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After trying three different 8 bit DSOs in different price ranges I almost gave up on them, but then decided to try a 12 bit DSO. Owon makes a few that can do 8 or 12 bits depending on the sampling rate. Most 12 bit scopes cost several thousand dollars, but the Owon XDS2102a and XDS3062a are in the $400 range.

Yes, there is a huge improvement over the 8 bit ones! The scope looks a works a lot more as an analog scope when you are on 12 bits. Added bous are a number of measurements it does at the same time as displaying the signal. Finally something decent in the DSO world for audio work that can be had at the same price range as analog scopes of past.

[Gold]

The Diligent Analog Discovery 2 is a 14 bit scope. You need a windows/mac/linux machine but it's only $279.00. I haven't tried it but I plan on. There is a thread below on it.

I was looking at all in one digital scopes too. I've been told that the all in one scopes are basically windows or linux machines in a nice box. That got me thinking that the Diligent makes financial sense even if you have to buy a computer. A little 10" screen laptop is sub $200.

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Lots of good stuff out there. Standalone operation was a distinct need for me.

[Tubetec]

I'm quite happy with REW covering most of the extra things a digital scope does,I think  Im gonna settle for an older tektronix analog scope as soon as I find one.

I did check out the AD2 ,
It does seem to deliver the goods in terms of processing power , but the hardware is a bit cheap and flimsy looking , fair enough you are getting access to the software which probably accounts for the lions share of the price .  But as previous contributors have mentioned the typical RTA/spectrum software packages are hard to live without nowadays ,even if you do happen to have a super duper scope ,your still going to want something like REW on hand .

The point was raised about Analog discovery 2 not being able to interface with REW , there really isnt any satisfactory USB audio signal probe on the market , I'm having reasonable  success with a modified centrance axeport  as a front end to REW , but thats long since discontinued , and there isnt much in the way of inline usb interfaces that can do proper 24/96 , one that seems to fit the bill could be Pyle's Microphone to usb adapter , a humble enough 39.99 US$,  might be worth a look but asio drivers are  unknown and input would need modification to get to 1 meg . I'll probably keep an eye out for an original mic port pro  just as a quick and easy balanced input to usb for test purposes. 

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There really aren't any good all-in-one solutions for both signal troubleshooting and spectrum analysis unless, again, you are doling out big bucks. I use TrueRTA when I need it.

Yeah, device driver hell is just one of the reasons I don't want a PC based DSO. I have a box full of electronics to take to Goodwill that have no functioning drivers anymore.

[Tubetec]

Have you seen Micsig ,
looks quite good and portable
similar money to what you might pay for a Rigol ,not sure how it measures up for processing power ,math functions though.


 

[Gold]

Yeah, device driver hell is just one of the reasons I don't want a PC based DSO. I have a box full of electronics to take to Goodwill that have no functioning drivers anymore.

The reason my friend suggested a PC based scope was because a stand alone digital scope he had couldn't run the latest software they offered due to a hardware issue. Something like an old mother board couldn't run the newest software.

He moved to a PC based scope so that wouldn't happen again. If I get a PC based scope I would dedicate a PC to it. PC's are so cheap it makes sense. If worst comes to worst I'd just freeze the setup where it is and use it as is. I don't think National Instruments is going out of business any time too though.

I would take the flimsy looking interface and mount it in a more robust box with connectors on it.

[volker]

I've used the Red Pitaya for a couple of days, because one of my colleagues bought one for appointments at clients outside the lab and similar stuff. It doesn't need a driver, it runs a webserver which you can access via the browser. So in that respect you would be safe using it in the future... until there are no more ethernet jacks  . But I must say I appreciate a dedicated hardware interface with knobs to fiddle around much more than having to point and click in the browser.

[mrclunk]

TK, did you buy the Owon DSO in the end?
Interested to see how you got on, just about to get my first DSO..
Over on the EEBlog forums Owon's don't get much love.

Looking at the Owon XDS3102a, Siglent SDS1104X-E and the MicSig ST01104C.

I'd get the MicSig as it's the newest design, decent specs and has a touch screen but it looks like a toy. Not sure how long it would last...

Also, would having 4 channels be advantageous for us guys?  Not much more money..

Frankly all these scopes are probably far more powerful than i need anyway.

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