PC Sound Card as an Audio Measuring Device

Possibilities and quality of modern PC sound cards are increasing. New sound cards offer 24-bit quantization and higher sampling frequencies, which in some cases are going up to 196 kHz. In theory this makes them comparable with professional audio measuring devices. Praxis is somewhat different because of some characteristic problems that occur in PC environment. Noise is the largest problem, which affects dynamic range of a sound card, especially those in computer cases. Sound cards, which connect through USB port, are somewhat less affected with this problem. Other problems include generation of signals with small distortion, small voltage range and similar. This article makes a comparison of the professional audio measuring device and three sound cards. All were used to make standard measurements on audio devices and their results were compared and analyzed.