you off, but probably doesn't have much impact on playing, say, a sweeping, slow-attack synth pad.

* And naturally, mic preamps (which most interfaces these days have) impart some kind of qualities to the sound. These'll probably have more impact on the sound than the converters.

But all in all, the actual differences in sound are subtle, in most situations. When you have an awesome monitoring environment (ie. great room & great acoustics & great monitors), then these things start to make a real difference. Before you've reached that point, pay attention, but don't stress it too much :) Your skills the sound sources are much more bigger factors in how your stuff sounds than any of these things.
 
Short answer from me.

Better quality A/D converters will improve sound recorded in to computer e.g microphones, instruments.
Better quality D/A converters will improve sound being played to speakers. This will help you make better mix decisions giving you a better overall sound.
 
Short answer from me.

Better quality A/D converters will improve sound recorded in to computer e.g microphones, instruments.
Better quality D/A converters will improve sound being played to speakers. This will help you make better mix decisions giving you a better overall sound.

Silly question, but how do you know if ts got a good A/D or D/A to begin with..what levels are considered to be poor, average and great?
 
Pretty much any A/D D/A convertor thats included inside of an interface is considered to be crap by "pro" standards... only dedicated D/A A/D convertors are any good at all (read they must cost $$$ lots of $$$ to be any good)... I've not heard a pro level engineer ever say "Those A/D's in that presonus are top notch"... it just doesn't happen...
 
Generally it's down to money. I'd say in all-in-one interfaces the D/A and A/D are generally matched for that particular level. I'll give you a list of entry level interfaces through to the higher end stuff:-

1. Behringer / Numark
2. M-audio / Alesis
3. Focusrite
4. Motu / Avid
5. RME / TC electronics
6. Apogee / Lynx

and as said dedicated units work much better. I used to use the saffire LE and although a step above pluging straight into my computers soundcard, I could instantly recognise the step up in quality when I bought my Benchmark DAC1 :)
 
Silly question, but how do you know if ts got a good A/D or D/A to begin with..what levels are considered to be poor, average and great?

You only know from experience. Me personally... I know the difference by 1) researching potential good ones, 2) buying it and comparing it to my old one.

Without the comparison... you literally have no idea, other than user reviews.
 
well the reason I asked, is i use the Focusrite Pro24 - apparently they have award winning pre's - but, having said that, I always find my recordings a little flat/dull or generally a bit lifeless.
So was thinking to upgrade. (sometime in the future, but not yet)

However, as the focusrite is firewire and therfore mysoundcard, if say for example i got a dedicated mic-pre, I'd still have to use the focusrite, therfore ignoring the fact I just got a better product.. right?

(not that savvy with H/W, sorry)
 
You only know from experience. Me personally... I know the difference by 1) researching potential good ones, 2) buying it and comparing it to my old one.

Without the comparison... you literally have no idea, other than user reviews.

That's a double-edged sword, especially if you're someone who likes stuff (gear lust), you can psych yourself into believing that something new sounds better when it sounds exactly the same, or the change in quality is so imperceptible as to not really count for anything
 
That's a double-edged sword, especially if you're someone who likes stuff (gear lust), you can psych yourself into believing that something new sounds better when it sounds exactly the same, or the change in quality is so imperceptible as to not really count for anything

Agreed. Unless you do really really good research.

For instance, in my case.. I had a MAudio FW410. Side-graded to an Echo interface in the same price range. I originally just wanted better driver stability. But in additon to the drivers, many many reviews say it has great converters. I didn't believe, nor did i care... but BOY did I notice the difference immediately on the switch.

My only real point though (perhaps it wasn't clear), is that you only truly know you have better converters by hearing what better converters sound like... and how they put your monitors to better use. I had been told this in many threads before, but it took experiencing it to really understand that.

Can't wait until I have a good enough environment to warrant jumping up to a bigboy converter, but the Echo is really outstanding quality at this price range.
 
If you got a dedicated mic-pre then it would run into the line in on the focusrite and not the mic pre (this would impart less colour to the sound from the focusrite as it isn't adding as much gain to the signal) so you would still have the benefit of having a better mic pre. Hope this helps.
 
thanks a ton guys but one more question: can a soundcard affect midi, overall mix quality? I.e. when I export my track would it sound better if I had a better soundcard because it makes the file better quality or does the soundcard only affect playback? So if I listened to the same file on a computer with a different soundcard it would automatically sound a bit better
 
thanks a ton guys but one more question: can a soundcard affect midi, overall mix quality? I.e. when I export my track would it sound better if I had a better soundcard because it makes the file better quality or does the soundcard only affect playback? So if I listened to the same file on a computer with a different soundcard it would automatically sound a bit better

You gotta read man. Maybe it wasn't clear... but it's already been said.

No.. the sound card doesn't affect the actual file on export. It only affects the audio you're inputting through it, and the playback coming out your speakers so you can make better mixing decisions. That's a big deal in itself. But no... if you're exporting a song, it doesn't matter what soundcard you use... it will sound 100% the same.

It affects midi performance b/c good soundcards offer lower latency (best seen as the time it takes for you to hear a sound after you press a key).
 
In addition to expanding your inputs and outputs, audio interfaces can also greatly improve the sound quality of your computer. Every time you record new audio or listen through speakers and headphones, the audio interface will reproduce a more accurate representation of the sounds.
 
In my opinion, one can produce great recordings using just an iphone mic. At these levels, people should not get stuck thinking about the gear they need to use etc. It really doesn't matter which audio interface you use in the beginning. Better to focus on your music and mixing techniques.

Clear example: If Armin Van Buuren will produce better quality music than me even with an iphone AND EVENTHOUGH if I have his gear, setup, audio interfaces etc.
 
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