Recent content by chetmaster12

Some of the best professional equipment is a PCI sound card, the Lynx E22 being a good example. The big problem is that getting this right is an analog design challenge, and given the budget, not an easy one at all. The really talented analog design engineers, who know how to do audio well...

The short answer is, get an audio interface. Presonus and M-Audio have a few options below $100 that are OK for what they cost, if you can afford to step up to a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 or MOTU M2, I consider it to be worthwhile. You may want an external mic pre for the SM7, since it really...

Of the speakers you listed, the Adam T5Vs are probably the best option. They're a decent active monitor that doesn't cost a fortune. I would avoid the Klipsch. The JBL 305 and the Swan being my follow up options. At this price range, go active unless you're willing to shop used for power...

Very much looks like liquid damage towards the bottom. That white coloring toards the bottom is unmistakable. What happened further up I can't tell- the image quality isn't good enough. Could be something that blew up as the result of liquid damage further down on the board. Liquid damage is...

99% of the time, connecting a microphone while phantom power is already turned on won't cause any damage unless the engineer who designed the microphone and / or preamp was an idiot. It is still bad practice to do so, but it happens more often than most people want to admit. FWIW, phantom power...

You didn't list a budget, so I'm just going to give my overall recommendation. From the headphones I've tried, the Grado SR225E is easily my favorite and I feel that they are quite accurate. They aren't as good as proper studio monitors, but they're as close as I have been able to find in...

Really common. It's difficult to get the two sections of a logarithmic (audio taper) potentiometer to track well, especially towards the bottom end of the range. The problem is worst in cheap pots, and good pots are very expensive. The best mixing consoles usually used either Clarostat 388...

My recommendation would be the Schiit Magni 3+. Great performance and a reasonable price. I love vacuum tubes. Done right, tube amplifiers can sound beautiful. It's one of the few situations where I'll actually say "F*** measurements and THD numbers, this sounds amazing", but there are a lot...

99% of the time, unless the person who designed the input and output circuits was a complete idiot, cables make nearly zero difference. Gold plating will have ZERO audible difference- it's there to make connectors more reliable. Look to audio companies for speakers. Designing speakers that...

First, make sure that you have Phantom power turned on. Condenser microphones (unless it's one of the very few that is powered through batteries or an external power supply) need phantom power to operate. Second, make sure that the gain is set appropriately. That means somewhere between the...

Mmmm yes, a good desk really does matter. Still saving up for my dream desk, though I think the price is going up faster than my savings, so I might have to build my own. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neve_8048

Yes, I should have clarified that an analog microphone will never be competent against than a mid-range USB microphone if you're using a competent preamp with it, and the preamp built into a laptop won't cut it. Surprisingly, even the cheap $50 or $100 interfaces are largely quite usable.

Depends on the microphone. Some condenser microphones, for example, have a really hot and very low impedance output and can work fine with that cable (so long as the microphone is self-powered). I do agree that most of the time, an XLR-to-1/8" cable won't work well, especially since the mic...

Can you specify what this "RCA amplifier" is? Most of the RCA amplifiers I know of are 60-year-old tube amplifiers. There were also a few solid-state receivers to bear the RCA name over the years, though most of them have probably blown up and been landfilled by now. Or do you mean an amplifier...

An XLR to 1/8" cable will work provided that it's wired correctly... double-check what it's designed for (manufacturer should list it), but there's a good chance it'll work just fine. To know if the mic input on your laptop is balanced, you'll have to look up the datasheet for that sound card...