BCT15X Discriminator Tap Question

[KellyDWS]

Hi folks,

Two questions.

One is the 10uf electrolytic capacitor truly necessary? I get that it blocks any DC components of the signal and all but the discriminator.nl site describes the tap without the capacitor. Also the jack, tip, ring, sleeve or just tip and ring--then where does the final tap go?

Secondly, my company laptop has the DSD bundle installed using the dongle but it doesn't have a microphone input. So my only option I see (without deep thought) is to get a USB/mic input adapter such as the Sabrent USB External Stereo Sound Adapter... has anyone tried pumping the discriminator audio thru a USB port adapter? My immediate concern would be slight loss in quality due to the USB conversion.

Thoughts?

 

[KellyDWS]

Bump?

 

[wbswetnam]

Question #1: I'm not an electrical technician so I don't know as to the absolute necessity for the blocking capacitor. But, it doesn't seem to hurt - have a 1 uF capacitor as part of the tap in my RS Pro-405, but no blocking capacitor in my tapped RS Pro-96. Both seem to perform equally as well. As to your question about the final tap on the BCT15X... I don't know, I haven't yet attempted the tap on mine.
Question #2: No microphone input? Are you sure there isn't a combined headphone/microphone input on the laptop? If so, then you'll need a splitter to separate the microphone and audio components. I've never tried using a USB microphone so I can't answer that possibility.

 

[Voyager]

I always put the tap on the tip. Some say the cap is required, some a cap and a resistor, some just a cap, and some neither.

Is there a line in on the laptop?