# External sound card



## ibenek (Oct 16, 2010)

Hello.
I'm new to REW and ready to go for a shopping spree.
What sound card should I buy?
Want something cheap but reliable.
Any advice?


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Are you sure you need a soundcard? If your PC or laptop has audio in (a line input, or a mic/line that auto switches) and audio out (speaker or headphone output) then just use those. If it doesn't (for example, if the input is mic only, or the input and output are on the same connector) a cheap, 2-channel USB soundcard can be used with an SPL meter that has a line level output (like the Radio Shack meter mentioned in the sticky about connections and cabling) to make low frequency measurements suitable for optimising speaker and sub positions or viewing the effect of acoustic treatments. If you need to make full range measurements (for example if you are making your own speakers and need to measure their performance) you will need a soundcard that has a preamp built in and phantom power for the mic. There are lots of threads in this forum that cover that topic, do a bit of searching for details.


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## ibenek (Oct 16, 2010)

Hello.
Computer I'm going to use has SPDIF 1,2 with a sybol of headphones and 3 with a symbol of Microfon


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## JohnM (Apr 11, 2006)

Might be OK, quickest way to find out is probably to make a loopback measurement of the soundcard, per the REW help instructions on calibrating the soundcard.


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