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@newt
It, sure, is no top of the line equipment and as I mostly listen to CDs, I barely use built-in sound for anything other than movies — in which case quality isn't the cornerstone, but I can't say that it's noisy in either of my laptops, including very old (ancient? medieval?😅) ThinkPads — of course you have to explicitly mute all the inputs: CD, mic, line in — and at times even more obscure shit that codec might support, but is rarely even wired to anything — this shit is usually what picks up the noise. I dunno, maybe some soundcards' kernel modules dont export these and they aren't available in mixer software, getting rid of noise in this case might indeed be problematic 🤔
@kaia
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@m0xEE @kaia @newt >but I still bear a certain disregard for using USB for sound
Everyone uses usb for audio, its digital to audio it makes no difference what connector it uses. A dac is a dac and usb dacs are mostly the only ones that even have outputs for good amps.
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@newt
> USB DAC
I know it's just another one of my idiosyncrasies, but I still bear a certain disregard for using USB for sound, I mean it's perfect for mice, keyboards or printers, but something not offering DMA? For audio? :marseyyikes:
I do realize though that there is little choice at the moment as Firewire is effectively dead and I don't think I've seen any widely available Thunderbolt offerings, using Thunderbird enclosure with PCI cart is clunky too, but I still don't like the idea of using USB for it :marseysigh:
@kaia
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@m0xEE @kaia @newt >it's lack of DMA that does
How does that change audio quality?
>Yeah, but you can also use digital output
Usb is a digital output, the fiber audio bs does thing to the 1 and 0's
>but USB is still absolute shit for audio
The only thing that changes audio quality is a decent dac (they only really have usb) the amp, and headphones. Digital is digital.
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@dcc
> Everyone uses usb for audio
I don't :marseysmug3:
> its digital to audio it makes no difference what connector it uses
Connector doesn't make the difference of course, it's lack of DMA that does — USB devices can't have DMA. Or I don't know, maybe now they can — they keep changing this thing perpetually adding everything and the kitchen sink to it. But in the past they couldn't and Firewire was a much better choice.
> A dac is a dac and usb dacs are mostly the only ones that even have outputs for good amps.
Yeah, but you can also use digital output — even soundcards built into motherboards often still have optical outputs, no need for USB. For playback I mean, when you need multiple inputs it's not an option, but neither it is what consumers do.
I know that it's what a lot of people use, but USB is still absolute shit for audio — if one was designing a bus for audio specifically, no one would ever come up with USB. Firewire was great, but even when it was still a thing it was mostly popular among audio and video professionals, only Sony and Apple laptops had a Firewire controller and maybe a few high-end models by HP and Dell too — for mass consumer this was never an option, that's how USB cards came to be.
In side-by-side comparison USB sucks horse's ass: it consumes extra CPU power just for IO, which is bad when you need it for something else like mixing and have a dozen of tracks in that mix — it used to be a really big deal when CPUs didn't have the computing power they have today). Some professional cards even had dual Firewire/USB connectivity, in case you wanted to have decent card, but decided to cheap out on computer — so you would later have an option to rethink, but keep the card.
@kaia @newt
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@m0xEE @kaia @newt
>Usb is a digital output, the fiber audio bs does thing to the 1 and 0's
Does nothing*
> But if you think that it's the only way to get digital audio out of your computer… Well, it's not, deal with it :marseyshrug:
That was not the point, the point is using usb or whatever connector does not chnage the audio quality, aka usb is fine. :do_you_even_enzyte_bro:
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@dcc
> How does that change audio quality?
It doesn't, it's about CPU utilization and the rest of the post was about it in case you haven't noticed :marseysmirk:
> Usb is a digital output, the fiber audio bs does thing to the 1 and 0's
Man, what are you talking about? It carries digital signal that is PCM-encoded — literally the same that gets sent to your USB soundcard after audio file gets decoded. It was originally limited to 48 kHz, but it was since then extended and now there is even a protocol to negotiate the sampling rate, it can now carry a sync signal — nothing is happening to your ones and zeroes unless you cable is damaged, the only issue you might encounter is jitter if flawed clock is used on the sending end, but there are strategies to work that around and it shouldn't be a problem when there is sync.
It's the same DAC principle — digital signal gets sent and then converted back to analog by your amp/receiver and then sent to your speakers or headphones, it's just more simple as no USB is involved.
If you like your USB card who am I to judge — enjoy! But if you think that it's the only way to get digital audio out of your computer… Well, it's not, deal with it :marseyshrug:
@kaia @newt
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@dcc @m0xEE @kaia @newt Also a nah, there's more to audio than just audio quality. Also USB is not an "audio connector" in the same way as Toslink (the fiber audio thing) or RCA, comparing them is like comparing apples to oranges
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@eric @m0xEE @kaia @newt >, there's more to audio than just audio quality.
:uh_huh:
>Also USB is not an "audio connector"
Okay and? the point is to pipe to the external dac that has the rca or xlr for the amp.
:marseyloadingneon: m0xEE :marseyloading:
✙ dcc :pedomustdie: :phear_slackware:
Eric Zhang 2: Episode 1
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