Andres Cabrera wrote:
I don't know about the output stage of a soundcard. (Almost) every soundcard uses a delta-sigma DAC, which needs some sort of low pass filtering. It needs an output buffer to transform the rather high impedance of this filter to a low output impedance, so the question is if there is some sort of DC decoupling impemented in this buffer. I don't know, but using a voltmeter (or scope) while applying a DC signal to the card will answer that.Overheating of the amp is nonsense. Most amplifiers operate in class A or AB anyway, and maybe in class D. Heat dissipation is independant of the input signal for these amps. The types that might build up a problem with heat (e.g. class H) aren't used in PA enviroments. And before the amp overheats, your speakers will be dead.
Thanks for clarifying. I remembered I heard about overheating somewhere
with DC, and thought it was on the amp.
Adding a small DC offset is one easy way of getting rid of denormal
problems (in programs like csound and pd), do you know if this small DC
offset is able to produce these effects?
if you take a look at the specs of the EMU1820M it states "Frequency Response: 0.0/-.35dB, 20Hz - 20kHz" which would mean that it doesn't output DC signals.
But as far as I know, most audio input stages are capacitively coupled, thereby removing such DC offsets, so there is little chance that this type of signals will propagate through the entire signal chain.
Greets,
Pieter
