snip
well, that's not something intrinsic to USB; IMHO you should be
decrying
cheap home electronics junk rather than USB specifically, perhaps with
a
proviso that much which is USB is fadish junk. Could be something out
there which has a USB interface and is not junk.
You are absolutely right, but there are some some lingering doubts
remaining about USB for audio.
Having said that, I'm listening right now on an EMU USB headphone
amp/converter/recording interface that sounds awesome. It doesn't sound
that different from a $3000 converter, it is small, easy to use, and
has no power supply.
And, miracle, it has an on-off switch, so when it is off it does not
even pull 5 volts. But, it is sometimes a little buggy compared to my
Firewire RME box. But hey, it rocks.
[1]http://tinyurl.com/Usb-Emu
Plug it in, and your computer sounds like a high end work station. Add
a pair of Sennheiser HD580s with the 10 dollar cable from the HD600 and
you can't be beat.
Now if they only made a turntable.....
There are basically two issues here, one of which is the USB interface
and the other is the turntable.
First, the USB interface is not ideal for audio. So even though it is
possible to make a USB interface with reasonably good audio, and even
though many of the problems with USB audio have been solved,
manufacturers
simply assume that the USB crowd wants ease of use over sound quality.
And, similarly, the PCI Express interface, the MADI interfaces and so
on are aimed at the high end crowd, or people who work professionally
and want to avoid the mouse and the audio on the same bus.
They want a dedicated bus for the audio. So as a general rule, and
there are some (but few) exceptions, the USB interfaces for computer
simply are not as good. The EMU ones are the best of the low end, but
they have intermittent driver problems. An I have never seen anyone
with an EMU USB interface. I use one as an external soundcard, for $99
it can't be beat because it includes a terrific headphone amplifier.
But I would not record anything on it.
So, rightly or wrongly, the USB devices use cheaper parts in the analog
section of the electronics, because, and, again, there are exceptions,
they won't be used by professional recording engineers.
So USB gets a bad rap, but the USB is not blameless because they set up
several standards at the same time which were very confusing, resulting
in cheaper hardware being advertised as "high speed" when, in fact, it
was not
When posting this article, I surveyed all of the available USB
Turntables by reputable manufacturers. These turntables broke down into
two categories. There were a large number in the $99-$150 range,
then there were a small number in the $450 and up range. Only one of
the high end models looked like something I would use, the Pro-ject
model
[2]http://tinyurl.com/projectTT .
There are some other nice ones as well, you can spend a lot of money on
a turntable.
In the lower end, the ones I recommended not to buy, a waste of money,
these turntables all use cheap parts. There were no USB turntables on
the market that I would recommend. So this is not a limitation of the
USB interface, it is a limitation of cheap, USB turntables.
But the quality is connected to the niche that USB created--cheap,
simple, hassle free connectivity--a concept which for most people is a
good thing. But if you want it to sound good, which is important, I
think, USB turntables are out. And the USB interface is not blameless
here, its unsuitability for audio, coupled with a long history of
driver problems--due, in part to different implementations of the USB
interface, has contributed to USB primarily occupying a budget niche.
The sad thing here, and, not to be cynical, this is just greed on the
part of the manufacturers, is that the parts for the AD stage--the
Analog to Digital conversion, are just so cheap now. The manufacturers
are saying, I'm making ten million units, and if I use really cheap
parts, I can shave two dollars of each unit. That's 20 million dollars.
That is why they sound, in a word, cheesy. And that's a shame, but that
is the way it works. Equally annoying are the companies that say, I'll
spend twenty dollars more on parts, and sell it for four hundred
dollars more.
Once you get into the $500 range, one has to ask, is it better to spend
the money on a USB turntable or get a really good computer interface,
such as the RME, and hook it up to a dedicated turntable.
And here, I think that for many people, they would prefer a device that
functioned as a superb sound card for all of their audio listening,
instead of just LPs, and additionally allowed people to record
themselves, again, with superb audio. And use to make videos as well.
But, If I had money to burn, I'd buy a turntable with a dedicated
interface. I love the convenience. And USB would be fine, though I
would prefer firewire, MADI or PCIE.
dt
--
References
1. http://tinyurl.com/Usb-Emu
2. http://tinyurl.com/projectTT
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