Mytek converter v.s. Digi 002 converter:A/B Test here!

[lucasmusic]

Ok me and a friend wanted to see "how much" a difference a great converter can do to your sound...night and day.

Alright, this is what we did. We recorded just vocal and acoustic guitar. I used the same levels, NO EQ, just a little compression on the vocals but used the same plug with the same settings, and that was all! Test A will play/loop 2 times through back to back and then slight pause for Test B which will also play/loop 2 times!

The chain was this:

A. test
"Acoustic guitar" DI'd----UA Solo 610 mic pre----Digi002 input 5
then recorded,
"Vocal" SM57----UA Solo 610 mic pre----Digi002 input 5

B. test
"Acoustic guitar" DI'd----UA Solo 610----MYTEK STEREO 192 ADC converter----Digi002 via spdif input right
then recorded,
"Vocal" SM57----UA Solo 610----MYTEK STEREO 192 ADC converter----Digi002 via spdif input right

[norman_nomad]

Cool test, but I'm not sure what I'm listening for.

The refrain repeats 4 times. Am I supposed to guess which set of converters were used in each of the 4 repeated refrains?

[jahtao]

^what he said

[lucasmusic]

lol.. im sorry, what I did is repeated the A test 2 times and then a slight pause before Test B plays 2 times!

[lucasmusic]

Ok, maybe this will be better one 44.1 mp3 file. First is the Test A digi converters it will fade out into Test B which is the MYTEK converters. Listen especially to the vocals...

[Bodoc]

To my ears there is a huge, obvious difference in favor of the Mytek...in pretty much every respect...the haze has been lifted.

[lpkyer]

wow crazy difference

[glowworm]

ya the second one was obviously better. It tended to bring out the esses in the sound but that may be because of the esses being a problem in the first place.

[zodiaque]

i recently upgraded from digi002 to lynx aurora. same crazy difference. it gets even better/worse when tracks add up...

[norman_nomad]

Wow. Just finally listened to that new clip on headphones. What a huge difference. It's like the high-end magically reappeared.

The digi clip gave me a bad flashback to my digi002 days... it was so hard to escape that pillowy, boxy top end.

[pikapikapi]

I think I have to upgrade now. Will the RME fireface 800 be comparable to the mytek?

[norman_nomad]

Originally Posted by pikapikapi

I think I have to upgrade now. Will the RME fireface 800 be comparable to the mytek?

In a word. No.

The RME's are nice, but the Mytek's are a different class of converter.

But like I always say, don't let owning RME's (or a 002 for that matter) stop you from making kick ass records.

A lot of my better 002 work still holds up nicely.

[Bierce85]

wow, that's a pretty huge difference. The vocal actually has a character and identity in the second clip.

[pikapikapi]

Originally Posted by norman_nomad

In a word. No.

The RME's are nice, but the Mytek's are a different class of converter.

But like I always say, don't let owning RME's (or a 002 for that matter) stop you from making kick ass records.

A lot of my better 002 work still holds up nicely.

What kind of converters are in the same league with the mytek?

[zodiaque]

Originally Posted by norman_nomad

it was so hard to escape that pillowy, boxy top end.

yeah, the digi 002 signature sound...

[dzn]

do i have the same digi002 AD chip in my emu 1820m interface?



i would like to upgrade my AD anyways. looking for lavry black AD-10 or mytek stereo 96-adc. sry for off topic but has anyone compared both units, yet?

thx in advance

[lucasmusic]

yeah when we did these tests we were floored. I wanted to place this up here to show people on here just how much importance a great converter can have on your sound. cause with me there was a big fuzzyness about just really what a conversion can do. Wow, now i know right! Not to start any wars on here but to me conversion is NOT where you wanna cut corners, cause essentially what a great converter is doing is allowing the analog signal to be processed in a way that is TRUE to the original sound being recorded. Thats kinda important like, what point is it to get a great mic pre if its still only gonna not be captured correctly? you still gonna get a mud sandwich. great mics same thing. right now to me, I just wanna capture a sound the way it is intended to sound when Im recording it. I just want the truth...BTW next investment is a Pacifica...

[pikapikapi]

is there a big sound quality difference between the mytek 192 and the 96 adc?

[living sounds]

Nowhere near the difference between Mytek and Digi002.

You might also look into the new Black Lion Audio Sparrow. Mine should arrive any day now, I'll post some examples I think.

Originally Posted by pikapikapi

is there a big sound quality difference between the mytek 192 and the 96 adc?

[mr jkn]

Quite a difference.

[lucasmusic]

Originally Posted by pikapikapi

is there a big sound quality difference between the mytek 192 and the 96 adc?

from talking with the guys at Mytek and reading these forums on here I would say no, not that much bigger difference between those two you meantioned. Apparently both units use the SAME clock but the 192 has slightly better components giving you just a little extra..I would visit MYTEK DIGITAL USA and listen to some of there sample comparisons competing with HD192 and Apogee, etc.

[pikapikapi]

what kinds of other options are out there similar to the mytek?

[living sounds]

Originally Posted by pikapikapi

what kinds of other options are out there similar to the mytek?

BLA Sparrow

[Ray Sr.]

Living sounds,
Any news on the clips?

[pikapikapi]

do the mytek sound better than the apogee rosetta series?

[lucasmusic]

Originally Posted by pikapikapi

do the mytek sound better than the apogee rosetta series?

I certainly think so, but you can hear shoot out comparisions of Mytek vs. Apogee on their website at MYTEK DIGITAL USA

[cvtiii]

I'm currently running the Digi 002 and use a lot of virtual instruments to create my tracks. How do the converters effect virtual instruments and would I benefit from upgrading to better converters? Thanks

[severe]

Yup. Pretty much the same improvement I noticed years ago, when I first clocked a 001 to an Apogee. When A/B'd, my partner thought there must have been something else I was excluding. Of course their wasn't.

Since then I've owned Lynx, Apogee, RME, and Creamware units.

Congrats.

[Zuewi]

Which samplerate was used for recording?
Yeah difference is very huge...it's extremely noticable on the guitars imaging and the whole deep of sound of guitar and you even could hear the little crisp inside the vocals.
I also feel that the Mytec file is louder, but it wasn't when i checked the levels funny thing.
Transients are also so much better

[cvtiii]

How are virtual instruments effected by the A/D and D/A converters? I use a lot of these (virtuals) in my production so I'm wondering how/if the converters do for those sounds what they do for mics, keyboards, etc. being plugged into the inputs of the digi 002