Apogee AD-1000 / Crane Song HEDD users?

[JasonCrouch]

was wondering if anyone here has used this particular piece of gear.

Its a 5 year old or so 20-bit ADC with built in Millennia-Media preamps that are based on the HV-3s (these are dual servo where as the hv-3s are not servo pres)

anyways - I also know not many here are DAW trackers, but I am becoming one - and am using this box often as a mic pre and a/d depending on the tone I am looking for.

The box is ultra quiet, ultra transparent - and yeilds a rather large image that fills the soundstage from top to bottom very smoothly.

I love this piece, yet havent really really listened to the crane song HEDD

was hoping some has used both and can offer some differences - anyone want to trade boxes for a week?

take care - Jason C. Crouch

 

[mixfactory]

The last time I used the Apogee AD-1000 was around 1996? maybe, and back then it had a great sound(remember though the standard was still 16bit at the time). Most of the guys that I know that still use them are classical engineers, and they swear by them. I now own three diffrent converters, Hedd 192, Mytek D/A 8X96 and Prism converters(I also own a TC 96K Finalizer, but I only use it when I want to dirty up the sound). They all sound different, and I use them for different things-when I am doing Pop/Dance/Rnb/Rock, I find myself mixing through the Hedd, though the Prism sometimes gives me a clearer image(I also mix through an analog compressor). Sometimes its the other way around(if I do a Jazz thing, which I rarely do these days). The Myteks I use as my converters hooked up through AES to some Digi888's. One thing I've learned is that no converter is the be all end all. I am not a big Apogee fan, the times that I have used their stuff, in my opinion it made the music almost "plastic" sounding. If I had to choose one, than it would probably be the Hedd 192(it takes a while to master the pentode/triode/and tape saturation settings, but I think I've finally got the hang of it). Your music tastes will probably be the deciding factor.