# Surface Pro ok for REW?



## paulys55 (Jul 31, 2017)

About to start setting up my system and was wondering if the soundcard in my daughter's Surface Pro would be up to the task of doing full range measurements. My main rig has an Asus Essence STXii and I'm sure it is better than the card in the Surface Pro but requires moving my main rig into the living room which is clearly much more of a pain than just bringing the tablet. Just not sure if the Surface Pro's card covers the full audio spectrum. Thoughts/advice appreciated.

Equipment list:
NAD C 375BEE integrated (for mains)
Crown K2 (sub)
MiniDSP 2x4HD
PSB Imagine T towers
Stereo Integrity HST18ii (4cuft sealed)
UMIK-1 microphone


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## colbysheridan (Apr 18, 2010)

paulys55 said:


> About to start setting up my system and was wondering if the soundcard in my daughter's Surface Pro would be up to the task of doing full range measurements. My main rig has an Asus Essence STXii and I'm sure it is better than the card in the Surface Pro but requires moving my main rig into the living room which is clearly much more of a pain than just bringing the tablet. Just not sure if the Surface Pro's card covers the full audio spectrum. Thoughts/advice appreciated.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I used mine for awhile with no issues.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## paulys55 (Jul 31, 2017)

Cool. Guess I'll give it a go. Couldn't find info on the soundcard and wasn't sure if it would output as low as my sub is capable of. Will give it a go and see what happens. Worst case I'll bring in the main rig. Thanks.


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## jannek74 (Oct 22, 2013)

I don't understand your question if you own a UMIK? If you are using this microphone (which should be able to move to another room) you are connecting via USB and the UMIK includes the soundcard - nothing within the Surface Pro.

If you meant the measurement signal, create a file of it, store it on a USB Stick or cd and use that. Only drawback is that you cannot do phase measurements.

I also would not rely on ANY headphone port.


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## Scion (Oct 9, 2013)

I use a Surface and have had good results. The 'Step-by-Step Guide' will explain all the settings that need to be set in the Windows audio component built into your unit. The UMIK mic connects by USB, but doesn't actually include a separate USB soundcard. You also don't need to create files of measurement signals. There is a signal generator in REW for setting levels and the measurement process creates its own signal sweep. Finally, I did use the headphone output, rather than an HDMI connection, and had no problems. I don't see why this should be an issue since this is just a stereo signal and was covered in the REW instructions.

Just follow the guide and you should be alright.

Ion


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## jannek74 (Oct 22, 2013)

Of course the UMIK includes a separate USB soundcard - thats what is needed to convert the analog signal of the mic capsule to a digital USB signal.
And - before relying on the headphone port check its output signal with a serious soundcard. The "simple stereo signal" is not worth anything if its not absolutely linear in the measurement range.
And in the notebook phone ports I measured yet this was not even almost linear.


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## Scion (Oct 9, 2013)

The UMIK creates the USB digital signal within its own circuitry. This is not a separate soundcard in the usual sense and it certainly cannot be adjusted. That is why each mic has its own calibration file online.

John Mulcahy wrote REW with an extensive help section to get the best performance from his software e.g., calibrating mics to wiring external soundcards. I don't recall any cautions in using the headphone port. He helped design the UMIK to integrate seamlessly with REW and in the guide there is clear instruction to either use HDMI cable or headphone stereo cable. I had excellent results using a this cable on the Surface. YMMV

Ion


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## jannek74 (Oct 22, 2013)

This internal circuitry is what i mean with "soundcard", even if the usual sense means an internal computer card or an external separate device. It is simply integrated in the umik and the calibration file refers to the complete UMIK, which is frequency response of the microphone capsule and that "soundcard" to a given linear input. Which means that the signal of the UMIK will be linear if the calibration file is used and the input is linear.

The input being linear requires two factors: Linearity of the tested setup of amplifier and speaker (which will almost never be the case) and linearity of the signal provided to this tested system. And the second factor is what I doubt to be linear. But if both factors are not linear it cannot be said how much deviation comes from the amplifier/speaker and how much from the measurement signal - so the deviation of amplifier/speaker cannot be compensated with an EQ except if it is always driven by the headphone output of that measurement setup.

And - if the setup does not use a reference channel (which is not possible with a USB Microphone) this cannot be compensated by the software.

But that can easily be tested with a loopback measurement and the result can be added to the UMIK calibration file - then of course the headphone out can be used.


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