Home Studio for VO work: Firewire or USB? Best D-A Interface??

H

hugocat

New member
Hi There -

I'm new to the forum, so please forgive the newbie question!

I'm rebuilding a home studio after several years: I'll be using it to record only voiceover work. I'm uncertain about the digital side of things: primarily, is there any difference in sound quality between firewire and USB 2.0?

Secondly, what would be the best simple 24-bit/96khz D-A interface for little money?

I'm ONLY gonna be using it for 2-channel voiceover work, nothing else at all, but have to get the best sound quality I can. I'll be using a mixer and a preamp, so that doesn't matter: I just need the best d-a conversion, no bells and whistles. Unfortunately, I only have a couple of hundred $$ to spend right now until I can invest more.

SO: any suggestions for a 24-bit/96khz interface at a low low price?

Thanks!!!!!!!
James
 
Yo James! Welcome to the board! Given that you already have a preamp, assuming that it's 2 channels, leave the mixer out of it. You can do all the mixing in the computer, and deal the cruddy mixer preamps out of the equation, and probably avoid another level of A-D conversion. All you appear to need is a good soundcard, such as:

http://www.8thstreet.com/product.asp?ProductCode=7587&Category=Audio_Interfaces

Most interfaces today have the preamps built in, and until you get to higher end units, currently out of your pricerange, it is not possible to bypass the pres in them. So- if you have a really kickass preamp, just get a soundcard. If your preamp is a little more pedestrian, this is a very versatile unit, and the pres in it are surprisingly good:

http://www.8thstreet.com/product.asp?ProductCode=60669&Category=Audio_Interfaces

A unit like that is easier to move from one machine to another, has nice individual level meters, better headphone monitoring, and is excellent for mobile work. For what you want to do, I don't see a single thing that a mixer can do for you except mess with your sound and lengthen the signal chain.-Richie

Oh- and no- there is no difference in sound quality between USB and firewire. Digital transfer is digital transfer. Firewire is more commonly used when more channels are being transferred simultaneously. It's more about quantity than quality.
 
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