Thread: AD & DA convertors

Thank you maintiger and rhydian for your replies !
Listening to your recordings, mt, it's a fact they really sound open !
Btw your remark about the clock issue makes sense to me.
I sometimes have problems with the MOTU concerning timing,
especially when using VST plug-ins.
Never with the Protools interface.
Anybody allready tried out the RME Fireface 800 ?
I have the impression that RME wants to copy Apogee as far as looks is concerned, but does their gear sound as good ?
Thanks !
:lol:

We have Apogee Rosetta 800 converters in our main room and Digi 888's in our edit suite. The difference is quite remarkable... I was actually pretty amazed when we upgraded. The Apogees have far better imaging and clarity. To draw a comparison, it's almost like looking at a photo that's slightly out of focus and then seeing it perfectly in focus. Using good converters is like the sonic comparison to that.

Hope it helps!

Thanks for your comparison rmccam !
Anybody any remarks on RME Fireface opposed to Apogee ?
Btw are all Apogee convertors of the same quality ?
( eg Minime to Rosetta ? )
Thanks.

Thanks for your reaction aksel !
Anybody had the chance to compare the RME to Apogee ?
Other AD and DA suggestions ?
:)

Hi Shelltones,

Thanks for your reply. I didn't know Kurzweil sold convertors seperately. I'll check it out.
I've read on other topics that some people prefer the Apogee
convertors and others like the RME Fireface, but did anybody have the chance to compare the two ?
Thanks.

They don't sell them seperately, they are just part of their effects units. I really like my Kurzweil effects (ksp8) but I wouldn't buy it if I only needed converters.

I'm also interested in a head to head comparison of Apogee and RME.

If RME can stand its ground, then its a clear choice.

RME ADACs are ... only about half the cost as Apogee. They also include nice preamps, and some very slick digital mixing features (every output can be a monitor mix bus, etc).

My Fireface800 was one of the best buys I've made in a long while. It definitely is better sounding than my MOTUs (896 and 896HD), but not sure about Apogee....

I have heard a theory that the main difference when you get to decent converters is the clock.
I would love to hear a comparison of the different converters all using a external clock such as the Big Ben.
The inputs would also have to be high, so that the built in pres do not come into the test.
The MOTU 896HD as an example would be a good canidate for this test, because the pre can actually be disabled.
So if the theory is true, many of us may be able to improve what we already have by getting an external clock.
Peace!
Greg Alcorn
Alcorn Studios

we tested the apogee first still with he motu clock and it did make a considerable difference as to the clarity of the recording. Then we switched to the rosetta clock instead of the motu and that seemed to tighten up everything, especially the low end and drums. in our experience both the converters and the clock make a noticeable difference in the recording

So, if we were to get a good external clock (digital timepiece) it should actually improve the sound of certain audio interfaces' A-D conversion??

Concerning RME... one interesting feature of their new Fireface800 is the clock. It uses some kind of quartz crystal and can resolve to any sample rate from 1 to 196khz. Here's a quote from their site:

The Fireface 800 is equipped with SteadyClock™, RME's unique sync and clock technology. With this, the device becomes a sync reference for the whole studio. SteadyClock refreshes clock signals, removes jitter, and takes permanent care of optimal conversion quality, thus guarantees a sensational sound quality, completely independent from the reference clock's quality.

SteadyClock allows the Fireface 800 to control the sample rate freely on its own. The Settings dialog includes a direct choice of the video and audio world's most often used sample rates. Additionally, two faders can be used to set the sample rate freely and in real-time, within the range of +/- 4%.

Via an insert slot on the back, a Time Code Option (TCO) for synchronizing to LTC and video can be added. Thanks to SteadyClock, the Fireface 800 does not only extract absolute positions, but also a very clean low-jitter word clock.

check out dan lavry's forum on pro sound web. alot of arguing and bitch fighting about what external clocks can and can't do etc.

Thanks everybody for your contributions to this topic !
Another thing I might add is that I've heard that the Big Ben clock
in the Apogee convertors is actually different quality-wise than
the stand-alone Big Ben unit, which should be better.
Most people agree that the Apogee convertors sound better
than the RME's ( without taking external clocking into account ).
After all there is a considerable price-difference.
Cheers !
:)