Advice for a new MSO - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: oxcart
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2024, 03:23:18 pm
content: I perfectly know this question might have been asked a gazillion times, but i searched and didn't find the updated version of it.I'd like to buy a mixed signal scope for my company(audio signals, power supply checks, some serial communication check..), what would be the modern equivalent of the HDO804 but in the mixed signal park? Hackability is a plus

author: VinzC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2024, 04:08:10 pm
content: Have you sought Rigol MSO series?Example:https://int.rigol.com/products/products/oscilloscopesYou have the list of all oscilloscopes there so you can compare them one to one.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2024, 04:20:36 pm
content: If you need this to make money, start looking at an R&S RTB2004. It costs quite a bit of money but it gives a way more efficient workflow (no silly things like decoding only what is on screen). You can probably find the RTB2004 on the used market as well for a more reasonable price. And I don't mean Ebay perse, there are reputable used equipment dealers which have good offers.

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 18, 2024, 04:32:18 pm
content: Quote from: oxcart on August 18, 2024, 03:23:18 pmThe HDO804 can do all that.What do you need that the HDO804 can't do?

author: oxcart
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2024, 10:41:17 am
content: Thank you guys. The expected usage will be 80% analog signals:- does device x clip the signal- does my audio processing mess the signal- is this power supply ok or chinesium- are there spurious tones...)and 20% checking basic logic- what's the delay between turning on device x and device x actually turning on- and then the delay between turning on and the incoming audioThe most exotic stuff will be "does my processing introduce much distortion" on 16khz audio and "is there quasi-zero noise" on 16bit audio. It will sit in our R&D lab, which is 95% software programming. Occasionally I might help a friend with radio stuff in the 3-30MHz range.Nothing fancy. I might even get away with the HDO924 logic analyzer...?

author: NE666
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2024, 10:47:40 am
content: "sounds" to me as if you'll be requiring a decent audio spectrum analyser as much as an MSO?

author: NE666
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2024, 11:20:59 am
content: Quote from: oxcart on August 19, 2024, 10:41:17 amPersonally, I think that's overkill for the use-cases you've described so far. The DHO814 would be half the cost and still offer basic serial decode with the ability to look at digital signal integrity. Add in a cheap pc-based logic analyser, possibly even the ubiquitous $10 Saleae clone and you're all set for basic SPI / I2C checks. The required LA cables for the Rigol and Siglent scopes are around $300 themselves, at which point if you're only interested in serial decode, you should be asking yourself whether if you're going to spend that much (on top of a more expensive scope model in the first place), you'd be getting more value from a professional SPI/I2C analyser such that offered by TotalPhase.

author: 2N3055
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2024, 11:39:19 am
content: For anything audio quality related you need audio analyser. Or audio card and software.12 bit scopes cannot verify 16bit audio, not to mention 24bit, except for large distortions...From what I can see all you need is 4 ch, even for digital. No need for MSO.MSO is really useful when you NEED 20 channels.Avoid HDO924. Horribly designed device.Stick with HDO800 or Siglent SDS800 HD(my choice).

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2024, 01:16:09 pm
content: Quote from: 2N3055 on August 19, 2024, 11:39:19 amI think you need both a Oscilloscope and an audio interface (Scarlett are measurement grade as I recall). Since you will be working with more than just the audio signals. And a 12 bit scope with ERES might do 15 bit resolution, which is IMHO plenty for generic audio debugging stuff. Audio is not necessarily mean sound cards, could be a spatial audio microphone system, noise cancellation or a dozen other applications which dont need high fidelity. Once I was working with door access control stuff, and 16KHz 8 bit was "Wow this sounds soo much better".

author: 2N3055
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2024, 01:36:56 pm
content: Quote from: tszaboo on August 19, 2024, 01:16:09 pmI agree that there are many instances where 12bit scope is more than enough. Instrument amplifiers for instance..But OP didn't specify details.For what he explained, my opinion is that for the money, it is better to get 800 series 12 bit scope and some audio interface than 12 bit MSO scope..And that gets him a long way into audio...

author: KungFuJosh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2024, 01:41:08 pm
content: https://quantasylum.com/collections/frontpage/products/qa403-audio-analyzer

author: oxcart
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2024, 04:30:43 pm
content: Quote from: tszaboo on August 19, 2024, 01:16:09 pmYes, some of our products use Scarlett as the audio interface. We're into speech recognition, diarization and so on. 16 kHz 16 bit for incoming/outgoing audio and the internal processing is done on 32 bit..16 bit might sound a lot but if you apply some math the quantization gets ugly quickly.I think could start with a DHO814 and then see how it goes from there..?