Anyone have a 500 Chassis with ADAT... how do you like it?

I have the Craneborne and like it a lot.  gravesnumber9 is the person to ask about how get the best use out of it on this forum most likely. He is who convinced me to get one.

I love the Cranborne. Conversion is good, headphone amps are excellent... like really, really good.

The workflow is totally unmatched though which is the main thing. I can't imagine having another 500 series rack. Once you've had the experience of simple ADAT I/O for your 500 series, it's hard to imagine a more complicated analog routing.

But, of course, you also have the analog routing for when a 500 piece is in the middle of the chain.

I'd suggest anyone considering buying should read the manual for the Cranborne. It's well written with good use cases and explanation of how to maximize the routing. As you start visualizing how you can use the ADAT functionality, it really makes the analog only options feel limiting.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I also have a RME UFX+ so knowing that the Cranborne works seamlessly with it - as shown in the Cranbonrne tutorial videos is a big plus. I actually checked the manual out and their YouTube playlist and the versatility and workflow of this unit is really impressive. Probably my only comment would be that it may be a little bit overkill - I don't really need a summing mixer or the headphone capabilities it has as I have that pretty much covered. It's good to know those option are available, but not sure if I want to pay around 500 USD extra for those features compared to the Heritage ADAT chassis when it's functionality I don't really need.

I also read the Heritage manual but I didn't see the same tracking/mixing "flick of a switch" convenience that the Cranborne has... I think you still have to do some re-patching in different (tracking/mixing) modes.

Still, digging both units and will do a little more research on this.

Also worth looking at how the Cranborne C.A.S.T. system works. It's pretty cool, I have a couple of those pieces and they're plug and play all the way.

I don't think the Heritage was out when I bought the Cranborne.

That's a good option it seems. My vote would be 100% get something with ADAT cuz it's really a game changer for 500 series. And between the Heritage and the Cranborne I like the extra features the Cranborne has (though I don't use the summing either) and I think I'd prefer the design and layout of the Cranborne, but Heritage makes good stuff. I'm sure it's great.

I have to say though... the Cranborne conversion is the only time I've ever "heard" conversion and started to believe that it actually matters. I'm still mostly a conversion skeptic (as in "I'm skeptical that it's more than a marginal improvement at this stage of the tech game) but this one moved the needle towards "ok, maybe it still matters a lot."

I believe that both Heritage and Cranborne use the same converters? 

What struck me though was the clocking on the Cranborne.  I think that can provide a significant improvement in sound quality.  Just listening to the audio quality on the newer RME Babyface Fs with the improved clocking vs the UFX+ that I have which has the "older" clocking I could definitely hear a difference.

Are you using the Cranborne as the Master clock on your system? I would imagine that may play a significant role.

I'm not using as master clock although maybe I should. I usually go simplest route there just to avoid screwing myself up so I use the MOTU 828es as master clock. I only vaguely understand how to link all these things together to be honest.

I found this clip on the Cranborne Youtube Channel to be a good tutorial on clocking the units:




fellowshiphallsound yes I believe its only ADC no DAC on the Heritage.

FWIW I have the Heritage OST-8 and it seems to have issues accepting Word Clock. I'm on my second unit and it has the same issue. To its credit, I think the conversion sounds good and it works fine as the master clock source over Word Clock or ADAT, but I get intermittent clicks and dropouts if I use my Apollo x8 as the master clock source

I've used several products from both companies and while heritage stuff is fine, Cranborne is in another league. Currently running a 500R8 and can confirm the clocking is outstanding. Also any time I've needed to contact them the replies are prompt and professional.

3 of the Cranbornes here also connected to an RME adi-648 Madi to 8 x Adat ports which goes back to a UFX 3 now days. It runs at 96Khz most 0f the time and sounds great. The 500 rack power supply is also very good and over spec as are the headphone amps. Very powerful and good sounding. You will want to feed the headphone amps with other analog outs otherwise you will loose access to 500 slots to do this task.

I experimented a lot initially using the summing section but in the end I don’t use it instead when mixing I make good use of Logic’s IO plugin for hardware inserts and use logics digital mix bus for this with other analog on the 2 bus.

I have them all on a patchbay including the inserts. Inserts are unbalanced but this has not been an issue for me interconnecting to other balanced devices. If you don’t use the inserts you end up loosing/ wasting quite a few ad converters needlessly.

I don’t get what you’re thinking about not needing the UFX 3 - or at least a MADI port somewhere. For me the UFX 3 has just replaced a RME Madiface usb. You will definitely need a MADI port interface to connect the adi 648 to computer. I also still have the original UFX as the 4th device on the adi 648 providing analog outs to the headphone amp ins on the 500adat’s so the adi is full. I use the analog IO on the UFX 3 to feed my Atmos speaker system. Before the UFX 3 I used some of the Cranborne outputs for that task as those converters sounded a lot better than the original UFX. Now with UFX 3 my first impression is its converters sound every bit as good as the Cranbornes. It’s only new - less than a week old - so I need to spend more time with them.

PS: Could some kind soul please tell me if there’s a way to subscribe to a forum thread here? I’ve been here a few years now and this is the one thing I’ve never been able to figure out. You know, so I get email notifications occasionally when new posts arrive:-)

Kind regards

The Cranborne 500ADAT is great. I used it with the babyface pro fs and then sold both to get the Cranborne 500R8 to be an all-in-one unit for my needs. No experience with the heritage

FWIW - The nice thing about the 500ADAT is that it can expand a smaller set up for ultra convenience and can still be portable itself