Good audio interfaces from the PREAMP perspective?

[Uncle E]

I have just noticed the audio inputs on the 2i2 and Ci1. Can those fit standard RCA plugs?? I have a stereo receiver and planning to connect to it.

Get 1/4" to RCA Adaptors and set the inputs to Line:

http://www.jrrshop.com/catalog/hosa-gpr101-p-4237.html

[Nicksaf]

Wont a simple rca to double 1\4 cable do? Like this:http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... CEYQ8wIwBA
What do you mean set the inputs to Line?

[Dean Aka Nekro]

As in the 1/4" jack inputs to line level, Not something like HiZ/High Impedance or whatever the interface has available to select what the combi xlr/jack ins handle

[Hink]

but imo he's right about the cable, any adapter presents more points of vulnerability.

[sata_fortuna]

but imo he's right about the cable, any adapter presents more points of vulnerability.

+1, i think a buit 1/4-rca cable is better than adaptors too.

[Nicksaf]

Ok thanks guys!

[Uncle E]

Thanks! Will it work ok? Or it's the same thing? I mean there's no better compatibility if the audio interface will have rca connectors?

Super hifi people distinguish differences between balanced vs. unbalanced and -10 vs. +4 inputs. For your intents and purposes, though, it will work ok, it's the same thing, and there's little significant better compatibility if the audio interface has RCA connectors.

[Nicksaf]

I understand, thanks!

[aciddose]

rca uses high friction to maintain contact as it doesn't have a spring as in phone sockets. phone sockets were chosen for good reason - they have the best reliability to maintain contact and minimize wear over many cycles. if you're not going to do any insert/remove cycling phone sockets are no longer the best solution and rca becomes much better as it has the best contact possible with most surface area, although the wear rate is atrocious.

other common contact solutions include banana, XLR and BNC, which are different balances on the ease of use / wear rate / surface area / pressure / contacts issues. it takes a long time to get a feel for the best connectors and it's generally good to look at what people use most for their static connections. it seems studio gear has always favored TRS phone and XLR because of the need for balanced lines. consumer gear has favored rca because of it's cheaper construction and better results (this i'm not 100% sure about) with low-cycling.

ultimately, i don't think it matters for a module if you're not going to frequently switch the module-side lines. 16th phone is unstable as it's too small and is a poor choice, so rca when space for 8th phone isn't available makes a lot more sense. of course, rca is also fairly unstable compared to 8th phone, but even 8th phone can fail quite often if they're through-hole mounted rather than solder lug. in which case, rca is probably the least likely to fail considering it loads the pcb contacts the least.

just get what you're comfortable using. i think it would be insane to load/cycle the sockets on the module anyway - use a patch bay for that! that's another reason they use rca, most patch-bay configurations have rca rear, 8th phone front. (i say most, that's probably not true. it might be true for unbalanced bays, but even there you can find phone to phone, rca to rca, or rca to phone. whatever the case, you can definitely get anything you need, and rca rears isn't a bad idea if you're not re-wiring often. it saves space and i believe although i'm not certain that the increased contact area and friction contact is a good thing for fixed connections.)