OT: need to buy ADDA for my DAW, plz report

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tony dB

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
1,304
Location
Belgium
Hi,

I want to go back more analog (in conjunction with my DAW of course) and therefore i'm ready to get some topquality AD-DA converters, they need to be connectable via TDIF and slaving to house wordclock.
Would like to have 2 x 24 in-out setup btw, so prism is a little to expensive in this regard, although i wouldn' mind hearing what users have to say about these too.

I wonder how many of you really had the chance to do A-B comparisons in the same studio and of course on the same material?

I improved my digital setup enormously when i connected a Lucid WC generator so if any have had the chance to hear there AD-DA's i would like to get some feedback from you people, in fact whatever brand you heard, where impressed, could afford, ...

Let it flow :green:

Tony dB
 
RF, thanks for your reply.

I just found out before posting that Lucid had "connections" with Symetrix. I always like their stuff too, i have a 528 preamp/eq/comp and it's used on one out 3 vocals i track as it sounds very warm (trannies!).
I'm sure some of the Symetrix limiting technologie is involved in the softclipper.

I use the GenX6 too and it improved stereo image and transparancy a lot, also the harsh upper mids where gone.
 
Thanks Kubi,

any chances you compared them to anything else?
i can get these on loan so i consider them in the ballpark for some serious listeningtests

tony
 
Although I'm a big fan of RME Hammerfall DSP cards because are probably the best digital cards [Digiface 24digi in, 24 digi out] but I don't like their converters. I had the ADI8DS but after two month I sold it. I belived that stupid review where a guy compared them to the Apogee 8000.

Sorry but only if you compare converters you will hear the diference. And you need some high definition acoustic recording [classical music recorded with only two microphones] to hear the big quality diference between a good converter and a mediocre one. Electronic sound is not a good reference to hear fine details, harmonic structures and space definition.
At this moment I would buy only a top quality converter something like Lavry or Cranesong. Very expensive but two channels are acceptable.
Just think about it, everything will go into your recorder through this converter and if it is not good all the effort to make those nice sounding DIY preamps, equalisers, compressors is lost.
This is my opinion and I'm so concerned about converters because I do orchestrall recordings and for me the sound has to be stellar.

chrissugar

P.S. Also I think this is the only link in the chain that I think can't be DIY. It involves to many things to do it right. Things like separate DSP for reconstruction filtering [not the crap ones included by the chip manufacturers], precission clocking, and good analog to digital interfacing are things that I think are not doable at diy level.
 
Chrissugar, thanks for posting, i got your point.
Whatever i go for will be tested/compared for at least a month at my own studio...

I'm looking at 48 channels of convertors here as i want my DAW to act as a huge tapemachine during mixdown.
Also it's a real luxery when tracking, to have a lot of mike's, di's, etc patched to their own inputs to the DAW, making it more easy to move tru an albumproduction and leveing the instruments in the studio ready to perform when the production asks for it.

Also, when mixing at bigger studios then my own (SSL, Neve's, API) i would run al my individual outputs to these consoles. That's the goal of this setup. I'm also thinking if it would be a good idea to split up the setup over different brands/types as 48 channels of prism would mean to having to sell my place for it :cry:

No intention in doing this you know :green:

I'm afraid that mixing different brands of convertors to the same DAW would give other problem due to different buffer, latencies, clocking errors, whatever differences this stuff inholds...

And i agree with you PS 100 %, even though i have friends who started their company in building the impossible DIY themselves :thumb:
 
and for the record, i do intend to have some intense A/B done at my place! prior to buying.

Its just very interesting to read stories like Chrissugars to inspire me where and to what to look and listen too.

In deciding what wordclock to buy last year, i checked a few and did hear some differences, being sometimes more transparant, or open topend or tighter lows etc... Having the Lucid as 2nd best sounding compared to the double priced #1, my choice was easy.
 
a few people (not yet Labmembers!) came along wanting to order with me. They will look after their needs this weekend
Should know more Monday.

Will post a new thread immediatly for others to join us

then i need to get some sleep :green: real sleep like in 8 hours or so :cool:

Later,

Tony
 
Sorry Kubi but converters are maybe the only domaine where I can't think about channel /price ratio. Ok, I can but in the higher regions like a Lavry blue at a couple of thousands is acceptable compared to the Lavry Gold at 14000$. I'm not into that absolute sound region but for almost absolute sound at an acceptable price.

Sorry to say that but I don't trust any kind of listening test that is not done with quality test material [acoustic with no multimike technique] and only if it works great in that situation I woud consider synthesizers drum machines and guitars for listening.

For me tje ADI8 is not transparent and the sound is unmusical. A good converter will make you smile.

In my particular situation where I do not have to invest anymore in synths, samplers ans analog outboard I can accept that AD DA converssion is a thing that I can't do properly [probably never in my life] and have to unvest in it. I can accept it.

chrissugar
 

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