I'm thinking they are a scam. I've read all sorts of reasoning, unsupported by actual evidence in every case thus far - such as, mini plugs are junk, not enough money spent on the internal soundcard, fan vibration affecting the sound, unshielded junk circuitry, cheap componentry - and I have analyzed my recordings, finding no evidence of any issues such as this. My tentative conclusion is that these assertions are preposterous generalizations unsupported by real world evidence.
Now I'm not saying that external audio interfaces don't have their usefulness. I will say that USB isn't necessarily stable in the first place, particularly if through a USB multi-port adapter. I can also see how higher sample rates like 24b 96k can be helpful in getting to 32b floating editing, whereas my internal digital conversion is limited to less than that.
I just need to see the evidence before I spend money on another piece in my signal chain. Am I happy with my sound or with my recordings? Heck no! Firstly my playing needs improvement, my recording techniques need improvement and my compositions need improvement. My DAW technique definitely needs improvement. These issues however, aren't going to be resolved by an external audio interface.
Anybody have any solid real-world evidence to suggest that my intel mac's internal soundcard is doing a poor quality job of converting my analog signal to digital? In order to justify the expense and addition to my home audio signal chain, even though it isn't much of an expense, I need a logical reason.
Thanks for any thoughts, I am happy to be proven wrong, in fact I am asking to be. Let the sound card chips fly where they may!
Now I'm not saying that external audio interfaces don't have their usefulness. I will say that USB isn't necessarily stable in the first place, particularly if through a USB multi-port adapter. I can also see how higher sample rates like 24b 96k can be helpful in getting to 32b floating editing, whereas my internal digital conversion is limited to less than that.
I just need to see the evidence before I spend money on another piece in my signal chain. Am I happy with my sound or with my recordings? Heck no! Firstly my playing needs improvement, my recording techniques need improvement and my compositions need improvement. My DAW technique definitely needs improvement. These issues however, aren't going to be resolved by an external audio interface.
Anybody have any solid real-world evidence to suggest that my intel mac's internal soundcard is doing a poor quality job of converting my analog signal to digital? In order to justify the expense and addition to my home audio signal chain, even though it isn't much of an expense, I need a logical reason.
Thanks for any thoughts, I am happy to be proven wrong, in fact I am asking to be. Let the sound card chips fly where they may!