Is the Line-in Jack On the Verge of Extinction? 411
SlashD0tter writes "Many older sound cards were shipped with line-out, microphone-in, and a line-in jacks. For years I've used such a line-in jack on an old Windows 2000 dinosaur desktop that I bought in 2000 (600 Mhz PIII) to capture the stereo audio signal from an old Technics receiver. I've used this arrangement to recover the audio from a slew of old vinyl LPs and even a few cassettes using some simple audio manipulating software from a small shop in Australia. I've noticed only recently, unfortunately, that all of the four laptops I've bought since then have omitted a line-in jack, forcing me to continue keeping this old desktop on life support. I've looked around for USB sound cards that include a line-in jack, but I haven't been too impressed by the selection. Is the line-in jack doomed to extinction, possibly due to lobbying from vested interests, or are there better thinking-outside-the-box alternatives available?"
I Don't Know What You're Talking About (Score:5, Insightful)
So that leaves us with some interesting cases:
Look, if you could give us more information like what operating system you use and what motherboards you're using, I'd be willing to track down the manuals on them and verify there's no line-in jack and take a boomerang to the head if I'm mistaken. But couldn't this problem have been solved with a couple bucks [arc.com.au]? My eeePC netbook has a line-in. I really don't see them disappearing at all.
P.S. If you're looking for something a little more professional, external Audigys and M-Audio Pre USBs are useful for what you're doing though they are pricey ($200 USD).
Re:I Don't Know What You're Talking About (Score:5, Informative)
Now give me +5. Of course, there are many other ways to record a line-in, but it sounds to me like submitter is very finicky and used to doing things one specific way. I have family who use a dual-deck CD burner because they're used to the whole tape-deck way of recording. They would rather make a mix CD by sticking 1 CD at a time and burning track-by-track than simply ripping all of their music to their $800 laptop(which they use only for internet and OpenOffice) and burning mix CD's from the library. I'll get off your lawn now.
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^^^Pretty much this. There are other options out there just for vinyl [amazon.com] if you are concerned about noise from using an analog input.
Re:I Don't Know What You're Talking About (Score:4, Informative)
I've purchased that turntable, tried it and given it away to an enemy.
I'm not a crazy stereophile by any means, but the quality of this turntable was so poor that you would not use this for any collectible vinyl, or anything worth keeping. The quality of construction is poor, the cartridge is utter crap, it was difficulty to set up the anti-skate, it tracked marginal vinyl not at all. In short, don't get this.
Instead, just buy a used turntable in good condition (so many are available), or I realized my 40 year old Dual turntable ( http://www.dual-reference.com/ [dual-reference.com] ) was still head and shoulders above this unit. Couple it with a reasonable phono preamp ( http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTDJPREII [zzounds.com] ) and send it through your line in. Combine it with very nice free software ( http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download [sourceforge.net] ) and you have a solution, possibly for as little as $50 and you'll have a turntable that won't ruin your good vinyl, and get excellent sound as well.
Re:I Don't Know What You're Talking About (Score:5, Informative)
SOLVED. [thinkgeek.com]
That's sold out, $35 and possibly not available in Australia. However, after viewing that, it has occurred to me what has happened here. The submitter is used to (what I learned to call) RCA jacks in stereo. These I guess are two jacks looking like this [racketboy.com]. I believe what the submitter needs is only one of these adapters [avforums.com] that will run you a few bucks at your local store (unless you're finicky about quality which I'm guessing he's not if he's doing this on that old of a computer).
Yes, the large RCA version of it is going the way of the buffalo and probably has for some time. Similar to the new video out ports looking smaller and smaller but being essentially the same standard.
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That seems extremely unlikely... I've only seen a couple computers with RCA ports ever.
Re:I Don't Know What You're Talking About (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I Don't Know What You're Talking About (Score:5, Insightful)
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>Also I just want to say the RCA type dual line in jacks have never been popular on sound cards as far as I know
But they should be. I never fail to break those dinky 1/8" connectors. It's just a cost issue and what people are "satisfied" with. Most people are fine with 1/8". Personally, I've been sick of them for years.
RCA pre-molded cables are horrible. They use incredibly tiny amounts of wire, and an RCA cable is virtually guaranteed to break in time.
But the RCA connector is great. It's a far-flu
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Re:I Don't Know What You're Talking About (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't recall ever having an RCA line-in jack on any vanilla computer, unless I installed a high-end consumer sound card like some of the "pro" Sound Blasters or an actual professional sound card like an RME Hammerfall or M-Audio Audiophile or Delta.
Because I'm a media producer, I've got all sorts of devices for inputting audio into computers, from simple 1/4" to USB guitar cables (no kidding!) to multi-thousand dollar Apogee A/D converters. You can now get a device that will do 24bit/192kHz sound recording for a computer for less than $100 (and throw in a phantom power microphone preamp to boot). The choices have never been greater.
And yes, unless you're hung up on the shape of the little gizmo that plugs into the little hole, every computer from laptop to Mac Pro has a way to input audio (aka "line-in") jack. Sometimes, the jack actually does double duty as mic-in and line in, and the little mixer applet that comes with it will attenuate or boost the signal accordingly.
Re:I Don't Know What You're Talking About (Score:4, Informative)
And yes, unless you're hung up on the shape of the little gizmo that plugs into the little hole, every computer from laptop to Mac Pro has a way to input audio (aka "line-in") jack. Sometimes, the jack actually does double duty as mic-in and line in, and the little mixer applet that comes with it will attenuate or boost the signal accordingly.
The trend in the last few years has been to forego the Line-In functionality. Often it's still mentioned in the tech specs, but try finding the software switch for activating the Line-In. Hell, the Realtek audio on my old Toshiba NB100 had a Line-In that only worked with certain driver versions... all of them would give you the pop-up for selecting whether you were using the jack as a line-in or mic-in, but only one of the drivers actually switched to stereo and padded the input (or turned off that nasty nasty preamplification).
I don't get it - these laptops all have microphones built in. Why would you need a godawful preamp built in for an external mic that probably sounds just as crappy? It's not like there are any mics out there that sound any better and have a 1/8" TRS jack...
Now an actual balanced 1/8" TRS connection with phantom power... that I could go for. But this crap is useless. Bring back the line-in and kill mic-in!
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TFS seems to be rambling on about laptops though, and I've never seen a laptop with RCA connectors, ever.
That said, every:
A) Motherboard with onboard sound
B) Soundcard
C) Laptop
I've ever purchased has a line-in jack on it, so I'm really quite confused as to what the problem is.
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My SX-64 doesn't have an RCA in, or an audio input of any sort. The Commodore 16 has an RCA jack, but that's video out.
The only machine I've seen with an RCA jack for input is my Thinkpad Type 2635. It has an RCA jack with a microphone icon next to it (a general "line in", I guess).
My Adlib card has a 1/4" phono jack, though, which is amusing.
Alright, that's just blabbing about amusing hardware history.
Is the submitter really talking about RCA jacks? I don't think so.
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That's easy: the connectors are bigger, and there are two of them. The result is higher cost. 1/8" phono jacks are probably cheaper (esp. since you only need one), can handle both L and R on one jack, and take up much less space. As a result, it's easy to stick a phono jack on the back of a computer motherboard, or even on a notebook computer, but adding dual RCA jacks to a computer usually means adding an extra expansion-port plate.
The only downside is that stereo phono jacks have more noise than separa
Re:I Don't Know What You're Talking About (Score:5, Funny)
It gets worse - most installations put the L and R speaker outputs in the same room!
Re:I Don't Know What You're Talking About (Score:5, Funny)
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That's easy: the connectors are bigger, and there are two of them. The result is higher cost. 1/8" phono jacks are probably cheaper (esp. since you only need one), can handle both L and R on one jack, and take up much less space. As a result, it's easy to stick a phono jack on the back of a computer motherboard, or even on a notebook computer, but adding dual RCA jacks to a computer usually means adding an extra expansion-port plate.
Not to mention that most users think a single 1/8" stereo jack is far more convenient, and virtual all computer speakers use 1/8" plugs.
The only downside is that stereo phono jacks have more noise than separate RCA jacks, since the L and R signals are not isolated from each other in the cable and can have crosstalk. Of course, most people can't hear well enough to notice, or simply don't care, so for 99% of users, phono jacks are better.
If you really wanted to go pro and minimize noise you'd use a pair of balanced lines (TRS or XLR).
p.s. not sure why you keep saying "phono", these jacks usually run at line level, which is not phono.
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p.s. not sure why you keep saying "phono", these jacks usually run at line level, which is not phono.
Sorry, I meant "phone" as another responder pointed out.
Almost always the rule when correcting others. (Score:5, Insightful)
I know that it's an age-old rule of correcting others that one makes a mistake of the same nature in the corrective statement (I'm likely to suffer a few), but those phone jacks that you list (typically called TS for tip-sleeve when mono or TRS for tip-ring-sleeve when stereo or balanced mono) are most commonly sized in 1/4", 3.5mm, and 2.5mm. 1/2" would be awesome, but I've never seen one.
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A half inch jack wouldn't make any sense in practice.
You'd think, but a little-known fact about the 1/2" jack is that it can, in a pinch, substitute for .50cal ammunition.
Re:Almost always the rule when correcting others. (Score:4, Funny)
That's what she said
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Perhaps he just needs to upgrade to a better soundcard, geared towards semi-professionals and professionals. For example M-Audio is a company known to produce produces quality soundcards with multiple input and output jacks and break out boxes.
Here's the category page: http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=recording [m-audio.com]
You can find PCI cards, USB sound cards and even Firewire devices on that page.
Otherwise, there are still plenty of sound cards with line-in, including USB ones: http://www.n [newegg.com]
No shit (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously, anyone who can't find analogue sound input for their computer hasn't bothered looking very hard. I can find it for you USB, Firewire, PCI, or PCIe. Stereo, 8 channel, 128 channel, whatever you like. You name the kind of audio capture you need, someone out there makes a product for it. All of them will be better quality than the line-in jack on a laptop, which generally has really poor filtering and thus lots of noise.
The parent is absolutely right in terms of the Behringer as a good, cheap solution. Need something better? You can get something like the M-Audio MobilePre (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MobilePreUSB.html) which has pretty good converters and some features you don't need. Still not enough, have to have no holds barred? Get yourself an Benchmark ADC1 (http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/adc1/) converter, which is just about as good as it get.
No matter what the level, from a highly adequate $35 USB audio interface, up to a $1,700 dedicated converter, you can get something that'll meet your needs, and do so online.
The only reason line in is dying on soundcards is people aren't using it much. On laptops, space is also a premium so why bother? Many desktop cards still have it, as they've got the space for more inputs.
Re:No shit (Score:5, Informative)
Beware of Behringer gear. Yes, it is cheap. Yes, it is decent when it works. But the build quality is quite shoddy. It will do the job, but something will break or burn out fairly quickly. I was warned about this before I bought a mixer from them, but I figured that it would be in a fairly decently controlled location and not moved around. Barely two years later and it's already blown one channel strip and the headphone-out.
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Oh, man... Look what I just found in one of the suggested products page [thinkgeek.com]:
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my Realtek, recent within 2 years, EVERY port works as either a mic or stereo out, and it's not mono mic, but supports stereo in. It auto detects the ports and lets me configure which port does what.
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However almost every ATX mainboard I've bought over the last few years has had line in and line out. mATX usually don't but a few do have line in.
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My laptop has a microphone jack and a line-in. Of course, it's a ThinkPad, so YMMV.
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Most laptops, the mic-in doubles as the line-in. Give the person asking the question a "-1 didn't RTFM" and a "-1 didn't try the obvious."
Just because it isn't an RCA jack doesn't mean it doesn't do the same job. What next "OMG - none of the 4 laptops I own have an CGA/EGA port so I can't plug an external monitor into it"? "How come I can't plug my old Nintendo cartridge games into my Wii?" "Where's the cassette tape interface to load my BASIC game?"
Like a desktop? (Score:2)
All motherboards have em.
Uh no... (Score:3, Insightful)
More likely, line-in is just not a feature used by enough mobile users to make it worth putting on a laptop.
Most laptops don't come with 7.1 surround sound output either.. and it's not because surround sound is fading into the sunset..
Any desktop motherboard with integrated sound will probably have one though.. and just about any add-on sound card will as well.
_AND_ any decent external sound "card" will probably have one.. have a look at terratec's produce line. The DMX 6Fire USB has a whole plethora of inputs.
Even cheap mini-itx boards (MSI Wind for instance) have line in.. just get yourself one o` those...
audiophiles (Score:4, Interesting)
There's inevitably some noise that creeps in with a line-level jack on your PC. It's not much, but it drives audiophiles to distraction. Moving it to a USB device helps reduce the noise by an order of magnitude or so. That may be one thing driving the change.
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Not sure what you're looking at... (Score:3, Informative)
My latest three desktops have all come with a line-in, as have my latest two notebooks, including a netbook. Only my wife's MacBook doesn't have Line In, of my most recently purchased hardware.
Also, there's the Griffin iMic, a quite cheap device with line in. (Switchable between mic-level and line-level in, even.)
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It's much the same on any modern motherboard. The line out jack is also a line in jack. You just need to configure it as such.
Get a USB line in adapter (Score:3, Informative)
One easy solution is just to get a USB line in adapter [dak.com] for around $40, rather than having to keep an entire dinosaur computer around for just one function.
I don't know how well it works, but here's a $10 adapter [ebay.com] on Ebay that does video too. There are other similar products around.
How am I going to... (Score:2, Funny)
load the cassette tapes into my Apple ][+ if you take away my line-in port?
Difference between desktops & laptops (Score:2)
All the new desktops still have line-in jacks, as far as I've seen. If you're specifically looking at a portable platform intended to reduce size & weight, then of course they're going to be dropping jacks that are rarely used in a portable situation. However, line-in is still all over the place, and is great for consolidating media devices into 1 nice display & audio setup based around a non-portable computer, as well as the platform shifting purposes you're describing. I don't think the jack is
Not a conspiracy (Score:3, Informative)
It might be less of a conspiracy and more of a supply-and-demand thing. Most people have no use for and could care less about line in (I am not one of them, however). Since you are talking about laptops, anything that reduces space is often omitted, if it isn't really needed.
On desktop machines, I have not seen line-in disappear at all. And I bought a laptop last year, and it has mic/line-in, too.
line-in? (Score:2)
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It's not sensitivity, it's power.
When you plug an already suitably-powered audio device (pretty much anything that has an independent power source) into an inevitably-amplified microphone jack, what you get is going to be badly clipped audio (assuming you don't just blow out the sound card). Even if you manage to get the power so low on the input device that you avoid clipping while still having a usable signal, running through the second amplifier is still going to add unnecessary noise/distortion.
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My motherboard's microphone connector has a DB boost setting for the microphone, and I recall my Sound Blaster 16 (first generation) having that too. These days you can pretty much set everything up using software since the hardware is a lot more dynamic than it used to be. For example, when I plug something into my desktop's front mic connector it always asks me what kind of device I've just plugged in and adjusts itself accordingly.
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Three characteristics matter, actually: phantom power, impedance (Z) and sensitivity.
Most PC mics are electret (condensor) types, which typically require a low power DC supply to operate. Fine for a mic, but when you try to connect a line in the DC offset is superimposed on the signal, which can cause half-wave clipping if the output of the device feeding it isn't properly isolated. Most line outputs are DC isolated with capacitors, so this generally isn't a problem, but you can never be sure.
However, the p
Get a USB device (Score:2)
There are lots of USB devices out there with a line-in jack.
Here's one I like a lot. Unfortunately, Turtle Beach has discontinued this product; fortunately, there are some still out there, so buy one now before it's too late.
http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/audio-advantage-srm/home.aspx [turtlebeach.com]
P.S. This is discontinued... does anyone know where I can find anything remotely similar that is not discontinued?
steveha
My question is (Score:5, Insightful)
Why don't all car radio setups come with a line-in jack? Even many of the aftermarket ones don't have them (on the front, at least). Such a cheap part, and yet so many people use their ipods via FM tuner or tape adapter.
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This article got published? really? (Score:2)
There is no conspiracy. Most people don't need line-ins on a laptop. Either:
1. Find a larger laptop that has the jacks
2. Purchase an external sound device (i.e. USB)
3. Use a desktop
Use Mic jack (Score:3, Informative)
I've yet to buy a computer with fewer than 3 jacks (out, line in, mic in generally alternatively selectable as out1, out2, out3 for surround). But if you really don't have a line in, use the Mic jack and uncheck the "Microphone Boost" option. The +20dB boost is the difference between mic level and line level.
but... (Score:2)
Where will I plug in my high-fidelity stereo aux?
If it's vinyl you have... (Score:2)
http://www.usbturntables.net/ [usbturntables.net]
Many decent ones available in the $100 US - $200 US range.
I see both sides (Score:2)
I'm a DJ, so I've got lots of various audio gear lying around. I've got a Numark mixer with USB out/in, an M-Audio MobilePRE USB, an M-Audio Connectiv, a Stanton ScratchAmp, a Creative X-Fi Notebook Expresscard, and an old Creative Extigy...and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM sounds orders of magnitude better than the integrated audio chipset in my laptop when it comes to recording audio. While I agree with some of the other posters that many laptops these days have ports that pull double duty based on software, i
Check the options for the mic jack (Score:2)
My Toshiba satellite only has a mic input, but when it senses that you have plugged something in, it pops up a dialog to ask whether you have plugged in a microphone or a line level audio source, and then configures the levels appropriately.
Yours may be similar. Try plugging into the mic input and see what results you get. If it doesn't work, you'll get horribly distorted audio. In that case, you'll need a USB audio adaptor.
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If I'm not mistaken, a 5-cent resistor will do the same thing.
Re:There Is Hope! (Score:5, Funny)
No-no-no. You need a 50 dollar gold plated monster transistor for it to sound reasonably ok. All my 5 cent transistors are solid gold.
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I wouldn't consider them unless they have braided leads. ;)
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But the Audio Pad makes your music sound more... mercurial, or whatever the adjective is this week.
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(...but to be fair, a real attenuator pad really is nothing more than a few 5-cent resistors)
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Actually three resistors.
http://www.electronics-tutorials.com/basics/attenuators.htm [electronic...orials.com]
It's called a pi network (because of the schematic shape.)
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Actually two resistors.
RF stuff is done on the basis of matched impedances (maximum power transfer configuration and also avoids reflection issues). Audio stuff is generally done on the basis of a low impedance source driving a high impedance load (maximum voltage transfer configuration) so to attenuate the signal you ideally want a potential divider with a resistance much greater than the impedance of the source and much less than the impedance of the load (generally not a problem as the two are usually VE
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You have to put some care into it. A wire-wound resistor will act as a low-pass filter...
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I've never seen a wire-wound resistor above 500 ohms, so you'd have to be nuts to try that. :-)
Re:Yes, it's dying (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, you know, there are still a couple of people around that play musical instruments (you know, those expensive things you don't have to plug in), and we sometimes like to record the sounds that we make. And others sometimes go to listen to people playing these instrument things, and they sometimes like to record the sounds. Craziness!
Re:Yes, it's dying (Score:5, Funny)
This "musical instrument" cancer MUST BE STOPPED. When unlicensed amateurs are permitted to record anything they want, they devalue the musical landscape for legitimate musicians who are under corporate contracts. Do you want Miley Cyrus to starve, and Lady Gaga to go naked? Major recording studios stand to lose MILLIONS of dollars. We need legislation to control the unlicensed spread of microphones and pickup jacks. Anything capable of capturing sound should be subjected to a 60% surtax, the proceeds of which should be delivered directly to the Harry Fox Agency.
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Do you want Miley Cyrus to starve, and Lady Gaga to go naked?
To that second one, maybe? Will there be pictures of it and can the internet have them will be the answer.
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Either way, it's still less sick than the ones who want to see Lady Gaga starve and...
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Well, you know, there are still a couple of people around that play musical instruments (you know, those expensive things you don't have to plug in)
I most certainly do plug in my electric guitar, as does every other electric guitarist on the planet.
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I hear you! For musicians, as much as I hate to say it, Microsoft is a better environment than Linux as the Linux music software is simply not at all easy to use. You got me thinking a bit and I wonder if I plug the earphone jack right into the Yamaha silent brass unit and to the microphone jack on my PC if I can listen to it through my sound system and record it to hard drive as well.
I would love to have software that can capture sound in either bas
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I'm not sure how instrument playing compares to a few decades ago, but centuries ago, only rich people played musical instruments as a hobby. With all the "Guitar Center" stores that have popped up, I think instrument playing is actually quite a bit higher now than it was in the past. It may have fallen a bit since the 50s, however, as it seemed that people back then had a bit more disposable income, and more time and interest in DIY stuff since they didn't have 500 channels of crap to watch.
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Mod parent up. That's the real reason why the inputs are disappearing from laptops. If you're trying to record something of any quality, the audio hardware built into computers doesn't even begin to cut it. The latency alone will make you want to throw your machine across the room. So:
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Ironically, if you wanted to record the sound from an acoustic instrument, you would use a microphone and the mic-in socket.
Only if you hate your ears and believe they should be punished.
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Not if you want any quality at all. Have you heard the noise levels on those pres? At least the line level inputs are usable (albeit not great) with an external preamplifier, but the mic inputs? They're basically for cheap $5 headsets so that people can use them for A/V chatting....
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You would use a condenser mic with a real preamp.
Re:Yes, it's dying (Score:4, Insightful)
The line-in jack will disappear with physical audio. Honestly, unless you're a DJ, it's pretty unlikely that you have any audio that doesn't exist as something digital (MP3, AAC, WAV, etc.)
Why drop it? Its not as if it is any major cost to the machine these days. I don't use my line-in that often but it is certainly useful and it would be a pain to have to go an get a USB adapter for something so basic.
I suspect that the models that don't have them are low end computers where the manufacture tries to cut costs in the most extreme ways.
Re:Why do you need one? (Score:5, Funny)
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Every sound card or motherboard with audio includes an app with the driver that will conform the level to your liking.
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Agreed. Hearing an overdriven amp for the first time tends to turn these [tripod.com] into this. [wordpress.com]
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Re:Why do you need one? (Score:4, Informative)
That will sound like crap (Score:4, Interesting)
for two reasons
1. (as another poster said) - you're attenuating and then amplifying a signal: noise
2. LPs are recorded with the high frequencies boosted, and this is then attenuated in a dedicated circuit within the receiver. By skipping this, you're going to end up with tinny recordings (did I mention noise?).
Seriously, unless you've got a nice sound interface, don't bother recording LPs, cassettes, etc - the results won't be worth it. Cetainly that USB thing from thinkgeek (linked earlier) won't produce good recordings. Unless it's a bootleg or something... I've got a nice multitrack firewire interface, and even then I'd only think about recording LPs, cassettes, etc if I had a really nice deck..
Mic != line (Score:5, Informative)
Why do you need two inputs? I highly doubt there's much difference between the line-in jack on your sound card and the stereo microphone jack.
A microphone input is expecting microphone-level signals - not line level. There's a big difference, and without something similar to a DI box [wikipedia.org] to correct the level, all you'll get if you put line level audio into a microphone jack is distorted overdriven noise.
Re:Mic != line (Score:5, Informative)
Not all microphone ports are created equal. Some, like the one on the first generation Eee PC, have the ability to automatically switch between line-in and microphone depending on what's plugged into it. YMMV depending on how your audio board is wired.
"The pink microphone port doubles as a stereo line-in socket, depending on what is plugged in to it)."
http://wiki.eeeuser.com/eee_pc_701 [eeeuser.com]
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No, a DI boxes are for driving balanced lines, and while this may be a rash generalisation, I don't think any computers have XLR inputs on the built-in sound card. Besides, not all DI boxes have an attenuator (pad), which is what's needed here.
Assuming there isn't a system setting that allows gain switching on the input (quite possible), simpler and probably cheaper would be a basic interface like the Behringer UCA200.
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While the mic-level/line-level difference is notable, you can decrease the gain on the mic-input enough to to adjust for this difference. (It helps if your sending device has an output level control.)
A more difficult problem is that the pink mic-in jacks are, afaik, uniformly mono inputs. Depending on the plug you use, substituting the mic-in for a line-in it will either come out as only the left or right stereo track, or an ugly mono blend of both.
The blue line-in jacks are stereo inputs.
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Microphones need power, and the mic-in provides it. Line-level audio is powered by the device producing the signal. If you run a regular mic into a line input, you'll get a much lower signal. Likewise, if you run a line into a mic-in you'll get more signal than the circuit is designed to handle, and it will distort much more easily.
I haven't seen any evidence of any great conspiracy to eliminat
Re:Why do you need one? (Score:4, Informative)
The word you're looking for is "gain", not "power". Some microphones also require power (either of the low-voltage "plug-in power" variety or full 48V phantom power), but if you plug those devices into a line input, you'll get no sound at all.
As for the differences in grades of gear, yes, to some degree, that's true, with the caveat that some $10/channel hardware will outperform the $100/channel hardware and other $10/channel hardware will be utter excrement. In the audio space, there's often more correlation between price and marketing costs than between price and product quality, IMHO....
More to the point, the older the gear, the more expensive it has to be before you are likely to get good sound. There are exceptions, but in general, as the costs of the underlying components decrease, it becomes more practical to build higher quality gear for less money. Thus, a recently designed device that costs $50 is likely to sound as good as a ten-year-old device that costs $100. High quality gear gets cheaper to design and build over time. So the high end stuff today might or might not be a great improvement over the midrange stuff today, but either one is going to be a lot better than the midrange stuff from ten years ago, yet both may still be comparable to the high-end gear from ten years ago.
Re: (Score:2)
And, if you are that type, I'll happily sell you wooden cones to set your sound card on, to eliminate jitter, wow,and flutter. I'll also sell you a special marker which you can use to eliminate the dispersement of laser on your C
Re: (Score:2)
You don't need two inputs. Many modern sound cards (or hardware built onto the motherboard) have hardware to allow ports to be changed between line-in, microphone, line-out, and headphone. There's probably some chip that connects directly to the jack, and this chip internally can change what the jack is used for (input, output, and the level), subject to software control.
There is no difference (most of the time) (Score:2)
Most Intel HDA codecs just treat all jacks the same, the only difference is the settings. If you want to play around, grab HDA Analyzer [alsa-project.org] and tweak things to your heart's consent. For example, on my laptop (3 jacks), I can output 5.1 audio, or output 4.0 plus get one mic, or 4.0 plus one input, or output stereo cloned through two jacks (great for listening with a friend), or even make all jacks inputs, route them to the three stereo ADCs, and capture 5.1 analog audio. In fact, as far as I can tell, the only "
If only it did work that way (Score:5, Interesting)
It's POSSIBLE that with that disabled the mic port acts just like a line-in.
It doesn't. Trust me. I was handed 12 hours of video with overdriven audio that can't be corrected (there's no good correction for clipped audio), all recorded that way because someone set up the recorder with line level audio going into the mic jack and never checked the recorded levels.
they had boost turned off, forgot to mention (Score:2)
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No one is arguing about whether you'll get distortion if you feed a line level signal into a mic level input, fail to check your levels, and don't enable AGC. The same is likely true for a mic input cranked all the way open.
That said, given that some microphones can exceed line level output by themselves without a preamp (the maximum output of a CAD M9, for example, is +8dBV), it should be possible if you set things up correctly to feed a line level signal into any decent mic input. In some pro gear, they
Re: (Score:2)
You need to adjust and monitor audio levels while recording; clipping is the audio equivalent of blowing out highlights in photography. You may need to manually turn off the mic preamp ("Microphone Boost" on some sound cards) and then adjust the gain controls.
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Depends on the card, really, but in a perfect world, line-in is 75ohm/150mv and mic.is 600ohm/2.5mv.
More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_power [wikipedia.org]
Re:Quick question (Score:5, Informative)
Microphone port pumps some current into whatever is connected to it (to power the microphone up)
Line In doesn't provide any power, it only analyses incoming signal from external source, and will be often separated through transoptors or the like to protect the hardware from overcurrent from difference of potential between the devices.
Not sure why this was modded +5 informative; it's a load of hooey...
Normal dynamic microphones are passive and do not require any external power to "power the microphone up". They generate a small current, usually from a coil moving inside a magnet. This is why you need a pre-amp of some kind to bring your mic-level signal up to a line-level signal that a regular amp can deal with. Your sound card has this built in.
If you have a condensor microphone, then it will need external power of some kind to function. This usually comes in the form of phantom power (+48V usually) over a balanced twisted pair microphone wire. I can promise you that your average soundcard (and pretty much anything with 1/8" jacks) does *not* supply phantom power. You need an external power supply of some kind to use a condensor mic with your soundcard.
The only real difference between a line in and a mic in on your soundcard is the expected input gain. A mic input has a pre-amp and expects a mic level input. If you feed it a line level input and it doesn't attenuate it (or bypass the preamp) then you'll clip the hell out of the signal.
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