| yes - you definitely need to get decent speakers/monitors and sound card which does a/d and d/a in order to judge the merits of a mic and pre-amp.
the internal sound card of the iMac in not as good as the Mbox, and the Mbox is not particularly well regarded, but i have not used it myself.
the other major factor will be the acoustics of the room you are auditioning it in. if you do not have a good acoustically treated room, then it will be difficult to make a solid judgment no matter what converters, mic. pre-amp or speakers you are using. mainly becuase you are recording acoustic intruments in that room - then listening back to them. In a pro studio situation you would be recording in a treated room or a tuned room with wonderful naturual acoustics, then listening back in the control room, which would have neutral blanced acoustics. how does that compare to your current situation? |