[Elecraft] what soundcard for K3 and Mac

[SteveL]

Dave,
This interest caught my eye awhile back:

http://members.chello.at/oe1mww/sound-card-check/ <http://members.chello.at/oe1mww/sound-card-check/>

I’ve tested several of the inexpensive (<$10) nameless USB sound card dongles using his method and saw a wide variety of noise floors - however significantly higher than a name brand USB card.  After testing, I settled on a Sound BlasterX G5 model SB1700 which tested at about -120dB noise level.  How does this compare?  My nameless sound dongles noise level tested -70 to -90dB - a big difference.  

What I haven’t quite figured out is how important is this really is to weak signal digital decoding.  

Steve
aa8af 

> On Oct 30, 2021, at 10:49 PM, David Christ <radioham at mchsi.com> wrote:
> 
> Yes this has been bead to death previously. Jim Brown made a number of suggestions in a paper from 2014.  However the market has changed.  Those models are all discontinued and those manufacturers' follow ons are much more expensive and have features that are not needed for sound card modes.  Any offerings of these older models seem to be coming from overseas.  The $100 and under market seems to be dominated by mystery brand dongles which are a gamble.
> 
> So can any one recommend a tried and true sound card interface for use between an K3 (without a sound card) and a MacBook Pro (which has no mike or line in jack)?  I would like to hear from people who have actually the unit, not just speculation.
>