[Lion]

Originally Posted by Dirty Halo

I even put that in my opening and I didn't follow my own sugestions!

Also, I'm not sure I "ranked" each group of top 5 in each cat., just my 5 favs of each level.

Ok, here we go with the "why's"...
HIGH END:

1. Weiss - Used At the Warehouse studios, I believe and had NEVER heard any coverter more true to the source.

2. Prism - The ONLY cnverter I've personally used that equalled the Weiss and worked easily with my PTHD set-up.

3. Lavry- Liked them a lot, some are AMAZING, liked thier PT integration, hard decision between the Apogees.

4. Apogee - Liked the fact that they did have a bit of a "tape" feel, which gave me some diversity with my Prism ADA-XR

5. Mytek - Used in a few studios and thought they were very solid.

MEDIUM:

1. Digi 192- I loved mine... until I heard the Prism. Ouch.

2. Benchmark - Used at a studio, good solid piece.

3. SSL - Felt these sounded really good and great bang for the buck, not quite as good as the prism and at the time seemed difficult for my PTHD set-up.

4. Lucid - These could be the victim of a bad studio experience. Sorry, just writing what I know. I guess that shows that a converter is as good as what comes before and after.

5. Prism Orpheus - Someone just said these are equal to the Prism ADA XR in converter quality... is that true? Is their a clock difference? They don't sound the same to me. Then I also had PTHD integration and DSD to consider.

LOW-END:

1. RME - Hated it.

2. Digi 003 - Bought for a "mobile" set-up, returned.

3. Digi M-Box - Also bought for a "mobile," on the road writing set-up, ALSO returned.

4. Lexicon Omega - Listened for the above, uuuh, nope.

5. M-Audio - Used for an on-the-road set-up and eventually gave up on that whole idea


So, those are my reasons for my picks. Not to say they are any more right or wrong than the next person. My order isn't so much a "ranking."

I'd love to know more about the Prism question, I even spoke with them a few days ago about another issue.

I'd be surprised if there was not SOME cost-cutting compromised, and I can't see them shooting themselves in the foot with their ADA XR series.

Originally Posted by Dirty Halo

No need for a complete list... just rank the ones you have used and know.

(5 in each category is asking a lot of many people)


Share, share...


Oh, and to any Prism Orpheus owners, I'm still curious if the guts are REALLY the same as the Dream series.

-andrews

Originally Posted by Dirty Halo

Oh man, thank you... thought I was losing my mind. Someone on another thread was insisting they were of equal quality

-andrews

Hi,

have you compare the Orpheus with the ADA8 to tell that ?
I have tested the Orpheus a few weeks ago and it really amazing. I can't compare with the ADA8 but what i can say, is that you need to test it. Here is what Prism said :

While you could argue that the AD-2 is better with 130dB dynamic range, Orpheus has a better THD+N figure. In reality, the subjective differences between our converters are not that great - they are all pretty good. Each product serves a slightly different need - ADA-8XR is modular and flexible - perfect for tracking with Pro Tools, for example, but has the flexibility to work with a FW interface as well. Orpheus is dedicated to FW.

The Orpheus converters are an improvement over the ADA converters. Things like THD+N and dynamic range will perform better because, as you have said, of quality of the components that are available now.


The test i made was between a Rosetta 800, a Lavry Blue AD, an Orpheus and a Lavry Gold AD122 MKI (old design).
What i can say is that the Orpheus have a transparent conversion, with a lot of transient (very punchy), and the stereo is really amazing (3D).
I like the other unit like the Lavry (transparent and good stereo but with less transient than the Orpheus) and the Rosetta (it's solid and have a color so it's not transparent...). on this link there is more explication... And i will post a complete report as soon as possible with audio files.

It seem that the Orpheus is a good deal (since you don't need modularity like the ADA8) but now i wonder how it sounds compare to other unit like the AD2, Weiss, Lavry Gold new design,... Is there really a big improvement / difference between HIGH END convertors (AD2, Lavry Gold,Weiss...) and the Orpheus compare to the price difference... (14000$ minimum for 1 AD/DA and if you want 1 more DA for monitoring it will cost 21000$ against 5000$ for the Orpheus)
What do you think ?

Regards,

Lionel.