AllOrNothinEnt said:
Hey, I see this one RME soundcard has a balanced 1/4" in, but I was told you cant hook a pre-amp to a soundcard via a 1/4" because the phantom power wont go through?
How would I hook up a pre to this card then?
I hate it when bad info like this goes around. I would not trust the person who told you this on anything audio.
Phantom power is generated in the preamp. It is typically 48 volts DC, and goes from the preamp to the microphone to power the electronic components in the microphone. The preamp typically connects to the converters using a 1/4" plug. Only a audio signal goes through that path, not the phantom power.
There are two types of 1/4" plugs. One, called TS (for Tip/Sleeve) carries an audio signal and a ground. This is also known as an UNbalanced connection. You can recognize this plug because it only has one black band on the end -- like a guitar cord.
The other type of 1/4" plug is called TRS (for Tip/Ring/Sleeve). This carries an audio signal, a ground, and a shield. This is called a balanced connection, and is better at controlling cable induced noise. You can recognize this plug because it has two black bands on the end -- like a stereo headphone plug.
The best equipment uses balanced connections. (You can also set up balanced connections using XLR jacks, like microphone cables, but that's another topic.
)
So your microphone cable goes from the preamp to the microphone and carries phantom power. The 1/4" balanced cable goes from the preamp to the soundcard/converter and only carries audio signal.
Just to make things more confusing, some computer interfaces have the preamps built in -- you plug the microphones directly into the interface and don't have to think about this other stuff. Typically, the quality of the preamps in that case are not as good as seperate gear, but they may be just fine. For example, I use two Aardvark 24/96 interfaces that have built in preamps, and they work fine for me.
-lee-
