# How can I tell if my computer's audio input is in stereo? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-tell-if-my-computers-audio-input-is-in-stereo/534361 "2010-03-30T18:47:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-tell-if-my-computers-audio-input-is-in-stereo/534361/1 "2010-03-30T18:47:56Z")
About a year ago I was trying to record music onto my hard drive from a stereo source. Someone here suggested getting some adaptors to go from two RCA plugs to my computer’s mic input, and capturing with Audacity software. That worked great, except I was only getting the left channel. That suggested to me that the input was mono. Screw it, I said, I need to get a new computer one of these days anyway. Fast forward to a year later. I got a new computer. So last night I was trying it again, and it seems – though I’m not sure – that I’m getting both left and right channels, but both panned to the middle. It could very well be that I don’t quite understand Audacity well enough, but it could also be that the input jack is mono, or that there’s some setting in Windows that I need to make. Any ideas? FWIW, Dell Inspiron laptop and Windows 7. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-tell-if-my-computers-audio-input-is-in-stereo/534361/2 "2010-03-30T19:07:19Z")
a stereo adapter would have 2 RCA sockets and a coaxial plug with 3 conductors (tip, ring, sleeve). ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-tell-if-my-computers-audio-input-is-in-stereo/534361/3 "2010-03-30T19:10:21Z")
Your mic input will be wildly overloaded by a line level output which will yield crappy, distorted sound regardless of the mono-stereo issue. There are lots of cheap USB mixers for PCs that would be much better solutions for your desired transfer. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-tell-if-my-computers-audio-input-is-in-stereo/534361/4 "2010-03-30T19:38:14Z")
Good point about overloading the input, though it seems I only have to turn down the master volume on my mixer to about 5 to stop clipping. I had no idea there were such things as USB mixers. The cheapest I found was $52 and they go way up from there. Even the cheap ones are way overkill for what I want. Wouldn’t a simple RCA to USB adaptor do that same thing? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-tell-if-my-computers-audio-input-is-in-stereo/534361/5 "2010-03-30T20:30:48Z")
Can you vary the balance Left/Right on your source? That should vary your recording in Audacity. Also, doesn’t Audacity show the sound on the right and left channels as a sort of graph? If so, do the left and right channels differ? If they differ you are recording stereo. If all else fails a Beatles song like “Getting Better” of Sgt. Pepper’s should have pretty clear stereo separation, guitar on one side and and vocals on the other side. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-tell-if-my-computers-audio-input-is-in-stereo/534361/6 "2010-03-30T20:41:01Z")
Since I’m sending from a mixing board, I can absolutely pan things wherever I like. But even having things hard panned, it sounded like they were centered. As far as Audacity goes, when I start a new recording, it opens a new mono track instead of using the stereo one I specified for it. I’m not sure how to force it to use the one I want yet. But I’m wondering if the new one it opens is mono because that’s what it detects. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-tell-if-my-computers-audio-input-is-in-stereo/534361/7 "2010-03-30T20:58:04Z")
I don’t have Audacity here, but according to the manual it should be in Preferences, Audio I/O: > **[Audacity](https://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity/)** > > Download Audacity for free. A free multi-track audio editor and recorder. Audacity is no longer at SourceForge. Audacity can be downloaded via AudacityTeam website instead: http://www.audacityteam.org/download/ > > > Audacity is a free, easy-to-use,... Are you using the Mic input or a Aux or Line-In? I’d use Aux or Line-In. The Mic port could be mono, since it would usually be used for those simple $2 headset mics. But really most everything I’ve seen on PCs since DOS and SoundBlaster days has been stereo. And I assume your adapter/cables are stereo? This diagram will show you a mono vs stereo plug: [http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/media/upload/tutorials/dictation/stereo-mono.jpg](http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/media/upload/tutorials/dictation/stereo-mono.jpg) Notice the 2 rings on the stereo plug. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-i-tell-if-my-computers-audio-input-is-in-stereo/534361/8 "2010-03-31T19:00:38Z")
My adaptor and plugs are definitely stereo. There is no aux input on my computer. I’m starting to think that USB is the way to go.