Question on balanced jacks and +4/-10

[misterheavy]

Since this board posted so much helpful advice on my last question. I figure I'll give it another shot.

I'm about to buy my first digital recording sound card for my PC. I've done recording before, but just on a 4 track. I've decided to get either the Delta 1010 or the C-Port. You can get the 1010 for about $500 and the C-Port for about $400. I've read a few reviews and as far as I can tell, these are the major differences.

C-Port:
Pros:
Includes 2 balanced xlr jacks
Costs $100 less
Cons:
1/4" jacks are all unbalanced
Only supports the consumer standard -10, not the pro standard +4, which can apparently cause problems with some professional high-end applications.

Delta1010
Pros:
All the 1/4" jacks are balanced (optionally unbalanced)
Supports both +4/-10 standards
Cons:
No xlr jacks
$100 more expensive


My questions are as follows:
1) How big of a difference will those unbalanced jacks make? I'm doing my recording in our home office, not in an ultra-quiet studio. Also, I have high quality, shielded, short cables that I use for recording, so the signal should be relatively clean.

2) In terms of not having an xlr jack, what will I need to do to compensate? Go to radio shack and get a preamp? Is this going to be a pain in the butt? Someone suggested earlier that I would probably not be happy with the C-Port's mike preamp anyway. Is there really a big difference between different preamps?

3) Finally, knowing that I'm not going to be doing any truly professional level recording (like the 100 guitar tracks on Siamese Dream - great thread BTW) should I care at all about the lack of +4 support on the C-port?


Thanks for any advice. I really appreciate it.


Mr.H

[Shazukura]

misterheavy,

You may also want to consider an Echo Mia card which has 2-in and 2-out 1/4" jacks (balanced or unbalanced) plus S/PDIF in/out. It runs a bit less (got mine for $200.-) but also supports either -10 or +4 for inout and output (you can run with +4 in and -10 out for example)

As far as the jack-type, balanced TRS (1/4" type) and balanced XLR are the same (as far as I know.) For example, I use the XLR balanced out from my mixer at +4 but I use a XLR/TRS cable to interface directly into the Mia card. then I use a pair of TRS/XLR cables from my Mia at -10 to get the signal to my powered speakers.

I'd think the flaxability of a -10/+4 card would be worth it.

Oh, one last note. Yes if you are running short audio cables, and they dont run in parallel with anything passing a high current then unbalanced cables should be just as functional as balanced cables, but again I'd recommend keeping your options open and picking a card that at least supports balanced in/out, be it TRS 1/4" or XLR.

-Shaz