Professional DAC vs HiFi DAC query

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Spendor said:
Thank you all for your comments. First of all, I have addressed many of the equipment issues raised. I have a good signal chain up to the Digi 002 including 2 Neumann u67's, AKG 414 etc. i also have built 2 Hamptone mic pres, 4 Baby Animals and am about to finish a Great River MP1 - these can all be fed into my apogee AD or line level when recording multiple takes. I have also acoustically treated my room and have Quested monitors. What prompted this was viewing a Youtube video from Black Lion audio which detailed the differences after their mods - I was thinking that if I used the SPDIF output of the Digi002 through a DAC I may have improved monitoring and this seemed like a possible answer. A Mytek DAC would of course eat this for breakfast but its a money thing and times are tough....... I guess the proof is in the pudding but it sounds like a bit of a gamble.
Cheers!
Click to expand...

Sounds like a tidy set up!  Without hearing your setup it does indeed seem that the Digi 002 DA is a weak link.  I use the Benchmark DAC-1 which can be bought used these days for $600 or so.  It is an incredibly well thought out and flexible piece of gear.  I've also briefly heard the Lavry DA-10 which is the benchmark's main competitor, a friend has this and like it a lot.  Both have an inbuilt volume control which is very handy.

The Auroras are really well liked but in that case you are committing to a minimum of 8x AD and 8 x DA and you will need an ADAT card for the AD and some form of pot/switched level control to actually control your speaker volume.  It could work nicely if you need the extra AD and can sell your Apogee?  I'd probably just take a punt on a Lavry or Benchmark, you'll enjoy the difference :)

Best of luck,
Ruairi
 
Digi LE converters just plain suck.

I think the clock is the main issue.

Either get a Black Lion external clock for yer 002 or send it to Black Lion for their mods.  (clock, power supply, op amps).

In my opinion, Digi keeps their LE converters shitty so that TDM system users feel like they are not getting totally ripped off paying
$15K when the kid nest door just bought an LE system for 2 grand.

A better clock will make the most difference with least amount dollars and hassle.  The upper mids and highs will be most improved, & better front to back depth will also result.

j
 
There's a presonus central station available second hand for around $400US - they have SPDIF inputs and of course volume control. Anybody think this will be an improvement on a stock Digi002? Also investigating Lavry etc thanks for the comments.
 
With the addition of the Big Ben and Lynx, I forgot to mention that I use the Dangerous Music D-Box for monitoring, headphone, summing, etc. I love that box, too... a dramatic improvement over monitoring with the 002R box. My Digi002R hardware just sits my rack and I never touch it. If it weren't for the fact that it has to be connected via firewire for ProTools to run, I'd run upstairs and throw it out my second story window.

Cheers.
 
And if you have fewer bucks, the Benchmark DAC1 with USB will do anything except DSD, sounds great, and looks like it's built to last forever.

Peace,
Paul
 

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