Delta Questions

[smellyfuzz]

Been thinking of expanding my Daw.

1) Do the breakout boxes on sound cards somehow add to quality ?


If so how ?


2) Can 2 or more Deltas be used together ?


(2 1010s or a 1010lt and a 410)


3) What are the quality differences between the Delta 1010 & 1010lt ?


4) Why & how would one use a word clock on a Delta system ?



All comments welcome.


Sean

 

[drstawl]

Been thinking of expanding my Daw.

1) Do the breakout boxes on sound cards somehow add to quality ?
If so how ?
2) Can 2 or more Deltas be used together ?
(2 1010s or a 1010lt and a 410)
3) What are the quality differences between the Delta 1010 & 1010lt ?
4) Why & how would one use a word clock on a Delta system ?
All comments welcome.
Sean

1) They supposedly add quality when the converters are located in them, as they are in the Delta. This keeps the analog signals out of the interference-prone innards of a PC. Only digital signals pass between the box and the PCI card. A more important reason (from my experience with other soundcards) is that the box allows a stronger frame for housing jacks that will be repeatedly plugged and unplugged.

2) Supposedly they can; in fact they were designed to, but I've read plenty of complaints about the actual implementation.

3) See #1.

 

[Slackmaster2K]

1) Do the breakout boxes on sound cards somehow add to quality ?

On the Delta44 and 66, the breakout boxes are for convenience only. On the 1010, the converters are in the breakout box and have a seperate power supply. This translates to a lower noise floor and slightly better sound (slight, but noticable). Because the signal between the breakout and the card on the 1010 is digital, the cable is 10' instead of the 6' unbalanced analog cable included with the 44/66. The 1010 breakout is also rack size.

2) Can 2 or more Deltas be used together ?

There have been problems with mulitple cards on 2K/XP. I still haven't heard any confirmation that they fixed the problem yet.

What are the quality differences between the Delta 1010 & 1010lt ?

The 1010lt has no box...all converters are crammed on the card. Obviously connecting to the LT is harder. The LT has two cheap built in mic preamps that can be disabled if necessary.

Why & how would one use a word clock on a Delta system?

Only the 1010 has word clock support. I could comment on this but I wouldn't really know what I was talking about.

Slackmaster 2000

 

[alfalfa]

1) Do the breakout boxes on sound cards somehow add to quality ?

With respect to sound quality, the soundcard with the best sound quality (lynx2) doesnt use a breakout box. You cant determine how good sound quality is based solely on this one factor.

2) Can 2 or more Deltas be used together ?

If you are thinking of using 2 delta 1010 s then you should read this thread discussing all the problems people have had:
http://sound-on-sound2.infopop.net/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=215094572&f=351097254&m=4693018185

3) What are the quality differences between the Delta 1010 & 1010lt ?

The 1010 has superior sound quality (better converters etc). The 1010lt is about the same quality as the delta 44/66/Audiophile.

4) Why & how would one use a word clock on a Delta system ?

I believe in the sound on sound thread above, people have said that the word clock does not work on the 1010. You should read that thread in detail and ask m-audio to confirm.