Johan Simbade
A Guide To Understanding Audio Interfaces
Sound cards are a great addition to the latest motherboards. Motherboards that do not contain sound cards are lacking in several areas. This is where the sound card review comes in. The review will reveal all of the facts about the various sound cards and why you should not purchase them based on the facts found in their review.
Most good sound cards come with high-end analog output and high-quality DVI or VGA input. They also tend to be susceptible to electrical interference from other components on the motherboard, both internally and externally. If the motherboard has more than one component that uses different pin connectors, then these pins can cause interference as well. Motherboards that do not include onboard audio can often lack digital outputs, headphone jacks, or even USB ports. The best sound cards will be compatible with all of these options and most manufacturers offer a range of motherboards to choose from.
Headphones are a major problem for many sound cards. You will experience distortion if you are using headphones or speaker wires to connect to your computer. Digital output or direct digital audio outputs, which are typically required for headphones, do not carry enough high frequency for good quality audio quality with the output transistor.
Some of the newer sound cards require the use of onboard audio output, but only if the corresponding USB port is working. The newer cards are much smaller than the older versions and can fit directly into the PCI slot on modern motherboards. Many older motherboards are not equipped with PCI slots to support such advanced devices. You should check your motherboard’s manual for details on what it requires. The best sound cards will also have an audio interface for connecting to standard computers.
Headphones are the major disadvantage with sound cards. Although they are cheap and easy to install, you must carry cables to connect them to your computer. Also, sound cards are designed for use with specific makes of computer. For example, the latest cards for recording are designed for the Mac. If your computer uses another operating system, the chances are the sound card on your computer will not support it.
Although sound cards will cost more money than the equivalent components for either analog audio interface or digital output, they can be much less expensive when it comes to the long run. If you record frequently, you might make the sacrifice for a sound card that is cheap and you will eventually regret it. If you record audio once in a while, you may not notice the difference, but for serious audio engineers, they know it matters. You do not want to sacrifice the quality of your recordings just to save a few dollars. If you record a lot, you will definitely want a condenser microphone with built in audio interface.
