Topic: 24/48 recording!

[todd e]

 

so last night, i ran my first 24/48 laptop recording at Deep Fried.  it was very smooth, i plugged into a friend's mini-me and was set!

so now that i made a complete recording, what do i do with it?  jokes aside, how do i listen to 24/48?  the laptop has a burner but i don't think the soundcard (internal) can play this depth.  

those with more experience, please shed some light?  thanks.

i have a nice playback system at home, but am still curious as to what I should do next.

thanks!

[Craig T]

you need a 24bit capable soundcard (ie pcmcia cards like the VxPocket, Echo Indigo) or external box (ie. firewire/usb like UA5, FW410, Emagic A26 or A62, Apogee MiniDAC).

[MattD]

Do you have a DAC that's capable of converting 24/48 audio? Otherwise, you will have to resample and/or dither to listen to it at 16/44.1 or 16/48. If you have such a DAC, do you have a way of getting digital out from whatever computer you have the recording on?

-Matt

[todd e]

you need a 24bit capable soundcard (ie pcmcia cards like the VxPocket, Echo Indigo) or external box (ie. firewire/usb like UA5, FW410, Emagic A26 or A62, Apogee MiniDAC).

ok, i have a vxpocket v2 with ian's cool new dongle and the regular dongle.  could you please elaborate on what to do next?  thanks.

[Craig T]

do you have a 24bit DAC for your playback system?

[todd e]

do you have a 24bit DAC for your playback system?

my logic leads me to answer 'no'.  i am not too sure what that is or would even be, so still my answer is no.  the way that i imagine the 24/48 would be to burn a dvd-audio disc and play on a high end DVD player (which i don't have).

i could always downsample to listen to the show, but i feel like i'd like to hear 24bits before i change to 16.  maybe i got in too deep over my head, but the deal was right and i had the time.  thanks for your answers!

[Craig T]

then just use the analog outs of the VxPocket.

go to windows control panel> sounds, set playback device to VxPocket

open the wav file in your recording software (or 24bit capable playback software)
you may have to go into options to set playback device to VxPocket

open the VxPocket "mixer" (I double click the blue Vx icon in the windows "notification area", where the clock is)
adjust wave output level

the VxPocket has 2 types of analog outs, balanced XLR line level and 1/8"stereo mini headphone.
I'm guessing you don't have balanced inputs on your preamp, so you'll either have to use XLR>RC cables or adaptors, or just use the headphone out with a 1/8">RCA cable.
You can adjust the headphone output in the VxPocket mixer.

[todd e]

i follow your suggestions and thank you for explaining the process.  one question that i have about the process with the analog outs.  how well am i going to be able to differentiate the 24 bit recording vs. the 16 bit recording (after dithering and resampling), using this method?

then just use the analog outs of the VxPocket.

go to windows control panel> sounds, set playback device to VxPocket

open the wav file in your recording software (or 24bit capable playback software)
you may have to go into options to set playback device to VxPocket

open the VxPocket "mixer" (I double click the blue Vx icon in the windows "notification area", where the clock is)
adjust wave output level

the VxPocket has 2 types of analog outs, balanced XLR line level and 1/8"stereo mini headphone.
I'm guessing you don't have balanced inputs on your preamp, so you'll either have to use XLR>RC cables or adaptors, or just use the headphone out with a 1/8">RCA cable.
You can adjust the headphone output in the VxPocket mixer.

[Craig T]

to do an a/b comparison?

[todd e]

exactly.  i'd like to compare the dithered 16 bit recording and the 24 bit recording.  it makes sense that it would be called an a/b comparison, so sure.

will the analog stage allow for noticable differences between the two formats of the same recording?

[wboswell]

Todd-
Congrats on the recording!  I am willing to bet that you or Innis have something with digital inputs on the back of it.  If you have a "receiver" that is fairly new, then I bet it accepts a digital input on the back, and will prolly decode the file just fine.  If you have separates, than go the analog route mentioned above

[todd e]

Todd-
Congrats on the recording!  I am willing to bet that you or Innis have something with digital inputs on the back of it.  If you have a "receiver" that is fairly new, then I bet it accepts a digital input on the back, and will prolly decode the file just fine.  If you have separates, than go the analog route mentioned above

you mean that i can send it out of the vxpocket using spdif, into a digital receiver and let the receiver do the D>A?  for some reason i thought there was a limitation on what the spdif cable could send/receive...

[dmonterisi]

you're fine up to 24/96.

[wboswell]

Sounds like we have a winner!  This is great, but the only problem will be storage capability.  For now, just convert the big 24/48 file to flac and when you want to listen, just load it back on the laptop for playback.  You can also store it on your desktop and use your soundcard to run s/pdif out back to your reciever.  Talking about this like I am a pro or something...  I am not. but that is how I have come to understand it!

[todd e]

fargin sweeet!  thanks damon for the confirmation.  i just got a 120 gig firwire HD, so space is not that big of a problem now.   wooo-hooo!

i transferred the files to my vaio and playback of the 24/48 files is possible.  and it sounds good too