Modmic 4.0 audio interface

[Frozhax]

I'm buying the Modmic 4.0 from the Massdrop drop and I don't want to connect it to the onboard interface. 

 

Suggestions for a USB audio interface around 80$'ish?

EDIT: Total budget = 80$ WITH shipping (not too much usually). Preferably purchaseable inside EU so I don't get any additional fees.

 

In advance, thanks for the help

[Fluffinator]

I'm buying the Modmic 4.0 from the Massdrop drop and I don't want to connect it to the onboard interface. 

 

Suggestions for a USB audio interface around 80$'ish?

 

In advance, thanks for the help

Why not connect it to the onboard? Explain why it won't work?

[Hans Christian | Teri]

Why not onboard? It'll do just fine...

[Frozhax]

i'm getting a lot of static from the onboard card. If I turn on the noise suppression included in the driver the quality suffers too much.

[Guest]

Syba DAC, probably.

[Frozhax]

Syba DAC, probably.

The reviews look really good on the output part of it (not interested in this though), but I can't find anything on the mic-input. Looks good though, might be getting this if nothing better comes up.

 

I'm in no rush though so if anyone else has more suggestions feel free to join in. 

[KaminKevCrew]

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UMC22

 

You looking for something along these lines? (I know next to nothing about audio interfaces, I just have a friend who's really into it, and he has always told me that sweetwater tends to only stock quality gear) <= Full disclosure, lol

[Oni07R]

Any alternatives? I keep seeing that SYBA DAC-AMP on LTT forums but it's nearly to impossible to find it in Europe.

[Frozhax]

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UMC22

 

You looking for something along these lines? (I know next to nothing about audio interfaces, I just have a friend who's really into it, and he has always told me that sweetwater tends to only stock quality gear) <= Full disclosure, lol

 Looks really interesting, however after looking at it, I realized that I didn't factor in shipping costs + additional fees to the budget

 

Any alternatives? I keep seeing that SYBA DAC-AMP on LTT forums but it's nearly to impossible to find it in Europe.

I'm not sure about Italy, but here in Denmark if we buy anything inside EU we only have to pay shipping for the item nothing more. So I was thinking of buying things from amazon.de or co.uk. If the rules are the same down there you could perhaps do the same but with shops closer to you.

[Oni07R]

I'm not sure about Italy, but here in Denmark if we buy anything inside EU we only have to pay shipping for the item nothing more. So I was thinking of buying things from amazon.de or co.uk. If the rules are the same down there you could perhaps do the same but with shops closer to you.

 

Here too, but as I said, I can't find Syba in EU on eBay. Maybe I should check on Amazon DE, FR and UK.

[Oni07R]

I'm confused, are these SYBA clones, or both Syba and LogiLink are just buying a product and rebranding it?

http://www.logilink.com/Products_LogiLink/Input_Devices_Multimedia/Audio_Accessories/Hi-Fi_USB_Audio_Amplifier.htm

 

http://www.logilink.com/Products_LogiLink/Input_Devices_Multimedia/Audio_Accessories/Hi-Fi_USB_DAC_Amplifier.htm

 

And other product I've found with same "clone" situation:
 

http://www.startech.com/it/Schede-adattatori/Audio/Audio-USB/Adattatore-audio-USB-a-7-canali-con-SPDIF~ICUSBAUDIO7D

 

http://www.delock.com/produkte/F_438_Sound-Produkte_61803/merkmale.html

[Frozhax]

I'm confused, are these SYBA clones, or both Syba and LogiLink are just buying a product and rebranding it?

http://www.logilink.com/Products_LogiLink/Input_Devices_Multimedia/Audio_Accessories/Hi-Fi_USB_Audio_Amplifier.htm

 

http://www.logilink.com/Products_LogiLink/Input_Devices_Multimedia/Audio_Accessories/Hi-Fi_USB_DAC_Amplifier.htm

 

And other product I've found with same "clone" situation:

 

http://www.startech.com/it/Schede-adattatori/Audio/Audio-USB/Adattatore-audio-USB-a-7-canali-con-SPDIF~ICUSBAUDIO7D

 

http://www.delock.com/produkte/F_438_Sound-Produkte_61803/merkmale.html

Interesting find, don't know what to think of it though

[Oni07R]

Well, I have found teh SYBA DAC-AMP (the 96 KHz + mic model) on Amazon UK and it will cost me 58 euros, shipping included.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009WN7QT4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

 

Oh, by the way I have found a topic I've created on LTT (lol) where a guy wrote that in fact Syba is just a rebrander, so the DAC-AMPs from Logilink or Syba are the same product.

 

 

EDIT: This is the topic I've done when i've bought the ModMic 4.0 and needed something that wasn't the internal soundcard

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/186009-soundcard-andor-amp-to-amplify-the-microphone/

You may ask: why are you bothering again if you have solved your issue? Well, I would like to have a solution with less "base noise" than a 3 euro USB sound card. And.... and I don't know why I'm looking for it. Maybe I find my solution "too ghetto" tbh

[Frozhax]

Well, I have found teh SYBA DAC-AMP (the 96 KHz + mic model) on Amazon UK and it will cost me 58 euros, shipping included.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009WN7QT4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

 

Oh, by the way I have found a topic I've created on LTT (lol) where a guy wrote that in fact Syba is just a rebrander, so the DAC-AMPs from Logilink or Syba are the same product.

 

 

EDIT: This is the topic I've done when i've bought the ModMic 4.0 and needed something that wasn't the internal soundcard

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/186009-soundcard-andor-amp-to-amplify-the-microphone/

You may ask: why are you bothering again if you have solved your issue? Well, I would like to have a solution with less "base noise" than a 3 euro USB sound card. And.... and I don't know why I'm looking for it. Maybe I find my solution "too ghetto" tbh

Ahh, that video was actually the reason I didn't pull the trigger on some cheap interface. The low humming is HORRIBLE.

 

After searching around a bit I found this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/ALESIS-CORE-Audio-interfaces-USB/dp/B00IBJ6NSU

I can't find too many reviews about it, but those that I read/heard seem good. Alesis's other products also seem pretty solid.

[Oni07R]

Ahh, that video was actually the reason I didn't pull the trigger on some cheap interface. The low humming is HORRIBLE.

 

After searching around a bit I found this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/ALESIS-CORE-Audio-interfaces-USB/dp/B00IBJ6NSU

I can't find too many reviews about it, but those that I read/heard seem good. Alesis's other products also seem pretty solid.

How can you plug ModMic into that?

[Frozhax]

How can you plug ModMic into that?

It's a combo port so I was thinking a mini jack to jack adapter. It's going to cost a bit more than the Syba DAC though...

[Oni07R]

It may not be much of a difference, but Alesis Core 1 goes up to 48 KHz sample rate, while Syba/LogiLink reaches 96 KHz. Obviously, if the source is sampled at lower frequency, there is no change at all.

I think (but absolutely not sure) that the same sample rate is used for input too, so the S/L DAC-AMP (short for Syba/LogiLink) may be better for the ModMic. But again, I'm no audio expert, so there may not be a difference in recording too.

 

EDIT: I can confirm that 96 KHz is used for recording too on S/L DAC-AMP.

 

EDIT 2: What bothers me now is that Amazon product and Syba's site product pages are different:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009WN7QT4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

http://sybausa.com/productInfo.php?iid=1352

 

Same product code, but different jacks and front button. I guess that one of the two is the new version but internal circuitry is the same.

[Frozhax]

I too am not too versed in the field of audio, however I don't think the sample rate bumb is going to help much.

On the Modmic website it says the frequency response range is 100hz-10khz for the uni-directional version. EDIT: Forgot a zero

I think both 48khz and 96khz is more than enough for us. 

 

I also stumbled across this video which I found very informative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNVVq-iVPy8

 

Also, I couldn't find any site with more detailed specs of the Alesis Core 1... interesting...

[Oni07R]

Frequency response and sample rate are two different things.

I won't go in details here, but:

- Frequency response: the range of sound the mic can pick up (10 Hz very low basses, 10KHz high pitchy sounds)

- Sample rate: the number of "points per seconds" that are used to transform audio from analog to digital (96 KHz means that the analog signal is "read and translated" 96.000 times per second)

[Frozhax]

Frequency response and sample rate are two different things.

I won't go in details here, but:

- Frequency response: the range of sound the mic can pick up (10 Hz very low basses, 10KHz high pitchy sounds)

- Sample rate: the number of "points per seconds" that are used to transform audio from analog to digital (96 KHz means that the analog signal is "read and translated" 96.000 times per second)

Exactly! And in the video he comes with the example of sampling a 20khz (20.000 wave periods/sec) frequency wave at a sample rate of 20khz. By doing so we would as an example only be sampling the crest of the wave but not the trough of the wave. So to sample both the crest and the trough our sample rate would need to be atleast double the frequency of the wave we're sampling. 

[Oni07R]

Exactly! And in the video he comes with the example of sampling a 20khz frequency at a sample rate of 20khz. By doing so we would as an example only be sampling the crest of the wave but not the trough of the wave. So to sample both the crest and the trough our sample rate would need to be atleast double the frequency of the wave we're sampling. 

So if you know that (didn't have time to watch the video) then why have you pointed out the mic frequency response?

The higher the sample frequency, the better is the digital sound representation.

Of course there is threshold between the noticeable and unnoticeable. The question is if the threshold is between 48 and 96 or between 96 and 192.

[Frozhax]

So if you know that (didn't have time to watch the video) then why have you pointed out the mic frequency response?

The higher the sample frequency, the better is the digital sound representation.

Of course there is threshold between the noticeable and unnoticeable. The question is if the threshold is between 48 and 96 or between 96 and 192.

 

Keep in mind that I'm no professional nor anything like that.

 

So my thought process went like this:

The highest frequency the Modmic can capture is 10khz, that must mean we atleast need a 20khz sample rate. 48khz is more than double that, so we'll get some intermediate points between the 'peak' samples. It is however not many but I don't see myself in the future somehow making 10khz sounds, so this was more of a totally unrealistic worst case scenario.

No, I'm probably not going to come anywhere near 10khz at all, so a more realistic scenario would probably be 85hz-250hz according to wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_frequency). If we apply the same thought process before with the sample rate then I think we have more than enough for the realistic scenario with the 48khz sample rate. 

 

But this of course isn't everything. There's also things to consider like noise and the sheer volume that the interface can output and then we also have the price, and right now it seems like the s/l dac/amp is the winner, but I haven't found a way to compare their sound quality.

[Oni07R]

Well, even if 92 KHz sample freq is an overkill... still the S/L costs less

[Frozhax]

Well, even if 92 KHz sample freq is an overkill... still the S/L costs less

Yup, I'm just worried about which one has more noise than the other and if the volume is high enough.

[Oni07R]

Well, my problem right now is the price for S/L DAC-AMP. If it costed me 35 euros, I would already buy it.

However the price of 58 euros made me think "what if I add 20-30 more and buy something way better?"

So now I'm stuck on what DAC-AMP / sound card I can buy for less than 100 euros. And this is a lot harder to answer.

I looked at Asus XONAR U5, Asus Xonar U7, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD... but I can't find a proper comparison (and for the first time I saw lower prices on manufacturer page rather than Amazon, lol Creative). Plus I'm not sure that those product are effectively better than the simplier S/L DAC-AMP.