Anybody tried the Griffin Tech iMic & Final Vinyl

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by sgb, Mar 26, 2005.

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  1. sgb

    sgb Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Baton Rouge
    Somehow I have my doubts about inputing an analog signal into a computer with a $40 USB device - especially when you can download the software to do so for free - and getting any decent results. But Griffin Technology is claiming this iMic thing is better than most sound cards because it's USB-based (they also have a USB hub that's supposed to support audio I/O).

    Anybody tried this?

    http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic/
     
  2. whitenoise

    whitenoise New Member

    Location:
    Sarasota, Florida
    The best sound you can get on a PC or Mac is via PCI card (or possibly the motherboard optical I/O on the latest Macs, if you only care about 2 channels at 48 kHz).

    As for the iMic, I have an early one, it's not worth $40. It's basically crap. I wouldn't record my cats with it.

    It's not possible to implement anything special in USB hardware for audio: audio is just packetized bytes sent over the wire, like all other USB data. I have no direct experience with Griffin's hubs, but I've heard they're just hubs with decent/reliable power output, which apparently was an issue for bus-powered USB audio I/O devices for some reason.
     
  3. Another Side

    Another Side Senior Member

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Actually, I've had decent results with iMic, but Final Vynil is worthless. It's extremely buggy and subject to hiccups. Also it's not particularly user friendly.
     
  4. Joe Nino-Hernes

    Joe Nino-Hernes Active Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    The best way to get quality audio is with a USB or firewire audio interface with an EXTERNAL power supply. The problem with PCI cards is they are inside the computer, where there is all kinds of interference. Its best to have the interface outside of the computer, and powered by a power supply that is not the computers power supply. I use an Edirol UA-5, and it is great. I have also heard great things about M-Audio products too. In the near future, I am planing on getting a MOTU multichanel firewire interface. They are very good sounding interfaces.
     
  5. sgb

    sgb Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Baton Rouge
    I originally asked the question because my new little Mac Mini (6.5 inches square, 2 inches high, 2.7 pounds) is small enough to cart out to the living room where the audio system is. Even if I wanted to install an analog-to-digital sound card in it, there are no expansion slots: it's external USB, FireWire or nothing. Making matters worse, there are only 2 USB and ONE FireWire ports, and my thinking is that adding either kind of hub to hang something that produces sound might be going from bad to worse.

    I somewhat agree with ninohermes, that an internal sound card would be susceptible to noise from the computer, especially if it's a mass-produced, under $100 thingy built by somebody like sound blaster, so, maybe the trick would be to convert the sound to digital BEFORE it goes to the computer, huh?
     
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