kcatthedog
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 15, 2024 8:17:24 GMT -6
Your call, but I didn’t get 1 cent of extra value when I sold my modded apollo.
There’s got to be a new Apollo coming soon. I’d buy that not the black mod.
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Post by notneeson on Mar 15, 2024 8:22:17 GMT -6
Your call, but I didn’t get 1 cent of extra value when I sold my modded apollo. There’s got to be a new Apollo coming soon. I’d buy that not the black mod. Same (but I had a BLA modded 002r, long time ago). |
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Post by Johnkenn on Mar 15, 2024 9:13:40 GMT -6
Maybe. But I’d be shocked if a new Apollo would be built to the quality level of the Mod.
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Post by Ward on Mar 15, 2024 9:19:27 GMT -6
Speaking of AVID interfaces, and I will tag my brain cousin drbill on this, but I have found that the AVID HD I/Os sound slightly better with an external clock than using IO#1 as the internal clock for the whole shooting match. Just my findings, your mileage may vary! |
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kcatthedog
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 15, 2024 11:16:59 GMT -6
Maybe. But I’d be shocked if a new Apollo would be built to the quality level of the Mod. The mod is not that big a deal, doesn’t touch the conversion You hear the difference, but I thought the x better then my modded sf. |
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 15, 2024 12:10:15 GMT -6
Martin has a bla modded X, should share some files or get tkgether before you drop the dough !
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Post by drbill on Mar 15, 2024 12:10:25 GMT -6
Speaking of AVID interfaces, and I will tag my brain cousin drbill on this, but I have found that the AVID HD I/Os sound slightly better with an external clock than using IO#1 as the internal clock for the whole shooting match. Just my findings, your mileage may vary! Can't comment Ward - I've only run them with interface #1 as clock master. |
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Post by Johnkenn on Mar 15, 2024 13:11:17 GMT -6
Maybe. But I’d be shocked if a new Apollo would be built to the quality level of the Mod. The mod is not that big a deal, doesn’t touch the conversion You hear the difference, but I thought the x better then my modded sf. It’s replacing the clock too |
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Post by ericn on Mar 15, 2024 13:28:42 GMT -6
Speaking of AVID interfaces, and I will tag my brain cousin drbill on this, but I have found that the AVID HD I/Os sound slightly better with an external clock than using IO#1 as the internal clock for the whole shooting match. Just my findings, your mileage may vary! Not Bill , but…. Okay first let’s all admit the reason external clocks ever became fashionable was because 888 & 888/24 had probably tho worst internal clocks ever, a MOTU Midi Time Piece was an upgrade. By the time the 192 came around they did much better, a small 2 interface setup sounded & mesured pretty good. A System like Bill’s was actually livable without an external clock, but if you added say a BLA micro clock, or Clocked it to say a Mytek , you realize AVID doesn’t really put that much importance on the clock. |
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 15, 2024 15:53:06 GMT -6
The mod is not that big a deal, doesn’t touch the conversion You hear the difference, but I thought the x better then my modded sf. It’s replacing the clock too I know, and I bet anew apollo would have new clock too as the current is as old as the X. I respect bla, it’s your money and your call but after my first apollo mod experience, I wouldn’t do it again. mind you, mine was a little more expensive too, then your’s would be: the whole cdn thing again!  |
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kbb
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Post by kbb on Mar 16, 2024 17:21:34 GMT -6
Only chiming in because awhile back, an engineer friend that was considering getting an Apollo and I spent a few hours a/b-ing my Apollo x6 with his Hilo and we both thought the difference was subtle-to-indistinguishable most of the time. Coming from me it doesn't mean much, but engineering/mixing have been his living for a few decades...a genuinely accomplished guy. The room was built from the ground up for mixing, super nice monitors, etc. The hilo might have been a little clearer in the mids, but he didn't think it'd be any harder to mix on one vs the other. I need to set it up so I can AB again…but going back and forth was kind of revealing. It sounds like the Hilo does what the Apollo wants to do…but it’s close. The Hilo is softer in the mids and tighter in the bottom, but like your friend said, I’m not sure it would make me mix differently. Maybe some of the mids might make me crazy digging out 2khz, but the Apollo is not as bad as some say. I’m thinking I’m actually going to do the Apollo x6 mod with the clock and everything. So it’ll be interesting to hear if it can surpass the Hilo. I was just reminded on the forum about the x6 mod, and that's probably as much as I'd ever upgrade as long as I have the Apollo, but I track/clock everything off of a stereo Burl ADC...I can get away with few drums for my stuff. Rather than pay to upgrade, I think I'd be smarter to do some room treatment and/or pay my pal to partially mix/sign off on my stuff. He's just way better at it. What you said about the Apollo maybe leading to aggressive 2k management makes some sense as I remember our comparison! That was in the zone where the Apollo seemed to smudge things a little more than the Hilo as I remember it, but again, I don't have pro ears. |
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Post by indiehouse on Mar 16, 2024 18:50:09 GMT -6
A while back, I posted some comparison loopback files between an Apollo X6, Motu 828es, Lynx Aurora n, and a Cranesong HEDD Quantum.
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Post by nick8801 on Mar 16, 2024 19:14:04 GMT -6
A while back, I posted some comparison loopback files between an Apollo X6, Motu 828es, Lynx Aurora n, and a Cranesong HEDD Quantum. Pretty sure that thread is one of the reasons I ended up with the Lynx. |
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Post by Johnkenn on Mar 16, 2024 19:55:38 GMT -6
Tracked a girl today with the Hilo. Holy crap. That AD is phenomenal. That’s the easiest vocal I’ve ever gotten. Never pinched, never got harsh. Just awesome. With the Apollo AD, it could get strident imo, and the Burl is…well, colored. Hit it hard and it would saturate like it’s supposed to…and while it’s excellent, and better than the Apollo, I still was not super happy with vocals at times. It was Soyuz 017 Tube > Stam 1073 > AudioScape 1178 > Hilo.
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Post by Johnkenn on Mar 16, 2024 19:56:00 GMT -6
A while back, I posted some comparison loopback files between an Apollo X6, Motu 828es, Lynx Aurora n, and a Cranesong HEDD Quantum. You remember the name? |
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Post by NoTomorrow on Mar 16, 2024 20:26:08 GMT -6
A while back, I posted some comparison loopback files between an Apollo X6, Motu 828es, Lynx Aurora n, and a Cranesong HEDD Quantum. You remember the name? I wanted to take a listen to these also and found the thread. The first four comparisons are on page two here: realgearonline.com/post/265445/threadAlso, scroll down a couple more posts where he has added 3 additional loopbacks for Apollo X6, CraneSong HEDD Quantum and Dangerous DA to Cranesong AD. |
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Post by Martin John Butler on Mar 16, 2024 20:36:40 GMT -6
The clock mod clears the whole atmosphere. Better imaging, less hash interfering with you hearing into the low level details. The clarity makes it easier to mix. After my mod, I did a good mix in half the time. I'm not saying it will always be that way, but it sure was a good omen.
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Post by indiehouse on Mar 17, 2024 5:04:22 GMT -6
I wanted to take a listen to these also and found the thread. The first four comparisons are on page two here: realgearonline.com/post/265445/threadAlso, scroll down a couple more posts where he has added 3 additional loopbacks for Apollo X6, CraneSong HEDD Quantum and Dangerous DA to Cranesong AD. Oh yeah, forgot I had the Dangerous in there too. I ended up with the Lynx. I was coming from the Motu. The Apollo was def mid forward and more “fun”. It was more exciting to listen to, if that makes sense. The vocals were pushed compared to the others. The Lynx was clearer than the Motu, but there was something else that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It wasn’t a frequency thing, but more like an imaging thing. It made me strain a little switching to the Motu. Switching to the Lynx made my ears relax a little. It wasn’t obvious at first, but once I heard it, I couldn’t unhear it. The HEDD Quantum was awesome, but $4k for two channels…it better be. The Dangerous was good, but not better than the Lynx. The Lynx was def more “boring” compared to the Apollo. But I felt it gave me the truer picture. Plus it had 16 channels of AD/DA. And the routing matrix, while not as easy to get as the Apollo’s, didn’t require me to have an advanced degree in engineering to understand like the Motu. Though paying for the SD recorder, which I have no use for, is really annoying. Granted this was all a single pass loop back using pre-recorded, already mix/mastered tracks. I didn’t know how else to do this test in a reasonable way. I could imagine the differences would be exaggerated when stacking tracks during production. |
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kcatthedog
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 17, 2024 6:04:09 GMT -6
This was a lynx not a hilo, right, as the Hilo should have “better” conversion?
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 17, 2024 6:07:28 GMT -6
Tracked a girl today with the Hilo. Holy crap. That AD is phenomenal. That’s the easiest vocal I’ve ever gotten. Never pinched, never got harsh. Just awesome. With the Apollo AD, it could get strident imo, and the Burl is…well, colored. Hit it hard and it would saturate like it’s supposed to…and while it’s excellent, and better than the Apollo, I still was not super happy with vocals at times. It was Soyuz 017 Tube > Stam 1073 > AudioScape 1178 > Hilo. I bet as you use the hilo more : you’ll appreciate it more: you don’t read many complaints or peeps are prepared to pay big bucks for something “better”!/ |
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Post by thehightenor on Mar 17, 2024 6:18:49 GMT -6
I wanted to take a listen to these also and found the thread. The first four comparisons are on page two here: realgearonline.com/post/265445/threadAlso, scroll down a couple more posts where he has added 3 additional loopbacks for Apollo X6, CraneSong HEDD Quantum and Dangerous DA to Cranesong AD. Oh yeah, forgot I had the Dangerous in there too. I ended up with the Lynx. I was coming from the Motu. The Apollo was def mid forward and more “fun”. It was more exciting to listen to, if that makes sense. The vocals were pushed compared to the others. The Lynx was clearer than the Motu, but there was something else that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It wasn’t a frequency thing, but more like an imaging thing. It made me strain a little switching to the Motu. Switching to the Lynx made my ears relax a little. It wasn’t obvious at first, but once I heard it, I couldn’t unhear it. The HEDD Quantum was awesome, but $4k for two channels…it better be. The Dangerous was good, but not better than the Lynx. The Lynx was def more “boring” compared to the Apollo. But I felt it gave me the truer picture. Plus it had 16 channels of AD/DA. And the routing matrix, while not as easy to get as the Apollo’s, didn’t require me to have an advanced degree in engineering to understand like the Motu. Though paying for the SD recorder, which I have no use for, is really annoying. Granted this was all a single pass loop back using pre-recorded, already mix/mastered tracks. I didn’t know how else to do this test in a reasonable way. I could imagine the differences would be exaggerated when stacking tracks during production. There's more to converters than just the ADA chips. It's truly a thing where 'the whole is greater than the sum of the parts" PSU Analog I/O Clocking It all adds up and everything must wok synergistically towards a single goal of sonically superior and musical sounding PCM conversion. IME there are few designers who really get it spot on, the late great Dave Hill being one of them and I think Lynx make great converters too plus a few other designers. |
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Post by indiehouse on Mar 17, 2024 6:32:02 GMT -6
This was a lynx not a hilo, right, as the Hilo should have “better” conversion? . Not sure if you’re talking to me, but it’s an Aurora n. |
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Post by indiehouse on Mar 17, 2024 6:40:37 GMT -6
Oh yeah, forgot I had the Dangerous in there too. I ended up with the Lynx. I was coming from the Motu. The Apollo was def mid forward and more “fun”. It was more exciting to listen to, if that makes sense. The vocals were pushed compared to the others. The Lynx was clearer than the Motu, but there was something else that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It wasn’t a frequency thing, but more like an imaging thing. It made me strain a little switching to the Motu. Switching to the Lynx made my ears relax a little. It wasn’t obvious at first, but once I heard it, I couldn’t unhear it. The HEDD Quantum was awesome, but $4k for two channels…it better be. The Dangerous was good, but not better than the Lynx. The Lynx was def more “boring” compared to the Apollo. But I felt it gave me the truer picture. Plus it had 16 channels of AD/DA. And the routing matrix, while not as easy to get as the Apollo’s, didn’t require me to have an advanced degree in engineering to understand like the Motu. Though paying for the SD recorder, which I have no use for, is really annoying. Granted this was all a single pass loop back using pre-recorded, already mix/mastered tracks. I didn’t know how else to do this test in a reasonable way. I could imagine the differences would be exaggerated when stacking tracks during production. There's more to converters than just the ADA chips. It's truly a thing where 'the whole is greater than the sum of the parts" PSU Analog I/O Clocking It all adds up and everything must wok synergistically towards a single goal of sonically superior and musical sounding PCM conversion. IME there are few designers who really get it spot on, the late great Dave Hill being one of them and I think Lynx make great converters too plus a few other designers. Totally. I think Motu sells itself on the conversion chips. And while it’s good, it’s not great. And the price reflects that. I’m mostly very happy with the Lynx. There are a few quirks that I’m not happy about. You have to pay for your I/O. Want digital I/O, like AES? Gotta pay. Want dedicated monitor outs? Gotta pay. It’s cool that it’s customizable though. Even the interface connection. I mentioned the SD recorder being stock is annoying. It’s hardware I had to pay for that I won’t use. And I feel like that’s tech that won’t age well. Also, there’s something wonky with the headphone outs. Scratchy pots like they’re dirty, but it’s more static sounding. And LOUD. The headphone outs themselves are outstanding. But I had to send it back once already to get these faulty HP outs replaced (and had to pay), and now they are doing it again. But it may be that they just don’t play well with certain headphones, like my Focal Spirit Pros. I tolerate it because I don’t want to pay Lynx again. They won’t waive the fee even though the issue they said they fixed is back. I’ve read of others having the same issue. I need to investigate further to see if it’s persistent across other headphones. |
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Post by nick8801 on Mar 17, 2024 7:24:10 GMT -6
I didn’t realize they were doing a dedicated monitor out card now. Looks cool!
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 17, 2024 7:32:23 GMT -6
Frustrating, no probs with my headphones outs, using Sony 7506, my N is 2-3, years old.
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