Pre-amp to use with PC

[Rider]

I am looking for a mic per-amp to feed sound digitally (via USB, FW or SPDIF) to my PC. What are some of the options?

[gpforet]

What's your application? Is this for location sound work or studio setting?

[Rider]

I would like it to be portable., but I also want to find out the full range of possibilities. I've been to M-Audio website, and thought the smaller units seemed under-speced.

If there were such a thing, I would love a small USB unit that had just one XLR input but a super clean pre-amp, RCA-in, RCA-out (for use without USB), and a headphone jack, that is capable of 32/192 conversion. If it could also record, then it would be a home-run.

[Steve_Karl]

I'd suggest a used Echo Gina3G from eBay. PCI is going to be faster than FW or USB.

[DrDave]

Mackie blackjack
http://www.mackie.com/products/onyxblackjack/

[ggrantly]

Motu mk3 is a good mid-range unit with lots of options. A single pre is going to be pretty unusual. Software has a learning curve, but has lots of options.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...eWire_USB.html

Grant

[ggrantly]

That Mackie product is pretty interesting...
Grant

[Rider]

The Mackie looks promising. Do you think it's possible to run it without USB connection, so that it would also serve as pre-amp to a portable recorder via the monitor-out connections?

Mackie blackjack
http://www.mackie.com/products/onyxblackjack/

[Rider]

Motu mk3 is a good mid-range unit with lots of options. A single pre is going to be pretty unusual. Software has a learning curve, but has lots of options.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...eWire_USB.html

Grant

That one looks good too. How do you find out how good the pre-amp is on these things?

[ggrantly]

Rider,

Ask around. In my case, I have a Motu Traveler Mk3 and the pre-amps are pretty good. Not like a high end recording studio but decent mid-range gear. If you want more opinions about audio gear, you might check out gearslutz. In many cases, you are buying reputation, and or customer service. Most of the products you are looking at will have Midi also. Firewire, if your PC has it is a great interface since it can send instructions as well as data.

Here are some opinions of audio interfaces from my own research which will open me up to nuclear flaming by others:

Apogee: Top notch audio, mac oriented
Motu: Good value, decent product, fair to poor support, powerful but difficult software
TC Electronic: Good audio, doesn't always play well with others
Behrenger: Not
DigiDesign: Avid-ProTools company, they tend to want to control your brain
M-Audio: Avid-ProTools company, see above.
Mackie: Very solid company, but oriented towards music

OK, that's a start.

Grant