S4 Sound Quality

S4 Sound Quality
Posted on: 05.11.2010 by Hang Natelli
Just curious if anyone has foundthe sound quality to be on par with the Audio 4 or not.

I read in another community that one user found the sound quality lacking when compared with a Serato SSL-3 box. And from what I have heard Audio 4 is > Serato SSL3. So is the S4 really lacking?
Nydia Hammon
15.11.2010
Originally Posted by VictorM
Yes i did, the problems is, i had a crap sound card i tought, ScratchAmp 2, compared to new, i always mixed with that one and APC 40, i switch to S4, and i feel i lose some Quality. I never had an AUDI2 4 or 8, so i dont know.

NI Said the sound should be at least as good as AUDIO8, i dont have one so i cant compare, i need to find somoene who has one , to help me a bit, then will post here again.
When you are performing are you aware of the main out level that the s4 reaches? What I want to say is that you may accidentally raised the main out too much and distorted the sound. If that happened try raise your volume on the club's mixer not the software.
Janina Droze
14.11.2010
Originally Posted by VictorM
Im a bit ungry, do you believe is a faulty unit? Im sure if i give it back to NI they will say it sounds good, because you need to do some tests to realise that the sound not good enought......

I wanted S4 for profesional use in clubs




Snow Leopard.
1 : have you talked to NI about the problems you are having ?
2 : can you describe the details of what problems you are having ?
Shirlee Depiazza
14.11.2010
Originally Posted by sweens
Does anyone know if it's possible to get the main levels indicators to work work an external soundcard, I'd kind of gotten used to them.
they already do. the levels are for the software and display pre-hardware levels.
Shirlee Depiazza
10.11.2010
Originally Posted by sebastiannz
I've still got an A4 so will compare the sound quality when I get home and try out the s4.

just a related question... isn't the sound quality of these soundcards way higher than a 320k mp3 can go anyway? Most of my music is now in 320k mp3s, 44khz, 16 bit rate. Is there any sound quality improvement to playing these tunes on a sound card that goes up to 96khz with 24bit rate?
afaik it's the source audio that defines the max sq you get. running it higher in the sound card won't help it.
Again afaik... you'r basically just duping the frames and letting the khz float. So the sound card might be trying to output 24bit 96khz but if the source audio is 16bit 44khz so the bits just get repeated and the khz sends at 44khz max.

All this may be wrong my sound theory is a bit rough.
Maxima Lobeck
16.11.2010
Ok i had a problem i believe its fixed, i dont know if the quality its the same, but seems that, at least it improved.

I had the balanced inputs to the max, i tought they were to the minimum, so i was having like ground noise, white noise, and that coming from my S4 to the speakers, while my others cards werent.
Maxima Lobeck
15.11.2010
Its about Quality to be honest, when i plug the ScratchAmp 2 the sound is clear and more brilliant, like more profesional, more bass more highgs...just opened a support tiket, but the problem is probably if i send it, they will just say, the Unit is OK =/. Im frustrated.
Nydia Hammon
15.11.2010
Originally Posted by VictorM
Yes i did, the problems is, i had a crap sound card i tought, ScratchAmp 2, compared to new, i always mixed with that one and APC 40, i switch to S4, and i feel i lose some Quality. I never had an AUDI2 4 or 8, so i dont know.

NI Said the sound should be at least as good as AUDIO8, i dont have one so i cant compare, i need to find somoene who has one , to help me a bit, then will post here again.
When you are performing are you aware of the main out level that the s4 reaches? What I want to say is that you may accidentally raised the main out too much and distorted the sound. If that happened try raise your volume on the club's mixer not the software.
Maxima Lobeck
15.11.2010
Yes i did, the problems is, i had a crap sound card i tought, ScratchAmp 2, compared to new, i always mixed with that one and APC 40, i switch to S4, and i feel i lose some Quality. I never had an AUDI2 4 or 8, so i dont know.

NI Said the sound should be at least as good as AUDIO8, i dont have one so i cant compare, i need to find somoene who has one , to help me a bit, then will post here again.
Janina Droze
14.11.2010
Originally Posted by VictorM
Im a bit ungry, do you believe is a faulty unit? Im sure if i give it back to NI they will say it sounds good, because you need to do some tests to realise that the sound not good enought......

I wanted S4 for profesional use in clubs




Snow Leopard.
1 : have you talked to NI about the problems you are having ?
2 : can you describe the details of what problems you are having ?
Shirlee Depiazza
14.11.2010
Originally Posted by sweens
Does anyone know if it's possible to get the main levels indicators to work work an external soundcard, I'd kind of gotten used to them.
they already do. the levels are for the software and display pre-hardware levels.
Maxima Lobeck
14.11.2010
Im a bit ungry, do you believe is a faulty unit? Im sure if i give it back to NI they will say it sounds good, because you need to do some tests to realise that the sound not good enought......

I wanted S4 for profesional use in clubs


What you say is very interesting.

Could it be driver related? What OS is this?
Snow Leopard.
Janyce Henningson
14.11.2010
Hmm it's interesting a few people are knocking the sound from the S4.

Mine's got put back till next week so I can't comment but I find it hard to believe the company that makes the Audio 2 /4 /8 would put a sub-standard audio interface in their flagship product.
Francina Decosse
14.11.2010
What you say is very interesting.

Could it be driver related? What OS is this?
Maxima Lobeck
14.11.2010
Im very disapointed with the S4, i bought it because they sell it as profesional, well, dont know how AUDI8 DJ sounds, but my FinalScratch 2 sound card, sounds better also... this sucks.
Verdie Zabransky
14.11.2010
Hey,

Been using the S4 onboard for the last ten days and was pretty happy with it but decided yesterday to try my echo audiofire2.

I definitely find the audiofire 2 has better sound quality and is a lot louder.

Does anyone know if it's possible to get the main levels indicators to work work an external soundcard, I'd kind of gotten used to them.
Maxima Lobeck
11.11.2010
Today i made my first gig with it, before this i always used akai apc 40 and Scratchamp 2, of final scratch 2.

I dont know why, but i believe this sounds a bit worse, dunno why, maybe i need to switch off the limit and autogain, because i believe they not working good, the autogain dont at least.

The basses sounds very good, but the kicks dont are strong as they were in ableton with the other sound card, and the mix of tracks i believe dont sound good like with other setup.

Another thing is that when you cue you listen some stupid flanger coming out from the headphones.

Well i wish all this get a fix.
Shirlee Depiazza
10.11.2010
Originally Posted by sebastiannz
I've still got an A4 so will compare the sound quality when I get home and try out the s4.

just a related question... isn't the sound quality of these soundcards way higher than a 320k mp3 can go anyway? Most of my music is now in 320k mp3s, 44khz, 16 bit rate. Is there any sound quality improvement to playing these tunes on a sound card that goes up to 96khz with 24bit rate?
afaik it's the source audio that defines the max sq you get. running it higher in the sound card won't help it.
Again afaik... you'r basically just duping the frames and letting the khz float. So the sound card might be trying to output 24bit 96khz but if the source audio is 16bit 44khz so the bits just get repeated and the khz sends at 44khz max.

All this may be wrong my sound theory is a bit rough.
Peggy Gabrielson
10.11.2010
After playing around with S4 toevening , sound quality is on a par with audio4, maybe better...

basically it sounds beautiful now if i could just get a faster laptop and get rid of the occasional pops! or NI make traktor use less cpu?
Peggy Gabrielson
09.11.2010
I've still got an A4 so will compare the sound quality when I get home and try out the s4.

just a related question... isn't the sound quality of these soundcards way higher than a 320k mp3 can go anyway? Most of my music is now in 320k mp3s, 44khz, 16 bit rate. Is there any sound quality improvement to playing these tunes on a sound card that goes up to 96khz with 24bit rate?
Francina Decosse
07.11.2010
BTW, Yul has the DX and I believe he now got the S4 too.

if someone could bring Yul to say his finding, it'd be interesting ...
Leeanna Ayla
06.11.2010
Yep, realized pretty quick after I posted it.
DJ Fexland
06.11.2010
Originally Posted by photojojo
I recorded this yesterday while experimenting with the sample decks. It's the straight wave file that Traktor spits out, I didn't do anything to it at all post processing wise. It should give you an idea on sound quality.
You do understand that recording in Traktor is direct to disk and has nothing to do with -or- no reflection on the audio interface you are using right? (Unless you are recording an analog input to a thru ch.)

Answer to the poster:
I did some brief testing, I found the S4 to be the same of not better than the ADJ8. It seems hotter and offers balanced outputs. No complaints.
Tatum Ansaldo
07.11.2010
Originally Posted by the shmobletons
i dont believe hes allowed to complain
I dno! Karlos?
Treasa Maffucci
07.11.2010
Originally Posted by fullenglishpint
I know Karlos has done 30+ gigs with his pre-production S4 and he hasn't complained about the sound quality.
i dont believe hes allowed to complain
Tatum Ansaldo
06.11.2010
I know Karlos has done 30+ gigs with his pre-production S4 and he hasn't complained about the sound quality.
Onie Sarandos
06.11.2010
I hope the sound is as good as the audio 4 units, since it is essentially billed as such. i was discussing this with a friend of mine who has the DX. we were wondering if the S4's soundcard will compare with the DX's. I guess only time will tell.
Julissa Serrone
06.11.2010
I've always had better sound quality from an analogue mixer. So if the SL3 is going into a DJM-800 and the S4 is going straight to a speaker then I would believe the DJM800/SL3 may have better sound. In a club chances are your gonna plug into a line in the house mixer. At that point I believe the sound would be pretty even.
Leeanna Ayla
05.11.2010
You have a point. I can do an external recording in wav, but then I would question the quality of my cables and recording device. I sold my Audio 4 so I can't go from one to the other and compare any way which I believe would be the best way to answer the OPs question. I guess the best way to tell is to hook it up to your system and try it out.
Lorrine Eckstein
05.11.2010
If thats an internal recording, its not going to give a reflection on the quality of the audio interface is it? :P
Leeanna Ayla
05.11.2010
I recorded this yesterday while experimenting with the sample decks. It's the straight wave file that Traktor spits out, I didn't do anything to it at all post processing wise. It should give you an idea on sound quality.


http://soundcloud.com/photojojo/s4-playing-around

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