B
Beck
Guest
The conversion happens in the unit, so it's simply transferring digital data through USB. If transferring digital audio through USB changed it in some way, USB would also change spreadsheets, word documents, web sites, etc... and would be completely useless as a digital transfer device.
There was a time when USB devices were mostly very cheap and crappy sounding, but that had nothing to do with USB and it was almost 10 years ago.
I would go with the Tascam, more people use that unit and I haven't heard anything negative about it.
Oh no no no. Real time audio or video can't be compared to the other data transfer listed after the fact. USB is super great for backup drives and such.
And 10 years ago was a much better time for audio. It's today that you have too many crappy choices at price points so low they might as well be giving them away.
...and to continue on that note: there was a time when PCI interfaces were susceptible to internal buss noise from the computer. I don't know why Beck believes they are a better interface than USB, Firewire or two soup cans on a taught string.
I will say, it seems today's PCI interfaces are way more expensive, on average, than USB unit's and will maybe have better conversion and analog sections. But that is a factor of cost and not interface protocol.
Of course any interface can be designed badly, PCI or otherwise, but USB has inherent design issues and it doesn't matter if we're talking USB 1.0, 2.0 or 3.0. The spec has not changed.
The best days of PC-based DAWs have passed us by. Too few are willing to spend the money it takes to design and manufacture the kind of interfaces that were more common ten years ago. we're living in toyland. Home recording moves further and further away from professional standards every year.
Well, keep in mind in this forum we're used to audio caviar, so when people come in here with chicken nuggets and flaming hot Cheetos you'll get a little resistance from a few of us. I mean we go to a lot of trouble in the analog world to capture "that sound" in the first place. I just can't in good conscience endorse a $199.00 USB interface or whatever in the context of preserving an analog source, which is the only context we should be discussing digital interfaces in this forum.