New audio analyser

https://www.minidsp.com/products/acoustic-measurement/averlab-analyzer
It seems to do almost everything an AP515 does, at a fraction of the cost. The only significant difference is it needs an external attenuator for measuring power amps. But anyway, an AP needs a load box.
The software looks as complete as an AP.

Looking good. I only wish it had switchable output impedance like 50/150/600 or something like that but it's not too hard to do it outside of the box.

How much is a basic AP515 by the way?

warpie said:

Looking good. I only wish it had switchable output impedance like 50/150/600 or something like that but it's not too hard to do it outside of the box.

How much is a basic AP515 by the way?

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Last time I looked it was about $6-7k.

I know the guys who are doing that...

It is a great idea but has a long way to go software wise. They are good folks and I wish them well. 

There is a new Prism Dscope for $4k USD too.

pucho812 said:

It is a great idea but has a long way to go software wise.

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And the software is all that really matters IMO. Otherwise even a cheap audio interface performs very well. From there you can make cables to add impedance or attenuate or whatever.

abbey road d enfer said:

.... at a fraction of the cost...

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I didn't know that 3k is a fraction of 6k5 
I will not buy it just because there is no USB for control purpose . 

squarewave said:

And the software is all that really matters IMO.

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The front end of the interface matters to me and the integration of the software. One of the nicest things about the AP is the input and output circuits. It's hard to blow up a transformer. The auto ranging is also a great convenience.

moamps said:

I didn't know that 3k is a fraction of 6k5 

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1/2 is a fraction, as I leraned at school.

I will not buy it just because there is no USB for control purpose .

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Ethernet connection is better than USB in several aspects.

I guess the X thousand dollar question is how well does this compare to the apparent industry standard (AP)?

We can get a major fraction of the way there for a small fraction of the price... the last few percent is the expensive part.

JR

JohnRoberts said:

We can get a major fraction of the way there for a small fraction of the price... the last few percent is the expensive part.

JR

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Excellent quote... May have to use that one

JohnRoberts said:

I guess the X thousand dollar question is how well does this compare to the apparent industry standard (AP)?

We can get a major fraction of the way there for a small fraction of the price... the last few percent is the expensive part.

JR

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Agreed. The corollary question is how close to the standard one actually needs to be.

Gold said:

There is a new Prism Dscope for $4k USD too.

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We had scopes at my last bench gig. We got them as our  assist to the lead designer insisted we use them instead of the AP.  his reasoning was we could program them vs the portable one's on the bench. It never happened and we used them similarly as we did the portable ones.  They were nice. Their best feature was we could graph the eq in real time so as we did adjustments, it would reflect it on the screen.  AP's do that do but are  not real time. in the end it was hardly worth the learning curve as to how we were using them.  But they were inexpensive, like 3K new not including the computer to run them. 

abbey road d enfer said:

Agreed. The corollary question is how close to the standard one actually needs to be.

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I've been around this tree before and back in the 80s I designed a "less than" bench quality piece of test equipment that was pretty popular.



Back then it was comparatively cheap at only a few hundred dollars.

These days I have to keep stopping myself from revisiting the design with a $3 microprocessor. It is against my philosophy to manufacture hardware that can be covered by a smart phone and cheap/free app/plugin

JR

abbey road d enfer said:

1/2 is a fraction, as I leraned at school.

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I quoted "at a fraction of the cost"
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fraction
"They can produce it at a fraction of the cost of (= much more cheaply than) traditional methods."

Ethernet connection is better than USB in several aspects.

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Which are?
(Only useful feature for me can be a galvanic isolation form the computer, but not always.)

moamps said:

I quoted "at a fraction of the cost"
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fraction
"They can produce it at a fraction of the cost of (= much more cheaply than) traditional methods."

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I do not need to use semantics to assert that the difference between 3000 and 6500 can be a game changer, i.e. the difference between buying and not buying.

(Only useful feature for me can be a galvanic isolation form the computer, but not always.)

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Maybe not too many advantages, but more robust connection, less constraining in terms of distance. I have nothing against USB, but having Ethernet instead is not something that could deterr me from buying.

JR I still have one and I do use it still. 

squarewave said:

And the software is all that really matters IMO. Otherwise even a cheap audio interface performs very well. From there you can make cables to add impedance or attenuate or whatever.

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+1

pucho812 said:

our  assist to the lead designer insisted we use them instead of the AP.  his reasoning was we could program them vs the portable one's on the bench.

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Lack of programmability is the very reason the Portable AP was never tremendously successful, and then discontinued. Nice to carry around though, but definitely not up to the needs of R&D.

pucho812 said:

It is a great idea but has a long way to go software wise.

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That is not apparent in their available info. Can you elaborate on that?
It seems to me they are much more advanced in that respect than the QA400/401.