KVR Audio

musicworld · Post by **musicworld** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 8:39 pm

Hi,

Am i right to say that the only diffrence between the (M-audio's audiophile 2496) and the (audiophile 192) is the higher sampling rate given to the 192, and that the would be no diffrence in the two as apposed to musical performence and lower latency.??? basically which ones better..

Musicmad

psychematic · Post by **psychematic** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 9:14 pm

I had the 2496 and upgraded to the 192. Apparently the sound quality of the 192 is a little better... but this was figured out through scientific instrumentation, my own ears could not really tell the difference. Other than that, the 2496 has RCA ins/outs whereas the 192 has quarter inch.

The driver is a little different with the 192... with the 2496 I was able to change volume levels within the driver, with the 192 I cannot.

But, I am happy with my 192. Right now I'm capped at 96k because of CPU limitations, but every once in a while it's nice to be able to crank that sucker up to 192k.

musicworld · Post by **musicworld** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:02 pm

psychematic wrote:I had the 2496 and upgraded to the 192. Apparently the sound quality of the 192 is a little better... but this was figured out through scientific instrumentation, my own ears could not really tell the difference. Other than that, the 2496 has RCA ins/outs whereas the 192 has quarter inch.

The driver is a little different with the 192... with the 2496 I was able to change volume levels within the driver, with the 192 I cannot.

But, I am happy with my 192. Right now I'm capped at 96k because of CPU limitations, but every once in a while it's nice to be able to crank that sucker up to 192k.

You say the 2496 has RCA ins/outs, and the 192 has quarter inch. my monitor speakers have RCA cables only, how would i go about connecting the RCA cable to the 1/4 inch??

Musicmad

spa · Post by **spa** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:18 pm

Either buy cables with one end 1/4, the other RCA, or buy adapter plugs to fit your needs. However, 1/4 TRS is balanced, RCA not. That may or may not have an effect on your system.

musicworld · Post by **musicworld** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 4:52 pm

spa wrote:Either buy cables with one end 1/4, the other RCA, or buy adapter plugs to fit your needs. However, 1/4 TRS is balanced, RCA not. That may or may not have an effect on your system.

Hi Psychematic,

Thanks for your reply "last question" you say the 1/4 TRS is balanced, does this mean i will get audio from only one speaker, therefor i should buy a stereo TRS connector?? i'm new to music production..

Musicmad

psychematic · Post by **psychematic** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 5:03 pm

I'm not entirely sure what the benefits of a balanced jack are, other than it seems to be a feature needed/desired. Probably has something to do with keeping a clean-as-possible signal.

The sound card has two jacks (a L and a R) for the input and output. Also has MIDI and digital ins/outs and two line-out channels (L and R). You'll feed the outs to your mixer/amplifier/monitors. I personally use a home stereo as an amplifier and monitor-quality headphones for all the fine tuning (got kids and can't afford a Tinker Toy stabbing $1000 monitors). All jack adapters can be found at Guitar Center and Radio Shack... just tell a salesperson what you need.

james0tucson · Post by **james0tucson** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 5:17 pm

psychematic wrote:I'm not entirely sure what the benefits of a balanced jack are

Long cable runs tend to turn audio cables into really bad antennas.

Think in terms of the cable run from the onstage mixer to the FOH booth to the power amp. Or think of the kilometer of cables behind the patchbays in the studio. Plenty of opportunity to pick up hum.

So the way a balanced audio I/O works is this: The signal is placed on two lines instead of one. On one line it is inverted 180 degrees out of phase. On the way to the destination, both these lines pick up interference. But the destination reverses the phase again, and the interference is cancelled out.

It's important that the cable has a twisted pair for the signals, and that the ground wire is not twisted with them.

james0tucson · Post by **james0tucson** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 5:39 pm

musicworld wrote:
spa wrote:Either buy cables with one end 1/4, the other RCA, or buy adapter plugs to fit your needs. However, 1/4 TRS is balanced, RCA not. That may or may not have an effect on your system.
Hi Psychematic,

Thanks for your reply "last question" you say the 1/4 TRS is balanced, does this mean i will get audio from only one speaker, therefor i should buy a stereo TRS connector?? i'm new to music production..

Musicmad

If you use regular two-conductor cables it will work fine, you just won't get the noise cancellation benefits of balanced cables.

Unless you're unlucky, short cable runs won't be a problem needing balanced line solutions anyway.

If you *are* unlucky (e.g., your studio is across the hall from a microwave signals lab, your computer equipment emits severe RFI, you are working in a radio broadcast station, or you have 30 meter cable runs), your problems might not be magically solved by balanced cables anyway!

So don't worry about it.

musicworld · Post by **musicworld** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 7:29 pm

psychematic wrote:I'm not entirely sure what the benefits of a balanced jack are, other than it seems to be a feature needed/desired. Probably has something to do with keeping a clean-as-possible signal.

The sound card has two jacks (a L and a R) for the input and output. Also has MIDI and digital ins/outs and two line-out channels (L and R). You'll feed the outs to your mixer/amplifier/monitors. I personally use a home stereo as an amplifier and monitor-quality headphones for all the fine tuning (got kids and can't afford a Tinker Toy stabbing $1000 monitors). All jack adapters can be found at Guitar Center and Radio Shack... just tell a salesperson what you need.

Thanks for all your advice..

Regards
Musicmad

Audiophile 2496 vs 192