Donner LiveJack Audio Interface Review

[dtaylo1066]

Aha, this is the one-liner we've been waiting for in this thread.

Damn, he beat me to it.

I will not pass on commenting, as I heard it sounds quite tasty when playing the Fine Young Cannibals.

77 dB SINAD ain't no disco, and ain't no party at ASR.

 

[Pariah Zero]

77 dB SINAD ain't no disco, and ain't no party at ASR.

It's similar to a phonograph's SNR (~78), IIRC.

It's an example of "good enough" for many purposes, but only if you're going into the purchase with open eyes.

It's more than adequate for videoconferencing, for example.

I bought one a year(ish) ago for $40, with the idea to use it for casual ambient nature/outdoor recording when hooked to a phone.

If you're recording the sound of a creek or babbling brook with an LDC mic that has ~73ish dB of SNR by itself, I doubt human ears will really be able to tell the difference. (Running water is its own kind of 'noise' to begin with)

Edit: spelling: ad an

 

[BinkieHuckerback]

Good on that member for doing so.

...a Donner donor

 

[totti1965]

One "nice" thing about this is it's able to run on a Phone with a USB-C interface: When a great Microphone has in the neighborhood of 78 dB of signal-to-noise, I seem to recall the worst signal-to-noise for the whole system would work out to ~74 dB of SNR - which is still fairly good for a Microphone.

All well and good, but can you drive Windows ASIO Emulation on a phone?
74 dB seems to be o.k. for my purposes, but Perhaps a simply USB Mike would be the better solution?
You guys have any suggestions?

 

[JSmith]

...a Donner donor

Donner is a rather unfortunate name choice actually...


JSmith

 

[Pariah Zero]

All well and good, but can you drive Windows ASIO Emulation on a phone?
74 dB seems to be o.k. for my purposes, but Perhaps a simply USB Mike would be the better solution?
You guys have any suggestions?

ASIO drivers (or, in this case, requiring drivers at all) is a uniquely Windows thing in this case. There's no driver required for anything in the Apple or Linux ecosystem (which covers Android and iOS devices).

I mean, technically, there is, but it's part of the OS and "just works". Amir is definitely the expert on the Windows audio subsystem, though. I'm sure he could tell a reasonable tale about why Windows needs anything other than what the USB Audio Device specification lays out as a standard input/output.

The use case for the Donner over a USB mic is one of preference. No matter what you do, you're taking "sound" → the microphone capsule → some circuitry in the mic to support the capsule → (possibly a preamp) → ADC → computer.

The more you combine into one unit, the more modularity you sacrifice. This is a trade-off, of course.

USB Mics have most of the chain built in, but you don't know how good the ADC is, and you can't change it. In contrast, with an audio interface like the Donner (or the previously reviewed Motu M6), the microphone is decoupled from the preamp and ADC.

There are noise reasons to have the digital circuitry in a different chassis from the (literally by design) noise-sensitive microphone. Especially in the case of condenser microphones - the microphone's body/chassis is a faraday cage.

Now, if you're looking for portable recording, to just go out and record - a small mini recorder like the Zoom H1Essential or the Tascam DR-05x may be a good option. This is even more all-in-one, combining the entire recording chain into one device. (They can be used as a USB mic, though!)

They're not studio quality (they don't have the best mic capsules, middling ADC and have somewhat noisy preamps), but they're capable devices, and - this is important - they're not used in a studio (with many thousands of dollars of acoustical treatment). They're designed for untreated & uncontrolled "noisy" environments.

I believe both the Zoom H1Essential or Tascam DR-05x allow you to plug in some mics - and both companies have more expensive options that can take any XLR microphone.

An interesting site I found that covers recording nature - and reviews microphone/recording systems with audio samples, is Acoustic Nature

 

[Mart68]

 

[Paweł L]

Doner kebab is usually made from beef, lamb, or chicken... Donner kebab would probably be made out of long pork*.




I'm assuming most people not from the US didn't have an extensive "Westward Ho!" unit in history class, so:

*In the US, the Donner Party is an (in)famous historical incident in which a group of pioneers traveling through the mountains were tragically stranded and resorted to cannibalism. You can visit the Donner Pass on your way to Lake Tahoe in California...

Some 2000m elevation difference between Donner Pass and Sacramento - I forgot how spectacular is the I-80 there up in the Sierras.

 

[kencreten]

For anyone who hasn't heard of Donner, they make audio stuff, but a lot of guitar stuff. I have a few of their inexpensive guitar pedals and they're fine. There are numerous company names doing this kind of stuff. And the Donner name has been around for a while. I - wish this stuff had been around when I was starting guitar at 15. We had a few good brands, maybe a few bad brands, and not many amps in my local guitar shop.

 

[yo!]

If you're recording the sound of a creek or babbling brook with an LDC mic that has ~73ish dB of SNR by itself, I doubt human ears will really be able to tell the difference. (Running water is its own kind of 'noise' to begin with)

Edit: spelling: ad an

If you're recording a big waterfall at the bottom where the water hits ground, this might be true.
Recording a meandering creek with it's acoustic finesse, you can tell the differ between Zoom and Sony PCM100D for noisefloor reasons, not to mention recording the water bubbles sound from a glass of sparkling water. Don't ask me why I'm sensitive to this