More converter/ interface ?s. Especially 2 channel ad/da

What about a FireWire apollo silver face?

Is the audience stuff worth looking into?

 Cheers,
Geoff

My little Audient ain’t my RADAR V, but I’ll tell you what it see’s more and more work and it won’t keep you from making a great recording.
That’s the thing there are very few AD/DA’s or interfaces made today that suck!

I’ll add that the Echo does have spdif, but I’d prefer not to use for this if I don’t have to. My stereo reverb hangs out there. But maybe if I add something that has a dedicated stereo out - the Echo doesn’t so I have to use outs 1 and 2 for my monitors. 

Cheers,
Geoff

The Tascam UH-7000 has probably the best spec'd converters out there for a small desktop unit. I have heard of people having software issues, but that may be user error. Any box with this spec DAC is much larger and more expensive. There are some compromises with it, but it actually packs a lot of value. I've considered buying one myself.

If you can get a used tc-BMC 2 it has a geat DA converter used one a long time myself.
It uses the converters from the 6000 system, old but - comes near to my Lavry.

Its sad that tc discontinued the unit.

If you are talking about the RME ADI-2 Pro FS (basically a high-end DAC with two mic pres built in): The converters offer 124 dbA signal to noise. This is a very nice spec and would make a suitable mix/master monitoring, plus a killer home audio system.

But at $2,000, you could buy an Apollo x6 and get that same spec and whole lot more. You could still connect that with your old unit. 

The RME ADI-2 Pro (and FS) doesn't have any mic pres.  It's basically a USB-2 interface with stereo DAC and ADC, and a separate DAC for 2 headphone outs.  It has AES/EBU and coax SPDIF, and an optical connection which can be used for SPDIF or ADAT.  The ADAT allows access to channels 1 and 2 only.  Only one SPDIF input can be used, either coax or optical.  That's all I remember at the moment.

Cool chart. 

Maybe ad antelope ones? ID ADAII would be cool to see too. 

I hate to be a downer in threads like these, but some perspective is needed before you spend tons of time researching stuff that won't gain you anything.

None of these specs mean anything to the *sound* of the device. 

Something can measure well, but still sound terrible, while some other things might measure worse but sound divine..


In any case, manufacturer specs are usually *fudged* with de-embedded measurements that have heavy weighting or calibrations to give you optimal marketing buzzwords and remove all the inconsistencies present in a world that has no standard testing strategies and no interconnect standards.

you see, any one of these could have their I/O impedances adjusted for "perfect" matching at a singular best frequency, at a best level, with certain liberties taken on shielding, etc.   You're not going to get 124dB of dynamic range on something..  That's the ideal measurement of the ADC chip in an ideal arrangement..  At best you'll get more like 90-110dB with a perfectly noiseless setup with no ground ripple or other devices connected, etc.  Connect a device with a higher noise floor and POOF, your 90-110dBc will end up at 70dBc, etc.  

I should know, I've seen and done these types of things.  It's universal in the industries that rely on marketing to draw new customers.  I know it's kind of a bummer to hear that most of these specs are bunk, but it's true. 

And it's not just a matter of "but I want what's best"..  Because the best is only relative to how you use it.  


My advice?

Ignore the specs.  

Find devices with the features you want that make your workflow easier.  That matters a lot more than specs that you'll never obtain in the real world.  

Unfortunately that's about the only way to gauge if something *sounds* good in your setup.

A lot of guys naturally assume that these interfaces *sound* the same no matter what's hooked up, but the reality is that some input might sound great with a low impedance source, but sound terrible with a high impedance source and so forth..  Or some might have too much ground current and the noise floor hops up considerably when plugged up with another device but not with others.

All said, one product might sound great in one person's setup, while that same product might not sound good in another person's setup.  Some of that is evident in the threads here and over at GS where some folks swear by a certain product's sound quality, while others are saying it's terrible.   I've gotten some of that with my own converter design too, but thankfully it's 99% good feedback..

There's tons of minuscule things that conspire to change the reality of a product's usability.


I'd still suggest that pretty much any converter that isn't part of a "starter pack" at GC is probably much better than anything older than ten years, and it boils down to what features you need to increase your workflow as to which one you should try out first..  So start a spreadsheet of needs/wants based on features and choose from there.