Specifications

EAW Smaart 6 Operation Manual Getting Started

Computer Sound Hardware

Smaart does not address computer sound hardware directly. Since audio data is obtained

through platform-native or third-party audio APIs, Smaart should work with virtually

any audio I/O device compatible with the Windows and Mac operating systems. Since

only the A/D and D/A functions of the computer’s sound hardware are actually used,

Smaart 6 works well with a wide variety of computer audio input devices including

off-the-shelf sound cards for desktop machines and the built-in sound hardware in many

notebook computers. External hardware with USB, PCMCIA, and Firewire interfaces,

some combining high-quality A/D and D/A converters with mic preamps, are convenient

for field use.

Two independent external line-level input channels (sometimes found as one stereo

connector) are required for transfer function and impulse response measurements. The

sound hardware must be capable recording and playing simultaneously to use Smaart’s

internal signal generator as the stimulus signal source for measurements.

We do not recommend using the microphone inputs on computer sound cards for mea-

surement applications. Instead, use an external mixer or microphone preamp to route

the microphone to the computer’s line-level inputs.

Smaart 6 makes no use of the sound hardware’s synthesis capability. The relevant factors

that differentiate sound hardware for Smaart 6’s applications are the maximum sampling

rate, sampling resolution (bits per sample) and signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). If your

computer does not have sound hardware, lacks a line-level input, or its existing hardware

is problematic for any reason, there are many devices available for audio I/O. The

following features and audio characteristics are important:

• Simultaneous play and record (full duplex) capability

• Two independent, external, line-level input channels

• 16- to 24-bit sample resolution

• Digital inputs for use with external A/D converters (optional but recommended)

• User-selectable sampling rates: Smaart 6 supports sampling rates from 5512 Hz

to 96 kHz. Audio input devices used with Smaart 6 must support at least one of

Smaart’s primary sampling rates: 44.1k, 48k, or 96k (samples/second).