What are the limitations of using sound cards for spectral analysis?
Because the maximum sampling rate of sound cards is typically 44.1 kHz, your measurements are limited to 22kHz; however, there are a wide range of sound cards that support sampling rates as high as 192kHz. Sound cards have adjustable input gain – although this is helpful in many situations, it does require that provide a known reference signal is you want to calibrate the amplitude readings.
Because the maximum sampling rate of sound cards is typically 44.1 kHz, your measurements are limited to 22kHz; however, there are a wide range of sound cards that support sampling rates as high as 200kHz. Sound cards have adjustable input gain – although this is helpful in many situations, it can get accidentally changed and does require that you provide a known reference signal if you want to calibrate the amplitude readings.
