192khz interface.. is it worth?

[ckonte]

Hi folks!
I'm looking for a new audio interface to replace my good old audiophile 2496 (no PCI slots on new PC ) the question is: are there true benefits with 192khz interfaces? Or 96khz is all is needed for home recording?

[glowrak guy]

Keep in mind that buying 192 capability doesn't mean you have to use it
for everything. For home recording, it's superfluous, --> unless you have
audiophile playback systems, and undamaged ears, in which case
cpu performance and disk-usage will demand more, the higher the rates you work at.
The upside being 24 bit gives you headroom for learning mixing/mastering,
without degrading your work. So todays experiments, can be revisited with 2017/2018
skills and techniques.

Such a purchase might future-proof you, in the short term.
You might find your abilities and desires both grow, as you become
familar with your potential. So wise shopping, will be a plus,
as there are various hardware/software bundles suited to different players,
whether guitar, keyboard, orchestral instrumentalist, vocalist,
non-musician composer, or various blends.

A Komplete Audio 6 usb interface
is known to work well in linux, and has good specs, at a fair price.
Welcome to the forum!

[ssj71]

I believe these excellent lectures cover it: https://xiph.org/video/

short version: no, don't base your decision on whether a device supports it or not. Its mostly a marketing feature where everybody's keeping up with the joneses. Unless you are making music for bats, you'll never hear any difference.

There is one case where it can be useful: bad plugins that don't oversample on their own, but I wouldn't worry about it, you can just skip those plugins if you find any. I don't know of any that would benefit from running at 192k.

[folderol]

I know a few mix engineers. None of the use 192k and only use 96k where they expect to do a lot of processing in the box, or if they are expecting to down sample to both 48k and 44.1k

[ckonte]

Hi all, thanks for your replies!
I understand that is not useful for me to use 192k. I'm a drummer/guitarist and I compose music by myself.
However this is the interface that is tempting me http://www.m-audio.com/products/view/m- ... vls3zwyq1I although I don't know if it's linux friendly.. we have to wait a few months to know.
But since 192k is not a requirement I will evaluate also Komplete Audio 6 and Focusrite 2i2 that many are recommending in this forum.

@ssj71 I will use your plugins then

[briandc]

Making music for bats sounds intriguing....

[glowrak guy]

In most cases, it's better us making music than them.
But I may be one of the exceptions to the rule, at times.

[folderol]

In most cases, it's better us making music than them.
But I may be one of the exceptions to the rule, at times.

It's all a matter of perspective. The bats probably find all our low frequency rumbles quite unmusical and utterly appalling

[ckonte]

Making music for bats sounds intriguing....

Why not for dolphins? I like them more than bats

[glowrak guy]

Maybe some mega pitch shifter can play back my bleeps and squeals
from the top end of the 88, high enough to attract some mosquito eaters.
The green party has been building swamps and wetlands around here for years,
with new excersize trails through them...team Zika rising...still, the local bats
prefer bigger fatty slow-flying bugs to mosquitos, can't say as I blame them.

[glowrak guy]

If the market choices for audio interfaces becomes more limited,
by a few manufacturers dominance, or due to less demand,
the componants will still need to be examined as a whole.

If 96/192mhz is implemented, but less effective convertors are used for
cost-cutting, then a better choice should be sought out.
The weekest link on the circuit board limits the product,
despite the artwork on the box, or glowing reviews.
I've had a 96 mhz capable sound card for ages, yet it's not
ever been used at that rate, probably would cripple my old cpu
on the first take. It's 10 years old, and it seems like I got it yesterday.

Maybe new homebrewed hardware 'soundcards' will be the new wave?
Could be a far different market in 2020.

[briandc]

Why not for dolphins? I like them more than bats

Whales could probably teach us all a thing or two about sonic potential...!

Sorry for the off-topic everyone!


brian

[asbak]

Hi folks!
I'm looking for a new audio interface to replace my good old audiophile 2496 (no PCI slots on new PC ) the question is: are there true benefits with 192khz interfaces?

Yes, if you are a scientist or a bat. Otherwise, no.

[sadko4u]

But since 192k is not a requirement I will evaluate also Komplete Audio 6 and Focusrite 2i2 that many are recommending in this forum

I own Focusrite Saffire PRO 40, works well with my Linux PC and Linux notebook. I higly recommend to buy firewire interface, it makes more possibilities to reach low-latency setup than on USB devices.

[CrocoDuck]

Hi there!

I pretty much agree with all has been said so far. However, there is a scenario where 192 kHz are useful. It is a rather technical thing tho and probably not affecting you if you are expecting to do just music.

Very high sample rates are useful for Acoustic - Electroacoustics measurements (or Scientific Data acquisition in general). For example, during my master project, by using specifically designed test signals, I have been able to identify nonlinear models representing audio amplifiers. They can work only up to the frequency limit given by Fs / (2N), where Fs is the Sample Rate and N is the number of higher order responses included in the model. I used my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 for the measurements and 96 kHz were enough at the end. However, you can see that going up to 192 kHz would have doubled the model bandwidth for each choice of N, which would have been very beneficial.

Sound-cards are actually pretty sophisticated pieces of technology, it is quite amazing we have this sort of sampling equipment for cheap these days. I mean, even the ones built around the Texas Instruments codecs are not too bad. In facts, I am thinking to design my own ultra linear soundcard, to use it for music and scientific stuff.

So, for the home musician 192 kHz are almost sure overkill. I bet that a double blind ABX test between audio sampled at 96 kHz and 192 kHz would fail to show any significant perceptual difference. In this case, the bits are much more important, make sure they are at least 24 and that your machine can read all of them.

If you think you might need some good data acquisition hardware, maybe for a University course, then 192 kHz might help you.