Hi - I just joined yesterday, and this is my first post. I am 70 years old, and although I have a fairly good knowledge of electronics due to having worked as a electronics tech and field engineer for many years, I am somewhat computer illiterate, since it was BC (before computers LOL) when I was working in the field. I recently bought a nice Yaesu FT-920 and am currently building a Fox Delta FD-SC1 <http://www.foxdelta.com/products/soundcard.htm> interface kit to connect to my "el cheapo" HP Wal-Mart special computer, which has only on board sound. It is a 1.2 Ghz running Windows XP Home Edition SP2. I want to get a better sound card, but don't really know what are the important things to look for. I have read on another forum (HRD, which I use for rig control) that an external SC is better because it gets the SC out and away from possible hum and noise pickup from the computer itself. This seems to make sense to me.
My main question is "how important is 8 bit DAC vs 16 bit or 24 bit"? How much does this affect decoding of digital modes? And how important is the speed it runs at, 48 Khz vs 96 Khz? I have been looking at several sound cards, both internal and external USB ones. One of the less expensive external ones I see on Ebay is the Creative Sound Blaster USB MP3+. It uses USB 1.1 and is 16 bit @ 48 Khz with a front/rear/center sub channel S/N ratio of 102 db and headphone/side S/n of 96 db. (I don't know which S/N ratio is applicable to digital decoding??) The next step up from this would be the Sound Blaster Live External USB which is a 24 bit and 100 db S/N, but since it is also using USB 1.1 this is not actually what it does due to the limitations of USB 1.1. This one sells for a bit more than the MP3+. Then you get into the Audigy SC's, , the 2 NX external @ 24 bit/96 Khz and 102 db S/N (USB 2.0) looks nice but is quite a bit higher priced. And if I went with an internal card, an Audigy SE @ 24 bit/96 Khz 100db S/N is really inexpensive used. There are a couple of non Sound Blaster cards that I am also wondering about. One is an external Phillips PSC 805 Aurillium USB 2.0 24 bit DAC but I have read somewhere that it actually operates @ 16 bits/48Khz. S/N of 104 db which is good, but these are a little higher priced than others. And I remember reading somewhere that Turtle Beach SC's are good for digital modes, think it was the Santa Cruz model. These are a little higher priced than some of the Creative cards, and while I am willing to save up for a SC that really does a good job, I am not a rich person, so price is somewhat important. I imagine a lot of the features that drive up the cost of high end Sound Cards are those aimed at Hi Fi enthusiasts, such as surround sound, Dolby, etc. I am not interested in this aspect, just Digital Mode decoding ability. So I'd appreciate any input as to which SC I should be looking for. Also, is anyone else using a FT-920 and using HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) for rig control? I am going to customize the interface I am building to meet my specific needs, and was originally thinking that I could use the PTT from HRD via the serial cable, but someone suggested that when running other Digital software and HRD concurrently, I would not be able to do this, since the serial cable would be tied up with HRD PTT. The Interface has a Opto Isolator on it, so I can use this for PTT if necessary. Tnks for any and all help and comments, es 73 de KCØPTO Les
