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#16
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
dadiOH wrote on 6/28/2015 4:16 PM:
Big_Al wrote: I know the only input I have is a mono microphone jack. And all the searching I've done for stereo audio "input" does not seem to grab the concept of input in the search and I find lots of USB audio dongles that have stereo outputs and one mono jack input. As I see it they would be used if my current audio hardware broke and USB still functioned. Does anyone know of a way to get stereo input on a laptop or does a laptop actually have stereo in circuitry if I got the data in? What exactly do you want to do? If you get stereo data in (in the form of a file), you'll get stereo when you play it. Of course, the file has to have been recorded in stereo. Just for jollys, I tried recording (using Windows Sound Recorder) on my Acer laptop. There is no choice of bit rate or file type when saving, everything gets saved as 96 bit wma. Seems too high for mono, chintzy for stereo.. I'm looking to digitize some cassette tapes and maybe a few reels. So I need stereo line in and only have mono mic in. I'm almost sure that there is an impedance issue between line and mic. Either way I need stereo. And on an earlier post I noted an item that should do the job. I need to do some testing, got it from a friend. |
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#17
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
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#18
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
Big_Al wrote:
I know the only input I have is a mono microphone jack. And all the searching I've done for stereo audio "input" does not seem to grab the concept of input in the search and I find lots of USB audio dongles that have stereo outputs and one mono jack input. As I see it they would be used if my current audio hardware broke and USB still functioned. Does anyone know of a way to get stereo input on a laptop or does a laptop actually have stereo in circuitry if I got the data in? Using a Dell Inspiron N5110. Sure the device is not Mono output via speaker but Stereo out via headphone connector ? -- ...winston msft mvp consumer apps |
#19
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
Paul wrote:
Big_Al wrote: I know the only input I have is a mono microphone jack. And all the searching I've done for stereo audio "input" does not seem to grab the concept of input in the search and I find lots of USB audio dongles that have stereo outputs and one mono jack input. As I see it they would be used if my current audio hardware broke and USB still functioned. Does anyone know of a way to get stereo input on a laptop or does a laptop actually have stereo in circuitry if I got the data in? Using a Dell Inspiron N5110. IDT 92HD87B1 There's a good chance this is HDAudio. HDAudio, one of the features, is jack retasking. This means the Headphone and Microphone jacks on the laptop, can be swapped for one another. If a microphone is plugged into the Headphone jack, a dialog box is supposed to pop up asking for verification you're using a microphone. And then you can record from it. This means then, by induction, that stereo is needed for both, so they can have identical feature sets. You can use Audacity, a male 1/8" to male 1/8" audio cable (one of my favorite audio debugging cables), then simply set Audacity to record, touching each of the metal contacts with your finger to insert some "hum" into the channel. In no time at all, you'll have confirmation of stereo. (Tip=Left Ring=Right, Sleeve=ground) Paul The 92HD87 has five analog ports (stereo). Port A Pin 28/29 Port B Pin 31/32 Port C Pin 19/20 Port D Pin 39/41/43/44 (2 Watt/channel internal stereo speaker amplifier ClassAB) Port F Pin 17/18 http://pdf.datasheetarchive.com/inde...SW00198744.pdf Pg.42 pin complex Pg.44 application (desktop,mobile) Pg.212 chip pinout The microphone should have bias on tip and ring. Vref --- R --- Tip Vref --- R --- Ring Gnd --------- Sleeve The bias is used for a stereo electret microphone. For example, an Andrea Superbeam is a stereo microphone. When plugging in a line level signal, the low output impedance of that device, overrides the bias. The intention is for the bias to not affect other input types. As modern chips have programmable bias, depending on the mood the driver software is in, it may even be able to switch Vref off. Microphone input is not intended for a dynamic (moving coil) cartridge from a turntable (at 2-3 mV amplitude), as it isn't sensitive enough. A ceramic cartridge, at maybe 70mV would be within range perhaps. There is enough noise in a typical computer chassis, to swamp out an attempt to amplify a 2mV signal. Some modern motherboards now use a "moat" to protect the analog from crosstalk (a famous example being an older motherboard, where the NIC wiring ran in parallel with the audio wires - stupid!). Some companies now try to keep the audio path a bit more protected. Putting the audio in a separate shielded module can buy a 10dB noise improvement. The noise floor on the chip, prevents getting the full benefit of the 24 bit DAC/ADCs. So while it's fun to drool over "24 bit", the thing is "SNR 86dB", while a Creative soundcard might be 105dB or better. Now, on with the testing... :-) Paul |
#20
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
". . .winston" wrote in message ... Big_Al wrote: I know the only input I have is a mono microphone jack. And all the searching I've done for stereo audio "input" does not seem to grab the concept of input in the search and I find lots of USB audio dongles that have stereo outputs and one mono jack input. As I see it they would be used if my current audio hardware broke and USB still functioned. Does anyone know of a way to get stereo input on a laptop or does a laptop actually have stereo in circuitry if I got the data in? Using a Dell Inspiron N5110. Sure the device is not Mono output via speaker but Stereo out via headphone connector ? -- ...winston msft mvp consumer apps I would suggest a Behringer UCA-202 - between £15 (ebay) and £22 (Amazon). A very easy to use external sound card. It is line level stereo phonos in and out, and (on Win 7 &8 at least) needs no drivers. Decent quality too, and has optical connections and a headphone socket if you need them. Charles F |
#21
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
In message , Charles F
writes I would suggest a Behringer UCA-202 - between £15 (ebay) and £22 (Amazon). A very easy to use external sound card. It is line level stereo phonos in and out, and (on Win 7 &8 at least) needs no drivers. Decent quality too, and has optical connections and a headphone socket if you need them. The point with all those sort of devices is to look at what connections you need to make and then choose something that doesn't need a bunch of adapters to wire up. The other thing to be wary of is the huge amount of shash that many laptop power supplies spew out. When you connect to any earthed (grounded) audio equipment you may have what is known as a hum loop or ground loop, and this will cause noise. If it's just a battery cassette player or the laptop is on battery, it should be OK, but otherwise you might get into the mire of isolating the machines from each other. -- Bill |
#22
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
"Bill" wrote in message ... In message , Charles F writes I would suggest a Behringer UCA-202 - between £15 (ebay) and £22 (Amazon). A very easy to use external sound card. It is line level stereo phonos in and out, and (on Win 7 &8 at least) needs no drivers. Decent quality too, and has optical connections and a headphone socket if you need them. The point with all those sort of devices is to look at what connections you need to make and then choose something that doesn't need a bunch of adapters to wire up. The other thing to be wary of is the huge amount of shash that many laptop power supplies spew out. When you connect to any earthed (grounded) audio equipment you may have what is known as a hum loop or ground loop, and this will cause noise. If it's just a battery cassette player or the laptop is on battery, it should be OK, but otherwise you might get into the mire of isolating the machines from each other. If the laptop is running on battery and the only connected device is mains-powered by a *two* pin mains lead (ie no earth), what's the best advice? Should the screen of the audio (and video, if relevant) cables be earthed? I ask because when I use a USB audio-and-video converter to record from VHS tape, I get a slight slow waviness in the picture (ie jitter at the rate of about 0.5 - 1 Hz). |
#23
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
pjp wrote on 6/28/2015 8:57 PM:
I will tell you from experience that if the material is "commercial" in nature rather than "private" recordings you're probably better off to just download the disk instead. I have about 200 or so 45rpm's and I was going to dub them but as a looked around I found I had about 150 of them and the other 50, I found about 45 of them. There are some like a Dick Clark special with 2-3 different songs on one side. And the ones I didn't have I wondered why I bought the 45 in the first place. |
#24
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
.. . .winston wrote on 6/28/2015 9:35 PM:
Big_Al wrote: I know the only input I have is a mono microphone jack. And all the searching I've done for stereo audio "input" does not seem to grab the concept of input in the search and I find lots of USB audio dongles that have stereo outputs and one mono jack input. As I see it they would be used if my current audio hardware broke and USB still functioned. Does anyone know of a way to get stereo input on a laptop or does a laptop actually have stereo in circuitry if I got the data in? Using a Dell Inspiron N5110. Sure the device is not Mono output via speaker but Stereo out via headphone connector ? Since it's only one jack each (in / out) I know the headphones are stereo, and doubt they would power speakers. The input (mic) is the only item I think is mono. I now recall trying audacity and I can't get it to show stereo and any other microphone setting in windows are showing mono. And since I've got other options I'm not fighting it. Some have suggested the ports may be swappable and if so that might work. All I need now is time and testing. |
#25
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
In message , NY
writes "Bill" wrote in message ... In message , Charles F writes I would suggest a Behringer UCA-202 - between £15 (ebay) and £22 (Amazon). A very easy to use external sound card. It is line level stereo phonos in and out, and (on Win 7 &8 at least) needs no drivers. Decent quality too, and has optical connections and a headphone socket if you need them. The point with all those sort of devices is to look at what connections you need to make and then choose something that doesn't need a bunch of adapters to wire up. The other thing to be wary of is the huge amount of shash that many laptop power supplies spew out. When you connect to any earthed (grounded) audio equipment you may have what is known as a hum loop or ground loop, and this will cause noise. If it's just a battery cassette player or the laptop is on battery, it should be OK, but otherwise you might get into the mire of isolating the machines from each other. If the laptop is running on battery and the only connected device is mains-powered by a *two* pin mains lead (ie no earth), what's the best advice? Should the screen of the audio (and video, if relevant) cables be earthed? I ask because when I use a USB audio-and-video converter to record from VHS tape, I get a slight slow waviness in the picture (ie jitter at the rate of about 0.5 - 1 Hz). I'm afraid the only answer is to try it and see. It is likely that earthing the whole collection of devices, either at the mains powered device (eg if it's an audio amp with an earth tag on the back) or at the connected screens, will help. I'm more used to audio devices and there the number of possible combinations and poor power supplies can be daunting. But most laptop power supplies are awful for radiating noise, so battery working is usually good. -- Bill |
#26
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
"Bill" wrote in message ... In message , NY writes "Bill" wrote in message ... In message , Charles F writes I would suggest a Behringer UCA-202 - between £15 (ebay) and £22 (Amazon). A very easy to use external sound card. It is line level stereo phonos in and out, and (on Win 7 &8 at least) needs no drivers. Decent quality too, and has optical connections and a headphone socket if you need them. The point with all those sort of devices is to look at what connections you need to make and then choose something that doesn't need a bunch of adapters to wire up. The other thing to be wary of is the huge amount of shash that many laptop power supplies spew out. When you connect to any earthed (grounded) audio equipment you may have what is known as a hum loop or ground loop, and this will cause noise. If it's just a battery cassette player or the laptop is on battery, it should be OK, but otherwise you might get into the mire of isolating the machines from each other. If the laptop is running on battery and the only connected device is mains-powered by a *two* pin mains lead (ie no earth), what's the best advice? Should the screen of the audio (and video, if relevant) cables be earthed? I ask because when I use a USB audio-and-video converter to record from VHS tape, I get a slight slow waviness in the picture (ie jitter at the rate of about 0.5 - 1 Hz). I'm afraid the only answer is to try it and see. It is likely that earthing the whole collection of devices, either at the mains powered device (eg if it's an audio amp with an earth tag on the back) or at the connected screens, will help. I'm more used to audio devices and there the number of possible combinations and poor power supplies can be daunting. But most laptop power supplies are awful for radiating noise, so battery working is usually good. -- Bill I'd agree with all of the above - and earthing is really a "suck it and see what works best" option, especially when dealing with computers connected to other gear. However - two things that have regularly worked well in clearing hum loops and laptop PSU generated noises a 1) Two audio 1:1 transformers inserted in the headphone/line out feeds when connected to other audio gear. This usually cleans up the signal, even if the laptop is running on mains. 2) A decent external USB connected soundcard. Both the Behringer one I mentioned earlier, and a much more expensive older M-Audio one, produce clean audio even with the laptop mains powered. Sadly, the M-Audio one, always fussy about drivers, will not work on 64bit OS's, so is now of little use. Charles F |
#27
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
Charles F wrote:
"Bill" wrote in message ... In message , NY writes "Bill" wrote in message ... In message , Charles F writes I would suggest a Behringer UCA-202 - between £15 (ebay) and £22 (Amazon). A very easy to use external sound card. It is line level stereo phonos in and out, and (on Win 7 &8 at least) needs no drivers. Decent quality too, and has optical connections and a headphone socket if you need them. The point with all those sort of devices is to look at what connections you need to make and then choose something that doesn't need a bunch of adapters to wire up. The other thing to be wary of is the huge amount of shash that many laptop power supplies spew out. When you connect to any earthed (grounded) audio equipment you may have what is known as a hum loop or ground loop, and this will cause noise. If it's just a battery cassette player or the laptop is on battery, it should be OK, but otherwise you might get into the mire of isolating the machines from each other. If the laptop is running on battery and the only connected device is mains-powered by a *two* pin mains lead (ie no earth), what's the best advice? Should the screen of the audio (and video, if relevant) cables be earthed? I ask because when I use a USB audio-and-video converter to record from VHS tape, I get a slight slow waviness in the picture (ie jitter at the rate of about 0.5 - 1 Hz). I'm afraid the only answer is to try it and see. It is likely that earthing the whole collection of devices, either at the mains powered device (eg if it's an audio amp with an earth tag on the back) or at the connected screens, will help. I'm more used to audio devices and there the number of possible combinations and poor power supplies can be daunting. But most laptop power supplies are awful for radiating noise, so battery working is usually good. -- Bill I'd agree with all of the above - and earthing is really a "suck it and see what works best" option, especially when dealing with computers connected to other gear. However - two things that have regularly worked well in clearing hum loops and laptop PSU generated noises a 1) Two audio 1:1 transformers inserted in the headphone/line out feeds when connected to other audio gear. This usually cleans up the signal, even if the laptop is running on mains. 2) A decent external USB connected soundcard. Both the Behringer one I mentioned earlier, and a much more expensive older M-Audio one, produce clean audio even with the laptop mains powered. Sadly, the M-Audio one, always fussy about drivers, will not work on 64bit OS's, so is now of little use. Charles F A laptop is nice, in that it is not earthed. The line powered peripheral you're connecting to, could be earthed. But a ground loop cannot form, because the laptop "floats". And there is no path for phantom ground currents. No Radio Shack hum reduction transformer scheme is needed. If you need to connect the power adapter on the laptop, my adapter actually has a safety ground connection (three prong). I would need a hum isolator, if charging the laptop at the same time I was recording 45's. While on battery, I'd be fine without one. You might also benefit from a shielded audio cable. My STB has shielded audio, and I might "borrow" the cable from that, if connecting from my RCA/Cinch equipped gear, to 1/8" computer audio for a recording session. I think I've had trouble with some other cables, where I was getting inductive pickup. I remember now, it was the cabling to my home-made amplifier. Those cables aren't shielded, and when I get near any AC cables, I get some hum in the speakers. I just used whatever old cable I had in my junk pile for it, and the cable wasn't shielded. Some of the hum isolation transformers, roll off at a relatively low frequency. There are some other, nicer ones, that are really suited to audio. There are some old threads about the topic out there, if you're in the market for a hum reduction solution. But you might not need to do any "difficult" shopping, with a laptop on battery and shielded analog cabling. Paul |
#28
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
On 6/29/2015 8:12 AM, Big_Al wrote:
. . .winston wrote on 6/28/2015 9:35 PM: Big_Al wrote: I know the only input I have is a mono microphone jack. And all the searching I've done for stereo audio "input" does not seem to grab the concept of input in the search and I find lots of USB audio dongles that have stereo outputs and one mono jack input. As I see it they would be used if my current audio hardware broke and USB still functioned. Does anyone know of a way to get stereo input on a laptop or does a laptop actually have stereo in circuitry if I got the data in? Using a Dell Inspiron N5110. Sure the device is not Mono output via speaker but Stereo out via headphone connector ? Since it's only one jack each (in / out) I know the headphones are stereo, and doubt they would power speakers. The input (mic) is the only item I think is mono. I now recall trying audacity and I can't get it to show stereo and any other microphone setting in windows are showing mono. And since I've got other options I'm not fighting it. Some have suggested the ports may be swappable and if so that might work. All I need now is time and testing. Actually, many of the current headphones contain speakers. The impedance may be higher than that usual for the usual speakers. Even if the laptop contains an audio chip-set that is full stereo, The mic jack may be mono,and wired to supply both channels. Why? you would have to ask the mfr. It does get even stranger! I had a circa 1996 model laptop that had built in stereo mikes, and yet the external mic jack was mono. You had to use line in if you wanted to record in stereo. |
#29
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
"Paul" wrote in message
... A laptop is nice, in that it is not earthed. The line powered peripheral you're connecting to, could be earthed. But a ground loop cannot form, because the laptop "floats". And there is no path for phantom ground currents. No Radio Shack hum reduction transformer scheme is needed. If you need to connect the power adapter on the laptop, my adapter actually has a safety ground connection (three prong). I would need a hum isolator, if charging the laptop at the same time I was recording 45's. While on battery, I'd be fine without one. Be careful of equipment that has a socket screen that floats at a high voltage wrt mains earth. I was recording something using my desktop PC's TV card, and as I unplugged the TV aerial I got a nasty jolt. Rather obviously I investigated... It turned out that the screen of my TV's aerial socket floated at about 150 V above mains earth, as measured with a high-resistance voltmeter :-( OK it was via a very high resistance but I worked out that with a human body resistance of a few hundred kilohms the potential divider that was formed by the built-in resistance and the body resistance put about 80 V across my body (I used a suitable resistance rather than my own body to test this - I'd no intention of repeating the electric shock). The aerial upstairs was at the same potential as the TV downstairs. When it was plugged into the earthed PC, everything was fine but as soon as the aerial plug left the PC, my left hand holding the plug and my right hand on the PC case completed the circuit. I made sure I ran a wire from the aerial screen to the plug that powered the aerial amplifier - a single point of earthing (so no hum loops) when all the equipment (except the PC) was unearthed. |
#30
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Stereo INPUT on laptop?
Charles F wrote on 6/29/2015 3:05 AM:
". . .winston" wrote in message ... Big_Al wrote: I know the only input I have is a mono microphone jack. And all the searching I've done for stereo audio "input" does not seem to grab the concept of input in the search and I find lots of USB audio dongles that have stereo outputs and one mono jack input. As I see it they would be used if my current audio hardware broke and USB still functioned. Does anyone know of a way to get stereo input on a laptop or does a laptop actually have stereo in circuitry if I got the data in? Using a Dell Inspiron N5110. Sure the device is not Mono output via speaker but Stereo out via headphone connector ? -- ...winston msft mvp consumer apps I would suggest a Behringer UCA-202 - between £15 (ebay) and £22 (Amazon). A very easy to use external sound card. It is line level stereo phonos in and out, and (on Win 7 &8 at least) needs no drivers. Decent quality too, and has optical connections and a headphone socket if you need them. Charles F I like this idea. If I can't get the little $9 gadget I got to work, I'll look for one of these. Found it on Amazon $29 US. |
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