Dac for my mic?

[Wolf_Lbh]

So I'm purchasing a Fulla Schiit 2 when it becomes available but that leaves me with the problem of I then have no way to get my mic into my usb. Could I just use something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IM36VU0
and plug that into my amp+dac combo?

I don't want to use a mic + headphone to usb device because then I just have an empty headphone port sitting around and I'll have to block it in my devices or something to stop my computer from trying to use it even though nothing is plugged into it and I'll get no sound if I don't block it and it just feels unrefined.

[Guest]

You can't connect a microphone to a DAC. A microphone needs an ADC.

 

Not all headphone outs are combined microphone jacks, either. That would a a 4-pole jack, which the Fulla is not.

[Wolf_Lbh]

1 minute ago, SSL said:

You can't connect a microphone to a DAC. A microphone needs an ADC.

 

Not all headphone outs are combined microphone jacks, either. That would a a 4-pole jack, which the Fulla is not.

Could you suggest one? I'm not seeing any on amazon except type c and mini usb and I would prefer not to have to buy an adapter for my adapter.

[anothertom]

Is there a reason not to use the onboard mic/line in? Every motherboard or laptop will have a port for this, why do you need to use usb?

[Audio Carnage]

4 hours ago, anothertom said:

Is there a reason not to use the onboard mic/line in? Every motherboard or laptop will have a port for this, why do you need to use usb?

yes because mic preamps on mainboards are pieces of shit. Onboard soundcards have a very crappy non-linear frequency response, especially in the higher frequencies
f > 10 kHz. You can test this with software tools like ARTA  (--> http://www.artalabs.hr/)

 

[anothertom]

1 hour ago, Audio Carnage said:

yes because mic preamps on mainboards are pieces of shit. Onboard soundcards have a very crappy non-linear frequency response, especially in the higher frequencies
f > 10 kHz.

So in your use case, which you didn't state so we'll assume just basic chat, how much 10+kHZ do you think you are producing?

 

Do you know what 10kHZ sounds like? It's probably a lot higher than you think.

 

I'm not saying onboard preamps are the best ever, but for basic use there's nothing wrong with them. If you're recording studio vocals for a song or trying to set up a one-man studio, then definitely upgrade to a decent interface (focusrite or sim.) but that doesn't seem to be the case.

[JonU]

Chances are that unless you're using a balanced input (i.e. 1/4" TRS or XLR), the pre-amp on the motherboard isn't going to be the limiting factor in the microphone setup. 10kHz is way higher than the average human voice which typically falls somewhere between ~200Hz-4kHz. Unless your trying to get high quality recordings it's not really, going to be noticed in something like teamspeak or skype. It really isn't that hard to set the default playback device to your DAC if what you have the mic plugged into also provides an audio output. I currently use a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 to plug my microphone into the computer and depending on what I'm doing, may use 1 of 3 different playback devices. It literally takes less than a minute to change what device is playing sound now that I've got the process down. If I were you (since i don't know your plans), instead of splitting the budget between a DAC and ADC; I would lump it all together and buy the best DAC I can get with that money, using the onboard mic jack.

[Audio Carnage]

hmm... I have tested in lab some onboard cards that started to ripple (+/- 1 dB) at about 2 kHz, with sharp drops in magnitude well before 20 kHz.

 

Of course it depends on the use case, but I would not consider using a mic with the onboard sound card, unless it's a very cheap dynamic mic.

 

[JonU]

I would still argue that unless you are doing recordings for professional use, nobody other than a select few will notice. Even less if any assuming they are hearing it through ts or skype.

[anothertom]

3 hours ago, Audio Carnage said:

hmm... I have tested in lab some onboard cards that started to ripple (+/- 1 dB) at about 2 kHz, with sharp drops in magnitude well before 20 kHz.

The engineer in me says*: Seeing something on an oscilloscope and hearing it are two very different things, have you actually heard a difference in blind A-B testing? consistently? and were you using absolutely perfect conditions such that the only thing which had any effect on the signal was the onboard DAC? I would think probably (read certainly) not.

 

My more sarcastic side says: Well then, you know which ones to avoid.

2 hours ago, JonU said:

I would still argue that unless you are doing recordings for professional use, nobody other than a select few will notice. Even less if any assuming they are hearing it through ts or skype.

This is still the most sensible advice. By all means, go and buy the amazing audio interface you want us to recommend to you, but if you were set on that you wouldn't have posted this thread and I generally don't recommend other people waste their money.

 

 

* Studied engineering for 4 years at university graduating with an MEng in Automotive engineering 2016 Loughborough University

[Wolf_Lbh]

13 hours ago, anothertom said:

Is there a reason not to use the onboard mic/line in? Every motherboard or laptop will have a port for this, why do you need to use usb?

Yes, my tower is 30ft away from me so I'm limited to my usb hub.

Just want to know a decent ADC to buy.

[anothertom]

6 minutes ago, Wolf_Lbh said:

Yes, my tower is 30ft away from me so I'm limited to my usb hub.

If you've already got a hub working at that distance then well done. If you don't already own the mic i would suggest getting a usb mic (Blue snowball/yeti or AT2020usb). If you already own a mic with XLR output then a cheapo Behringer UM2 for $50 or a 35 foot XLR cable with a bodgerator on the end to go from xlr to 3.5mm jack. Bonus, with the Behringer you get a line in as well, so you can serenade _{joke alert in} your ₃ friends ₂ with ₁ your _<Klaxon> electric ukulele _</Klaxon> when you feel like it.

 

It says Behringer on it so it won't be earth shattering in performance but it'll work, and can be used as any number of other useful things: brick, paperweight, chock, step*...

 

 

Apologies for the poor attempts at humour, this happens when i get tired.

*please don't use your Behringer audio interface as a step.

[Wolf_Lbh]

6 minutes ago, anothertom said:

If you've already got a hub working at that distance then well done. If you don't already own the mic i would suggest getting a usb mic (Blue snowball/yeti or AT2020usb). If you already own a mic with XLR output then a cheapo Behringer UM2 for $50 or a 35 foot XLR cable with a bodgerator on the end to go from xlr to 3.5mm jack. Bonus, with the Behringer you get a line in as well, so you can serenade _{joke alert in} your ₃ friends ₂ with ₁ your _<Klaxon> electric ukulele _</Klaxon> when you feel like it.

 

It says Behringer on it so it won't be earth shattering in performance but it'll work, and can be used as any number of other useful things: brick, paperweight, chock, step*...

 

 

Apologies for the poor attempts at humour, this happens when i get tired.

*please don't use your Behringer audio interface as a step.

Yup, already got the hub set up. My mic is a modmic 5 and it ends in a 3.5 jack so Ideally I'm looking for a 3.5 mic to usb device without a headphone port.

[anothertom]

2 minutes ago, Wolf_Lbh said:

Yup, already got the hub set up. My mic is a modmic 5 and it ends in a 3.5 jack so Ideally I'm looking for a 3.5 mic to usb device without a headphone port.

I've just seen that the Behringer has one of my favourite sockets, the xlr socket doubles as a 1/4'' jack socket, so if you get a 3.5mm to 1/4'' adapter like any headphone adapter you'll be good.

 

This is a very overkill setup just for a modmic input... but will work.

[Wolf_Lbh]

4 minutes ago, anothertom said:

I've just seen that the Behringer has one of my favourite sockets, the xlr socket doubles as a 1/4'' jack socket, so if you get a 3.5mm to 1/4'' adapter like any headphone adapter you'll be good.

 

This is a very overkill setup just for a modmic input... but will work.

Which Behringer? An amazon search shows a crap ton of them.

[anothertom]

3 minutes ago, Wolf_Lbh said:

Which Behringer? An amazon search shows a crap ton of them.

 

28 minutes ago, anothertom said:

Behringer UM2 for $50

https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-U-PHORIA-UM2-BEHRINGER/dp/B00EK1OTZC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483478860&sr=8-1&keywords=UM2

[Audio Carnage]

On 1/3/2017 at 8:13 PM, anothertom said:

The engineer in me says*: Seeing something on an oscilloscope and hearing it are two very different things, have you actually heard a difference in blind A-B testing? consistently? and were you using absolutely perfect conditions such that the only thing which had any effect on the signal was the onboard DAC? I would think probably (read certainly) not.

 

 

I wasn't interested in the actual sound quality itself, was analyzing the frequency responses of FIR and IIR low pass filters.

Before the tests I fed a 1 kHz sine with 1Vpp through the ADC of the on-board soundcard and trust me when I say, the frequency response didn't look good.