Which converters for sound and channels?

I had some initial pain getting it setup and getting used to it (because it was different than the Apollo 16 I had been using for 10+ years) but the Antelope Orion 32 is a pretty good bang for the buck.  I paid under $2500 for the Orion 32+ Gen4  (b-stock but it was sealed and everything looks brand new).  It was packaged with an MRC which I sold, so now my cost was even less...  it's nice having 32 I/O even though I don't really even need that many (24 would have worked).  I've used it on a bunch of sessions now and nobody but me has even noticed the change.  

If you're going pro get a Hilo 2 then u can expand as u need, if I wasn’t set I’d look into that bla unit, they probably sound nice

Apogee Symphony SE is the best converter I’ve owned. Spent a small fortune getting there but the trip was worth it.

I’ve been rendering a lot of stuff as I go and not running everything live.

If I add more conversion I’m thinking of investing in a Wes Audio Titan rack with his 8 channel Ada and just plumbing the Titan straight into the RME RayDAT card.

That way I can run more analogue processing live as all the Wes Audio has plugin instant recall.

Longer term, I’m thinking of adding a BLA 8x8 for some more Ada to run more of my gear live - but really the Wes Audio is probably the way to go as it fixes the issue of analog recall.

I did toy with the Ferrofish A32 for 32 I/O but it’s all on DB25 and what I like about the Pulse 16 and BLA 8x8 is it’s on TRS.

I know TRS is less “pro” but for a rig like mine it lets me splash my signal around my studio space as I have a small analogue monitor mixer, some guitar re-amp boxes, a Boss waza TAE, a desktop 8x8 TT bay etc and TRS is just so flexible spreading signal about in a typical studio space set up for self engineering.

Yep, expandable up to 32 ch I/o adda

I like the Aurora N - I wish they did a unit with built in ADAT and TRS output (I know not going to happen)

In the UK the added ADAT and a patch bay system to handle the DB25 output would run me to about $6,000!

These days, fortunately modern converters have reached a point I feel able to put features first.

I was listening to a Focusrite Clarrett octa pre though my rig a few weeks ago someone brought in.

Clean as whistle - smooth top end - I was pleasantly surprised toggling between the Clarret and the excellent converters in my Crane Song Avocet.

Go back 20 years budget converters were terrible!

Cry me a river, I already offered to help, but no, I’m not your cuppa tea!

they frequently put prosumer circuits, pushing cheap, old, hot opamps hard in pro branded devices. Some of these companies like RME and UAD straddle the line and others like Apogee make a lot of plastic hifi crap like the boom, groove, zoom, whatever.

The pro stuff like dad, lynx, etc costs a lot more, has newer circuitry because it’s cleaner, cooler, and heart is the archenemy of electronics.

There’s also pro stuff that rips off prosumer stuff and misses the point like the sound devices mix pre was a clone of the zoom recorders but they added another gain stage to reduce noise and distortion but it still doesn’t sound great and unlike the zoom isn’t practical to use on battery life. Don’t even mention digico

My understanding, converter chips haven’t changed much in the past 10 years, I believe the pcm4222 and the pcm1794’s were hitting a 129db dr and s/n ratio already, it’s the implementation around those chips, audio path and psu config that make the difference, a lot of high channel count multi converters sound flat, literally, the lynx n is the one I bought for that reason, well designed around the converter chips
I have 24 custom dacs that feed my console and every 4 channels has its own (every other) linear psu, 6 total, the audio paths are built to the nth degree, op amps are ultra low noise high speed and require heat sink cooling, expenses no manufacturer would take on, the sound is awesome and still ahead of my lynx dacs imo(haven’t used my new lynx enough to be ultra confident in that claim, early impression), the new reality of owning the lynx is I wouldn’t be distraught if my custom stuff fried, I’d be bummed but not devastated, aka Lynx n is pretty awesome

Apogee got me a little excited to think the desktop 2 channel symphony could be minimalist 2 channels of fancy? Trying to find the specs found some FAQ “The Symphony MK II Special Edition provides superior audio performance and thus is not comparable”… so the desktop and 2x12 is not in the same league as the premium stuff.

Also I forget that I often think about Antelope. They do sound very good I’ve done some things on them. A clear sound, I sort of forget about conversion and hear the recording. Killer price per channel.

The new MOTU uses the ESS Sabre and they talk that up in the marketing. I think ESS is in Antelope? Kinda curious about that.

No as far as I have seen Antelope use Brown burr PCM1792 for the monitor outs and AKM (AK4414EQ) for all the other output. 

I think what makes the difference is the circuitry around the DAC. Antelope use all good quality components and opamps. Much like the other interfaces in its price ranges. RME doesn't use high end opamps or capacitors but you are paying for the best stability in the business. 


 

The Merging Technologies HAPI MK3 converters sound truly stunning and are priced accordingly!