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M2TECH JOPLIN /32BIT ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER USER MANUAL --- PRELIMINARY --- REV. P A – 9/2012...
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WARNING: the information contained in this manual are considered to be reliable and accurate. M2Tech reserves the right to change or modify the information any time, without prior advice. It’s up to the customer to ensure that the manual being consulted is the latest version.
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JOPLIN is provided with a very complete set of equalization and filtering options to accommodate all kind of analog signals. We feel that your expectations will be fulfilled by JOPLIN: you’ll hear your analog sources turned into music files or digital streams in a way like never before, prepare for a whole...
8.3.8. Low pass (anti-hiss) filter ..................27 8.3.9. MPX filter ......................28 9. Notes on equalization ....................30 9.1. Why equalization is needed for records? ..............30 9.2. List of phono equalization curves available on the Joplin and notes on their usage ............................33 9.2.1. RIAA .........................33 9.2.2. AES ........................33 9.2.3.
Should one or more items be missing, please contact your dealer or local distributor. Extract the Joplin from the foam container and place it on a stable base, far from heat sources. Avoid the direct sunlight on the unit. Allow for enough room around the unit for venting.
Connect the “A” plug of the cable to a 2.0 USB port of your computer. Connect two interconnects to the analog inputs of the Joplin (Figure 2, 4/5) and to the outputs of your analog source (be it a turntable, a tuner, a tape recorder or even the tape rec output of your amplifier).
6. Driver installation The Joplin is USB 2.0 Audio compliant. This means that no driver is needed with Apple computers, nor with Linux-based PC’s. The latter will need ALSA to operate the Joplin. Windows is presently not compatible with USB 2.0 Audio, so no native support is available.
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In Windows 7, the installation wizard will ask for authorization to start installation. Accept. Then, the wizard will check for system features. At a certain point, it will ask you to connect the Joplin in one of the USB ports (Figure 6). Figure 6...
A – SEPTEMBER 2012 www.m2tech.biz 6.3. USB Control Panel A control panel is installed together with the driver, which can be used to optimize Joplin’s USB port performance (Figure 11). More details on the Control Panel’s features in the application note App002.
Go to the control panel and launch the “Application Installation” utility (Figure 12). Look for the Joplin driver item in the list. Double-click on it to launch uninstalling. Figure 12 The installation wizard, which also handles uninstalling, will show up (Figure 13 on next page).
ALSA. This means that the driver is already included in the operating system and the user needs not to install anything: just connect the Joplin to your PC with Linux and it will be immediately recognized by the OS and ready to use. ALSA version needs to be 1.0.24 or later.
Joplin 7.1. Configuring a PC with Windows XP A PC with Windows XP can use the Joplin in two different ways: Direct Sound (DS) and ASIO. The former is suitable for recorders which can’t operate in ASIO mode, while the latter can be chosen (for better performance) with players which can operate in ASIO mode.
7.2. Configuring a PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 A PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 can use the Joplin in four different ways: Direct Sound (DS), Kernel Streaming (KS), ASIO and WASAPI. DS is suitable for recorders which can’t operate in Kernel Streaming mode nor with WASAPI;...
Open control Panel and select Hardware and Sounds. Under Audio, click on Manage Audio Devices. The following windows will appear. Click on the “Recording” tab and select “M2Tech Joplin” as predefined device. Then, click on OK. Figure 18 7.2.2. Configuring for Kernel Streaming with Windows Vista or Windows 7 As for Windows XP, Kernel Streaming has no standard setting in Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Joplin Joplin The Joplin is a very versatile unit, with plenty of features to tailor its behaviour to the source being used and the music program being played back. To configure all the features and parameters, a menu can be accessed from both the front panel controls and the remote.
8.3. Parameters meaning and choices 8.3.1. Input gain The Joplin is provided with an analog front-end which gain can be set to 0dB or to any value between 10dB and 65dB in 1dB steps. 0dB means that an input voltage of 1.7Vrms produces and output of 0dBFS (that is the full dynamic of the ADC).
Thus, the choice of the sampling frequency is a trade-off between disk usage and quality. On the other hand, when using the Joplin to drive a digital amplifier, a DAC or a streaming player for real-time playback, the best choice is always the highest sampling frequency possible.
8.3.5. Equalization curve The Joplin has been conceived to be used with a wide variety of different sources: tuners, recorders, turntables. Some of these sources require an equalization to enjoy their sound. The Joplin is provided with a wealth of equalization curves to satisfy even the most requiring vinyl collector or reel-to-reel tapes enthusiast.
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LP’s. Not only LP’s are equalized: equalization was used for 78rpm, too, as well with great variety of choices. A good phono preamplifier, or an ADC suitable for direct phono acquiring as is the Joplin, should allow the vinyl collector to choose the right curve for each LP pressed before 1954 (but it’s known that many recording companies adopted the RIAA curve years after the...
Actually, it can be seen that some labels used the same curve as other labels (e.g. Mercury used the same curve as Capitol), so the curve set provided with the Joplin is the one which covers almost all the labels producing records between 1925 and 1954.
LP’s after losing the format war against Columbia, so it’s difficult to say which curve was used for a certain record. The Joplin offers three choices, based on record’s year of cutting. RCA1 is the oldest. The newest, RCA Orthophonic, is the one on which the “New Orthopohonic”...
Same thing can be done with the Joplin, connecting the playback head of a tape recorder to its analog inputs (eventually via an impedance adaptor), adjusting the gain as required and selecting the appropriate equalization curve for the tape being played back.
9.5. Interfacing a cartridge or a tape head The Joplin has an input impedance of 47 kOhms, that is a standard value that fits all line- level sources and also MM cartridges. On the other hand, MC cartridges and also tape heads may need a different load impedance.
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