From: "Aaron Bishop" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Encoding Minidisc Audio
Not usually - there are cards out there with better digital-to-analog (D/A)
converters, and cards with worse D/A converters...but staying all-digital
is often a better way to go.
Of course, that means finding a sound card with a TOSLINK optical digital
I/O...which is pretty tough as optical digital is about the most worthless
type of digital there is for audio work. S/PDIF is better but not by
much, really. AES/EBU is hands-down superior but it's tough to get unless
you're talking REALLY pro material...stuff you usually won't see in any
consumer's home, no matter how much an audiophile they are...that kind of
stuff is largely contained to professional audio like sound studios and
radio stations. Usually that means dropping at least $500, usually more
like $700 or $1000 on the sound card.
Another factor to strongly consider is that Minidisc uses ATRAC
compression...which is lossy. Real encoding is, of course, also lossy
(meaning "as opposed to lose-less") so you're running audio through
compression where it loses data and then through an entire second level of
lossy compression. The resulting audio could potentially be hideous. I've
run MP3 (also lossy) through Real's compression and it shows...I get
high-pitched squeaks every few seconds and the audio is very "thin"
sounding.
You can SORT OF get around this by actually going to analog and back. This
may or may not help reduce the effects of double-compression as you're sort
of "adding data back" when you go to analog. It's not really that way, but
the compression might attack the empty analog parts more during the second
round of encoding - more than the actual audio...maybe. Only way to really
tell is to try and get a demo rigged up and see if the sound is acceptable
to you.
As for specific brands - contact Broadcast Supply Worldwide. They're a
great redistributor of radio and pro-sound gear. www.bswusa.com
Aaron Bishop
CW Audio Engineer
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: "castlebar web site [EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Encoding Minidisc Audio
Can anyone advise on the best soundcard option (sub $500) for encoding
Sony minidisc audio. Reviews seem to suggest that some cards give better
quality on analogue rather than digital.
M. McGarrigle
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