First of all I'd like to apologise for my other reply. It was so off topic I
had meant to reply personally.

I've seen a few things on people making their own sound related devices
recently. Almost all of these messages has led to someone stating that
building a high quality audio device at home is just not possible. I would
like to know how true this really is.

What does affect the quality of a sound device?

Obviously quality components would have to be a major part. But now the
home/small business market for electronics is so big that most high quality
components are available from companies like digikey in quantities of less
than 1000 so this is less of an issue.

Design would obviously play a large role but due to the growth at the bottom
the information is available much more readily.

Manufacturing techniques also play an important role I know. For instance
soundcards are now made from multilayer PCBs to reduce noise.

But, If I managed to make (or otherwise obtain) a perfect design and the
components and the manufacturing was possible would I be able to make a
similar quality product?

Some of the prices for audio products are simply ridiculous. For instance
the SonicPort DAT. It is a USB based digital audio device. I have looked at
the specs and after hearing it is detected by windows as a "Phillips USB
Audio Device" I am sure it uses the Philips Audio Recording And Playback
Peripheral as this doesn't allow customisation of the VendorID etc and will
thus always detect as a Phillips device.

I have the data sheet for this IC and is has a reference design that has
exactly the same specs as the commercial product. Coincidence? The
ridiculous thing is that the comapny charges $600+ for a device that is
basically a 1 IC and a handful of resistor, capacitors and so forth. How can
this be? Can I not create such a device for less?

I would like to hear from anyone who has made (or attempted to make) their
own audio device. Did it work? What was the quality like? Was it worth it?

Thanks,
Tom.
----- Original Message -----
From: marquis De <desade666@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: sound cards, spdif, etc


<SNIP>
>   my point "picsters" is not to shoot down the simplicity of the pic,
> merely to point out the absurdity in trying to make a $20-$50 sound
> card do things with a PIC that other cards do off the shelf, for as
> little as say $500
>   consider the time it takes to reverse engineer a sound blaster, and
> then program a PIC to add functionality...youve already (in a sense)
> bought a better card?
<SNIP>
> i think in the long run, youll be happier
<SNIP>