Re: [digitalradio] Best sound card for digital

[ZPO]

Leslie,

Welcome to the group!  I'll echo the other responses to say give it a shot
with what you have.  If you find that it doesn't give you the performance
you desire, you can step up to a higher quality internal or external sound
card.  Among internal cards PCI, the M-Audio Delta44 is considered one of
the best around.  For lower cost USB external units, the MP3+ unit you
mentioned has gotten relatively good reports.  At the higher end of the
external spectrum, The Edirol FA-66 is a Firewire connected external unit
running at up to 192KHz.  The Flex-Radio SDR-1000 list archives have some
very good thread, as well as, info in their forums and knowledgebase.

At the end of the day, the best card is the one that gets you on the air and
making contacts.

73, N5VFF/YI9VFF - Brian


On 12/16/06, Leslie Elliott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Hi - I just joined yesterday, and this is my first post.  I am 70 years
old, and although I have a fairly good knowledge of electronics due to
having worked as a electronics tech and field engineer for many years, I am
somewhat computer illiterate, since it was BC (before computers LOL) when I
was working in the field.  I recently bought a nice Yaesu FT-920 and am
currently building a Fox Delta 
FD-SC1
interface kit to connect to my "el cheapo" HP Wal-Mart special computer,
which has only on board sound. .

Re: [digitalradio] Best sound card for digital

[Andrew J. O'Brien]

Welcome to the group.  I use an el-cheapo Circuit City PC with an integrated 
sound "card".  It works just fine for me on the digital modes.  I think most 
digital mode software  would expect at least a 16 bit sound card.

Andy K3UK


  - Original Message - 
  From: Leslie Elliott 
  To: digitalradio@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 4:35 PM
  Subject: [digitalradio] Best sound card for digital


  Hi - I just joined yesterday, and this is my first post.  I am 70 years old, 
and although I have a fairly good knowledge of electronics due to having worked 
as a electronics tech and field engineer for many years, I am somewhat computer 
illiterate, since it was BC (before computers LOL) when I was working in the 
field.  I recently bought a nice Yaesu FT-920 and am currently building a Fox 
Delta FD-SC1  interface kit to connect to my "el cheapo" HP Wal-Mart special 
computer, which has only on board sound.  It is a 1.2 Ghz running Windows XP 
Home Edition SP2.  I want to get a better sound card, but don't really know 
what are the important things to look for.  I have read on another forum (HRD, 
which I use for rig control) that an external SC is better because it gets the 
SC out and away from possible hum and noise pickup from the computer itself.  
This seems to make sense to me.  


  My main question is "how important is 8 bit DAC vs 16 bit or 24 bit"?  How 
much does this affect decoding of digital modes?  And how important is the 
speed it runs at, 48 Khz vs 96 Khz?  I have been looking at several sound 
cards, both internal and external USB ones.  One of the less expensive external 
ones I see on Ebay is the Creative Sound Blaster USB MP3+.  It uses USB 1.1 and 
is 16 bit @ 48 Khz with a front/rear/center sub channel S/N ratio of 102 db and 
headphone/side S/n of 96 db.  (I don't know which S/N ratio is applicable to 
digital decoding??)  The next step up from this would be the Sound Blaster Live 
External USB which is a 24 bit and 100 db S/N, but since it is also using USB 
1.1 this is not actually what it does due to the limitations of USB 1.1.  This 
one sells for a bit more than the MP3+. 


  Then you get into the Audigy SC's, , the 2 NX external @ 24 bit/96 Khz and 
102 db S/N (USB 2.0) looks nice but is quite a bit higher priced.  And if I 
went with an internal card, an Audigy SE @ 24 bit/96 Khz 100db S/N is really 
inexpensive used.


  There are a couple of non Sound Blaster cards that I am also wondering about. 
 One is an external Phillips PSC 805 Aurillium USB 2.0 24 bit DAC but I have 
read somewhere that it actually operates @ 16 bits/48Khz.  S/N of 104 db which 
is good, but these are a little higher priced than others.  And I remember 
reading somewhere that Turtle Beach SC's are good for digital modes, think it 
was the Santa Cruz model.  These are a little higher priced than some of the 
Creative cards, and while I am willing to save up for a SC that really does a 
good job, I am not a rich person, so price is somewhat important.  


  I imagine a lot of the features that drive up the cost of high end Sound 
Cards are those aimed at Hi Fi enthusiasts, such as surround sound, Dolby, etc. 
 I am not interested in this aspect, just Digital Mode decoding ability.  So 
I'd appreciate any input as to which SC I should be looking for.  Also, is 
anyone else using a FT-920 and using HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) for rig control?  I 
am going to customize the interface I am building to meet my specific needs, 
and was originally thinking that I could use the PTT from HRD via the serial 
cable, but someone suggested that when running other Digital software and HRD 
concurrently, I would not be able to do this, since the serial cable would be 
tied up with HRD PTT.  The Interface has a Opto Isolator on it, so I can use 
this for PTT if necessary.  


  Tnks for any and all help and comments, es 73 de KCØPTO
  Les  



   

Re: [digitalradio] Best sound card for digital

[Ralph Mowery]

Try the digital modes with what you have.  It may work
fine for your operations.  I have used much slower
computers with built in sound cards and they seem to
do ok for casual use.

73 de KU4PT



--- Leslie Elliott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Hi - I just joined yesterday, and this is my first
> post.  I am 70 years
> old, and although I have a fairly good knowledge of
> electronics due to
> having worked as a electronics tech and field
> engineer for many years, I
> am somewhat computer illiterate, since it was BC
> (before computers LOL)
> when I was working in the field.  I recently bought
> a nice Yaesu FT-920
> and am currently building a Fox Delta FD-SC1
>   
> interface kit to
> connect to my "el cheapo" HP Wal-Mart special
> computer, which has only
> on board sound.  It is a 1.2 Ghz running Windows XP
> Home Edition SP2.  I
> want to get a better sound card, but don't really
> know what are the
> important things to look for.  I have read on
> another forum (HRD, which
>

__
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 

Re: [digitalradio] Best sound card for digital

[Dave Corio]

   Welcome to the group, Les, and welcome to digital radio in general! 
I'm sure there will be several good ideas in response to your questions, 
but I'll just give you my own opinion.


   Try the on-board audio before you spend any money on a separate 
card. You may find it works well enough that an additional card isn't 
necessary. I used the on-board chipset on my PC for quite a while and 
had excellent luck with it. I added a separate sound card for other 
reasons, but it really didn't make any difference in operating that I 
could notice. I added the Soundblaster Audigy, which is an inexpensive 
card. Perhaps a more expensive card would do better, but with what I 
have, if I can hear them, I can generally work them!


   Good luck and have fun!

73
Dave
KB3MOW


Leslie Elliott wrote:


Hi - I just joined yesterday, and this is my first post.  I am 70 
years old, and although I have a fairly good knowledge of electronics 
due to having worked as a electronics tech and field engineer for many 
years, I am somewhat computer illiterate, since it was BC (before 
computers LOL) when I was working in the field.  I recently bought a 
nice Yaesu FT-920 and am currently building a Fox Delta FD-SC1 
  interface kit to 
connect to my "el cheapo" HP Wal-Mart special computer, which has only 
on board sound.  It is a 1.2 Ghz running Windows XP Home Edition SP2.  
I want to get a better sound card, but don't really know what are the 
important things to look for.  I have read on another forum (HRD, 
which I use for rig control) that an external SC is better because it 
gets the SC out and away from possible hum and noise pickup from the 
computer itself.  This seems to make sense to me. 

My main question is "how important is 8 bit DAC vs 16 bit or 24 bit"?  
How much does this affect decoding of digital modes?  And how 
important is the speed it runs at, 48 Khz vs 96 Khz?  I have been 
looking at several sound cards, both internal and external USB ones.  
One of the less expensive external ones I see on Ebay is the Creative 
Sound Blaster USB MP3+.  It uses USB 1.1 and is 16 bit @ 48 Khz with a 
front/rear/center sub channel S/N ratio of 102 db and headphone/side 
S/n of 96 db.  (I don't know which S/N ratio is applicable to digital 
decoding??)  The next step up from this would be the Sound Blaster 
Live External USB which is a 24 bit and 100 db S/N, but since it is 
also using USB 1.1 this is not actually what it does due to the 
limitations of USB 1.1.  This one sells for a bit more than the MP3+.


Then you get into the Audigy SC's, , the 2 NX external @ 24 bit/96 Khz 
and 102 db S/N (USB 2.0) looks nice but is quite a bit higher priced.  
And if I went with an internal card, an Audigy SE @ 24 bit/96 Khz 
100db S/N is really inexpensive used.


There are a couple of non Sound Blaster cards that I am also wondering 
about.  One is an external Phillips PSC 805 Aurillium USB 2.0 24 bit 
DAC but I have read somewhere that it actually operates @ 16 
bits/48Khz.  S/N of 104 db which is good, but these are a little 
higher priced than others.  And I remember reading somewhere that 
Turtle Beach SC's are good for digital modes, think it was the Santa 
Cruz model.  These are a little higher priced than some of the 
Creative cards, and while I am willing to save up for a SC that really 
does a good job, I am not a rich person, so price is somewhat important. 

I imagine a lot of the features that drive up the cost of high end 
Sound Cards are those aimed at Hi Fi enthusiasts, such as surround 
sound, Dolby, etc.  I am not interested in this aspect, just Digital 
Mode decoding ability.  So I'd appreciate any input as to which SC I 
should be looking for.  Also, is anyone else using a FT-920 and using 
HRD (Ham Radio Deluxe) for rig control?  I am going to customize the 
interface I am building to meet my specific needs, and was originally 
thinking that I could use the PTT from HRD via the serial cable, but 
someone suggested that when running other Digital software and HRD 
concurrently, I would not be able to do this, since the serial cable 
would be tied up with HRD PTT.  The Interface has a Opto Isolator on 
it, so I can use this for PTT if necessary. 


Tnks for any and all help and comments, es 73 de KCØPTO
Les 





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5:10 PM
  

[digitalradio] Best sound card for digital

[Leslie Elliott]

Hi - I just joined yesterday, and this is my first post.  I am 70 years
old, and although I have a fairly good knowledge of electronics due to
having worked as a electronics tech and field engineer for many years, I
am somewhat computer illiterate, since it was BC (before computers LOL)
when I was working in the field.  I recently bought a nice Yaesu FT-920
and am currently building a Fox Delta FD-SC1
   interface kit to
connect to my "el cheapo" HP Wal-Mart special computer, which has only
on board sound.  It is a 1.2 Ghz running Windows XP Home Edition SP2.  I
want to get a better sound card, but don't really know what are the
important things to look for.  I have read on another forum (HRD, which
I use for rig control) that an external SC is better because it gets the
SC out and away from possible hum and noise pickup from the computer
itself.  This seems to make sense to me.

My main question is "how important is 8 bit DAC vs 16 bit or 24 bit"? 
How much does this affect decoding of digital modes?  And how important
is the speed it runs at, 48 Khz vs 96 Khz?  I have been looking at
several sound cards, both internal and external USB ones.  One of the
less expensive external ones I see on Ebay is the Creative Sound Blaster
USB MP3+.  It uses USB 1.1 and is 16 bit @ 48 Khz with a
front/rear/center sub channel S/N ratio of 102 db and headphone/side S/n
of 96 db.  (I don't know which S/N ratio is applicable to digital
decoding??)  The next step up from this would be the Sound Blaster Live
External USB which is a 24 bit and 100 db S/N, but since it is also
using USB 1.1 this is not actually what it does due to the limitations
of USB 1.1.  This one sells for a bit more than the MP3+.


Then you get into the Audigy SC's, , the 2 NX external @ 24 bit/96 Khz
and 102 db S/N (USB 2.0) looks nice but is quite a bit higher priced. 
And if I went with an internal card, an Audigy SE @ 24 bit/96 Khz 100db
S/N is really inexpensive used.

There are a couple of non Sound Blaster cards that I am also wondering
about.  One is an external Phillips PSC 805 Aurillium USB 2.0 24 bit DAC
but I have read somewhere that it actually operates @ 16 bits/48Khz. 
S/N of 104 db which is good, but these are a little higher priced than
others.  And I remember reading somewhere that Turtle Beach SC's are
good for digital modes, think it was the Santa Cruz model.  These are a
little higher priced than some of the Creative cards, and while I am
willing to save up for a SC that really does a good job, I am not a rich
person, so price is somewhat important.



I imagine a lot of the features that drive up the cost of high end Sound
Cards are those aimed at Hi Fi enthusiasts, such as surround sound,
Dolby, etc.  I am not interested in this aspect, just Digital Mode
decoding ability.  So I'd appreciate any input as to which SC I should
be looking for.  Also, is anyone else using a FT-920 and using HRD (Ham
Radio Deluxe) for rig control?  I am going to customize the interface I
am building to meet my specific needs, and was originally thinking that
I could use the PTT from HRD via the serial cable, but someone suggested
that when running other Digital software and HRD concurrently, I would
not be able to do this, since the serial cable would be tied up with HRD
PTT.  The Interface has a Opto Isolator on it, so I can use this for PTT
if necessary.



Tnks for any and all help and comments, es 73 de KCØPTO
Les