How to find Sound Card for Special Multimedia Processing
A sound card (also known as an audio card) is a computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to/from a computer under control of computer programs. Typical uses of sound cards include providing the audio component for multimedia applications such as music composition, editing video or audio, presentation/education, and entertainment (games). Many computers have sound capabilities built in, while others require additional expansion cards to provide for audio capability.
Sound is a relatively new capability for PCs because no-one really considered it when the PC was first designed. The original IBM-compatible PC was designed as a business tool, not as a multimedia machine, so it’s hardly surprising that nobody thought of including a dedicated sound chip in its architecture. Computers, after all, were seen as calculating machines; the only kind of sound necessary was the beep that served as a warning signal. For years, the Apple Macintosh had built-in sound capabilities far beyond the realms of the early PC’s beeps and clicks, and PCs with integrated sound are a recent phenomenon.
By the second half of the 1990s PCs had the processing power and storage capacity for them to be able to handle demanding multimedia applications. The sound card too underwent a significant acceleration in development in the late 1990s, fuelled by the introduction of AGP and the establishment of PCI-based sound cards. Greater competition between sound card manufacturers - together with the trend towards integrated sound - has led to ever lower prices. However, as the horizons for what can be done on a PC get higher and higher, there remain many who require top-quality sound. The result is that today’s add-in sound cards don’t only make games and multimedia applications sound great, but with the right software allow users to compose, edit and mix their own music, learn to play the instrument of their choice and record, edit and play digital audio from a variety of sources.
Professional soundcards [audio interfaces]
Professional soundcards are special soundcards optimized for real time (or at least low latency) multichannel sound recording and playback, including studio-grade fidelity. Their drivers usually follow the ASIO protocol for use with professional sound engineering and music software, although ASIO drivers are also available for a range of consumer-grade soundcards.
Professional soundcards are usually described as “audio interfaces”, and sometimes have the form of external rack-mountable units using USB 2.0, Firewire, or an optical interface, to offer sufficient data rates. The emphasis in these products is, in general, on multiple input and output connectors, direct hardware support for multiple input and output sound channels, as well as higher sampling rates and fidelity as compared to the usual consumer soundcard. In that respect, their role and intended purpose is more similar to a specialized multi-channel data recorder and real-time audio mixer and processor, roles which are possible only to a limited degree with typical consumer soundcards.
On the other hand, certain features of consumer soundcards such as support for EAX, optimization for hardware acceleration in video games, or real-time ambience effects are secondary in professional soundcards, nonexistent or even undesirable on professional soundcards, and as such audio interfaces are not recommended for the typical home user.
The typical “consumer-grade” soundcard is intended for generic home, office, and entertainment purposes with an emphasis on playback and casual use, rather than catering to the needs of audio professionals. In response to this, Steinberg (the creators of audio recording and sequencing software, Cubase and Nuendo) developed a protocol that specified the handling of multiple audio inputs and outputs.
In general, consumer grade soundcards impose several restrictions and inconvenieces that would be unacceptable to an audio professional. One of a modern soundcard’s purposes is to provide an AD/DA converter (Analog to Digital/Digital to Analog). However, in professional applications, there is usually a need for enhanced recording or Analog to Digital conversion capabilities.
One of the limitations of consumer soundcards is their comparatively large sampling latency; this is the time it takes for the AD Converter to complete conversion of a sound sample and transfer it to the computer’s main memory.
Consumer soundcards are also limited in the effective sampling rates and bit depths they can actually manage (compare Analog sound vs. digital sound and have lower numbers of less flexible input channels: professional studio recording use typically requires more than two channels which consumer soundcards provide, and more accessible connectors, unlike the variable mixture of internal — and sometimes virtual — and external connectors found in consumer-grade soundcards.
Audiotrak Prodigy HD2 Gold Sound Card
This product was the first Hi-End card to use a top DAC from AKM and high quality additional components. Prior to this product, top DACs used to be installed only in expensive limited-edition studio cards for $1000 and higher, such as LynxTwo, ProTools HD, etc. Along with high quality components, the card uses multifunction drivers.
The price of the ProdigyHD2 Gold on the Russian market is quite acceptable - about $180 including shipment fees to deliver the card from Japan. Delivery time is about one month.
As far as we know, Audiotrak offers two cards for the European market - Prodigy HD2 (without Gold suffix) and Prodigy Hi-Fi. These cards may appear on our market as well.
The low-profile card can be installed into a stylish and small HTPC with other Hi-Fi/Hi-End components. The most difficult problem will be to choose a noiseless PSU for your low-profile PC case, because they have non-standard dimensions. You might want to use a PSU as a stand-alone unit, so that you could choose any PC case you like and any PSU installed in a well ventilated place. If you choose a PSU with removable cables, you may make then longer and put inside a shielded pipe. A low-profile bracket is included into the bundle.
The Prodigy HD2 Gold contains high quality opamps for the line-out with the Triple OPAMP technology - two OPA2134 from Burr-Brown + JRC5532. Dip connectors allow to replace opamps without soldering. Headphones-out is based on two JRC4580 chips that provide the output power of 120 mW. The card for the European market (Prodigy HD2) uses the NE5532 instead of the OPA2134. Thus, you can replace the NE5532 with the OPA2134 for $16-20 to upgrade your card to the Gold edition. The only competitors of our card under review are new Auzentech cards on CMI8788 and the
Auzen X-FI
Prelude 7.1 to be launched this year.
AK4396 Specifications:
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