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Post by kcatthedog on Aug 11, 2015 15:18:28 GMT -6
BLA has modded a new BF apollo and posted clips: stock, premium mod and premium mod plus clocked to the bla microclock Text from bla email "We now have sound samples available of a modified Universal Audio Apollo 8 (black). The samples consist of a stock unit, a modified unit, and a modified unit being clocked to a Micro Clock Mk3. We ran the samples out of the D/A side of each Apollo 8, then back in using the A/D side of each Apollo 8. The samples are 44.1kHz / 24bit WAV files. We recommend importing these into your DAW for seamless, realtime comparison of each sample. Please listen to these samples using a good monitoring setup. We occasionally have people say they don't hear a difference, just to find out they're listening to their laptop or smartphone speakers!" here they are: www.dropbox.com/sh/bbk84n0xulo85kz/AADEiv6WC_qVLgWDrIrbOnKTa?dl=0 |
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Post by wiz on Aug 11, 2015 17:29:27 GMT -6
Thats a pretty significant difference between each!
You know, internet emptor (all things being equal in presentation of test).
cheers
Wiz
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Post by kcatthedog on Aug 11, 2015 17:59:16 GMT -6
understood but those are from dropbox and all from original files so should all be effected equally by the transmission method.
I have the full premium mod to my silver face original apollo and I remember when I got it back it was spooky; took me a couple of days to appreciate the more linear sound. i had the micro clock ii and found that was an apparent improvement too but I know others who argued with that.
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Post by tonycamphd on Aug 11, 2015 18:57:13 GMT -6
those differences are not at all small, grey world be damned, the silence is really black on the modded with the clock, very wide and defined as compared to the cloudy, flat stocker. Modded/clock sounds like a very expensive rig to my ears, hard to believe it could be improved that much? Doesn't say much for UAD's effort on this, i'm a bit surprised.
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Post by wiz on Aug 11, 2015 19:07:25 GMT -6
those differences are not at all small, grey world be damned, the silence is really black on the modded with the clock, very wide and defined as compared to the cloudy, flat stocker. Modded/clock sounds like a very expensive rig to my ears, hard to believe it could be improved that much? Doesn't say much for UAD's effort on this, i'm a bit surprised. Yeah I agree. Tone and I talked about this ... Its a little disappointing, that this much gains are to be found by mods by BLA. Its something that (with the exception of the clock) could have easily and one would think, cheaply, be implemented during manufacturer... cheers Wiz |
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Post by tonycamphd on Aug 11, 2015 19:20:12 GMT -6
those differences are not at all small, grey world be damned, the silence is really black on the modded with the clock, very wide and defined as compared to the cloudy, flat stocker. Modded/clock sounds like a very expensive rig to my ears, hard to believe it could be improved that much? Doesn't say much for UAD's effort on this, i'm a bit surprised. Yeah I agree. Tone and I talked about this ... Its a little disappointing, that this much gains are to be found by mods by BLA. Its something that (with the exception of the clock) could have easily and one would think, cheaply, be implemented during manufacturer... cheers Wiz ya think maybe BLA was a bit surprised by the diff? I've never seen them release comparison files to use in their marketing, and even with their plea to "use good monitoring to listen to this" disclaimer, i think you WOULD hear those diffs on an iphone speaker haha. |
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,107 
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Post by ericn on Aug 11, 2015 19:38:16 GMT -6
those differences are not at all small, grey world be damned, the silence is really black on the modded with the clock, very wide and defined as compared to the cloudy, flat stocker. Modded/clock sounds like a very expensive rig to my ears, hard to believe it could be improved that much? Doesn't say much for UAD's effort on this, i'm a bit surprised. Everything is built to a price point, and everybody I know who looked under the lid wasn't impressed, sad yes , but then think how much Noah and RB are putting into their API's now that's a very sad case of building to a price point! |
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Post by kcatthedog on Aug 11, 2015 20:19:59 GMT -6
Well the premium mod plus the microclock iii is pretty expensive $1415 usd, almost as much as the apollo 8 duo which retails for just under $2,000.
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Post by wiz on Aug 11, 2015 20:51:47 GMT -6
Well the premium mod plus the microclock iii is pretty expensive $1415 usd, almost as much as the apollo 8 duo which retails for just under $2,000. Its funny, I was thinking the opposite.. not about it being compared to the price of the apollo... but more in the line of "gee, if you spend 1500USD you get THAT much improvement to the audio!!!" I can't think of anything that you can buy for 1500 that changes the audio in such a positive way. I would love to get my hands on the original file and run it in and out of my motu 16 cheers Wiz |
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Post by kcatthedog on Aug 11, 2015 20:56:12 GMT -6
Well a svart box and a microclockmkii would be under $1500  |
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Post by tonycamphd on Aug 11, 2015 21:23:20 GMT -6
Well the premium mod plus the microclock iii is pretty expensive $1415 usd, almost as much as the apollo 8 duo which retails for just under $2,000. Its funny, I was thinking the opposite.. not about it being compared to the price of the apollo... but more in the line of "gee, if you spend 1500USD you get THAT much improvement to the audio!!!" I can't think of anything that you can buy for 1500 that changes the audio
in such a positive way.
I would love to get my hands on the original file and run it in and out of my motu 16 cheers Wiz really good point, you could buy a $3,000 mic, and a $1,500 pre, and it will NOT have an effect even approaching what i heard here. So much for all the converters being on par with one another, it's just not the case. |
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Post by Martin John Butler on Aug 11, 2015 21:28:00 GMT -6
I suppose if UAD wanted to make a $3,500 Apollo, they could easily do the same as the BLA mod. What I do wonder about, is could they have made it as good as the BLA mod for say.. $500-$600 more? As the manufacturer, it seems they could just make it the "BLA" way in the first place cheaper than BLA can mod, or am I mistaken?
I haven't heard the files yet, I'll check them out tomorrow.
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Post by tonycamphd on Aug 11, 2015 22:08:32 GMT -6
I believe the cost in parts and labor would probably put a grand total of $30-50 on top of the current price, now someone tell me how i'm wrong.. seriously, i conceed i could be totally wrong.
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Post by Martin John Butler on Aug 11, 2015 22:21:38 GMT -6
Man, if it's anything like that Tony, than UAD must really be asleep at the wheel. I wonder how could they not know about the kind of improvements modifications like BLA's does, and implement them if they're not really very costly.
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Post by WKG on Aug 11, 2015 22:58:09 GMT -6
I had an 003R I took in for their signature mod. Pretty big difference no doubt.
I've thought about sending my UFX to them but never really felt like it was lacking anything whereas the 003R needed the help. |
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Post by jeromemason on Aug 11, 2015 23:07:04 GMT -6
Man, if it's anything like that Tony, than UAD must really be asleep at the wheel. I wonder how could they not know about the kind of improvements modifications like BLA's does, and implement them if they're not really very costly. It's definitely like that..... it's just when you spread that much out over how many of those they sell it adds up. They get advised on what is the best price point to sell something, then R&D takes a big chunk of cost's up front that have to to recouped, then paying for the units to be recouped, paying for the marketing to recouped and then is when they look at profit. So, in their minds, cutting $60 out in parts will add up, and to be fair, the original isn't a Mbox 1 or anything, they do sound decent, and for what they're targeting they're not going to care about those differences $60 in parts could get, they get pulled in by the marketing. It's what I was saying with the Motu 16a, I've never had a box that is at that price, but sounds so incredible. And...... you don't see near the marketing for it either, I imagine Motu believes that it speaks for itself and word will get around. UAD though, they are into hyping things so much they can't help themselves. |
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Post by winetree on Aug 11, 2015 23:12:12 GMT -6
As some of us are D.I.Y.ers, besides the clock upgrade,
What's so hard about replacing some I.C.s and upgrading some caps?
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Post by wiz on Aug 12, 2015 1:13:02 GMT -6
As some of us are D.I.Y.ers, besides the clock upgrade, What's so hard about replacing some I.C.s and upgrading some caps? knowing which ones to do? and knowing what to replace them with 8) cheers Wiz |
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Post by kcatthedog on Aug 12, 2015 5:01:13 GMT -6
Well the interesting thing for me in this is that there is a contradiction. UA states on its site that it has already upgraded the parts in comparison to the original silver face and decoupled the converters and bla says it also does the same things but apparently with different parts ? In terms of ease of diy, the definitive examination of the original bla apollo mod was done by our friend cat5 and can be found at his gearautopsy.com website including pics. He described the ninja soldering skills of the bla techs, so I don't think this is for the faint of heart |
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Post by tonycamphd on Aug 12, 2015 5:18:40 GMT -6
Our pal dandeurloo can speak to the relative difficulty of modding interface/converters, he's got skills, and has been putting together a seriously comprehensive comparison of a variety of conversion, modded and not. |
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Post by kcatthedog on Aug 12, 2015 5:44:59 GMT -6
Apollo vs new motu
curious you guys who have the new motu ,in terms of clarity and tone where would you place it sonically in the these apollo clips ?
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Post by RicFoxx on Aug 12, 2015 6:51:18 GMT -6
I have a Motu 16 a and have a new Apollo coming to compare...I'll share my thoughts later this week.
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Post by kcatthedog on Aug 12, 2015 7:26:04 GMT -6
Great, these samples are interesting especially the difference from the clock |
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Post by cowboycoalminer on Aug 12, 2015 7:42:37 GMT -6
Yeah I agree. Tone and I talked about this ... Its a little disappointing, that this much gains are to be found by mods by BLA. Its something that (with the exception of the clock) could have easily and one would think, cheaply, be implemented during manufacturer... cheers Wiz ya think maybe BLA was a bit surprised by the diff? I've never seen them release comparison files to use in their marketing, and even with their plea to "use good monitoring to listen to this" disclaimer, i think you WOULD hear those diffs on an iphone speaker haha. I did hear the difference on an I phone! That said, couldn't someone take a quality outboard eq and get to the same end? All I'm hearing is a tighter bottom and mids. That can be done with eq, no? The question is for everyone btw. |
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Post by cowboycoalminer on Aug 12, 2015 7:48:11 GMT -6
As some of us are D.I.Y.ers, besides the clock upgrade, What's so hard about replacing some I.C.s and upgrading some caps? knowing which ones to do? and knowing what to replace them with 8) cheers Wiz Someone like Tony or Cat5 could figure that out by looking at a picture of the layouts in minutes. Comparing stock to BLAs mod that is. |
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