![]() They require an unusual audio connector that provides firewire-level power as well as ditigal sound output.Īs the G4s move into the twilight unsold speakers are being dumped on the market. I don't think they're supported on later model G5 machines, so they don't have much of a future. For more on recent Mac audio input/output jacks, see this article.Apple sells Apple Pro Speakers for their G4 machines.And if you can't afford an external interface, at least use this tip to bypass a PC's CDROM D/A converters. This will give you the best resolution from your digital-to-analog converters and the lowest noise. Then, control your listening volume from the LAST stage of the chain, such as your stereo amp. Keep all your various computer volume settings (at the player application, your system sound output volume, etc) as high as they will go without clipping.If you are adding USB or FireWire to a PC by means of a card, make sure that the card is compatible with the audio interface.See MacInTouch for reports on using some USB interfaces with Mac OS 9.For a FireWire interface shootout see this 2003 Electronic Musician article. For an opinion on USB vrs FireWire, see this Sweetwater article (3/26/02).I got even more out of my G5 iMac by using the built-in FW and USB 2.0. For example, I got 44+ 24bit tracks out of my 867 PowerBook by adding a FireWire card in the Cardbus slot. Or, add a SECOND FireWire bus to a desktop computer with a PCI card. This can be done by putting your audio I/O on FireWire and your hard drive on USB 2.0. For very high bandwidth tasks such as 32+ track audio or hi-res video recording, you might need to spread the data in/out and hard drive read/write load over two busses.Mac users, get Apple's Airport Express, and AirFoil to send any audio to it. Get shielded speakers if you have a CRT monitor. Or try the non-USB SoundSticks 2 or other small non-USB speakers from Polk Audio or Bose. If your amp is too far away (or if you don't have one), consider USB powered speakers, such as the Harman Kardon SoundSticks, which plug into your USB port and don't require an amplifier. Many models listed below use RCA or 1/4" jacks. If your audio output jack is a small round jack (1/8" mini), get a 1/8"-to-RCA adapter cable like the Radio Shack 6' right-angle 42-2483, 3' gold 42-2550 or 6' gold 42-2551. Most consumer amplifiers use RCA input jacks. No matter what you have, connect to your amplifier (stereo system, receiver, etc) with the right cable. Add FireWire with a PCI card in your dektop or a cardbus (PCMCIA) card in your laptop, but be careful regarding card compatibility. All recent Macs have both FireWire (IEEE 1394) and USB some have USB 2. Make sure that an interface is compatible with your OS, and check that your software will "see" the interface. USB 2 (480 MB/sec) is much faster than USB 1, so don't bother with a USB 1 interface. FireWire 800 (800 MB/sec) was promising but did not last long in the marketplace. When deciding on the best protocol to connect with, FireWire (400 MB/sec) is much faster than USB 1.1 (12 MB/sec), which can choke on just a few channels. For audio recording, plan for the price of additional hard drive storage and a viable backup method. Then you can add an external mic pre with an ADAT output, such as the Focusrite OctoPre (with ADAT Interface card) or the Presonus Digimax. If you need more microphone preamps, get an interface with an ADAT input. Many manufacturers advertise "6 inputs" but some are digital (S/PDIF, ADAT optical). Technically these are not "soundcards," a term which really only applies to PCI card interfaces.īe careful to note the actual number of physical analog inputs/outputs that an interface has. Go for a FireWire or USB interface instead, for "hot-swap" flexibility and for use with laptops. Many new computers don't have PCI slots, so these days PCI soundcards are an unnecessary pain. The old term "soundcard" was used back when our only choice was a circuit board which had to be installed in your computer's PCI slot. ![]() The physical unit with input/output jacks is usually referred to as an "interface" (or sometimes an "I/O" or "breakout box"). There are dozens of outboard interfaces available which have better quality A/D/A converters, more I/O channels and extras like a volume knob. The mini-jacks built into top-of-the-line Macs and PCs use the same junky converters found in the cheapest computers. ![]() A quick introduction to improving computer audio quality with an audio interfaceįace it, your computer's built-in speakers and sound jacks are weak! One simple, inexpensive change will make everything sound MUCH better.Ī/D converters ( Analog-to-Digital input) and D/A converters ( Digital-to-Analog output) are the chips that handle audio Input and Output (I/O).
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