apogee rosetta 48 vs emu1616 vs gina2496 AD converter blind test...

[bluesj]

what is your choice for favorite ad converters?
as for high frequency I chose emu1616
but as for low frequency i chose Apogee..
so, i am considering to buy emu m series or fireface 800... I also saw the blind test post about ff800 vs rosetta 800..

I named them in alphabetic order
a,e,g etc...

what is your choice?
first , second, or third?

I will let you know which was which later...

[space2012]

that PAD sounds awesome,
would be nice to know how was made...

BUT...
PADS are a bit subjective for ADC tests.

unknown PADS dont have what i call "ground"
like for example acoustic guitar does.

unless i know where that Pad comes from,
and i have it my self, then i have also common ground.

anyway...
the First sounds like has less jitter. "more details"
and lush,
but could be an LFO not in sync, running free the filter or something else.

the Second has more BOLD in the lows, like has an added lows layer, gives more muscle to the lows, in a good way. nice for lows.
but could be something that changed in the patch, maybe diferent keys were used for trigger, etc...

the 3 is not my favorite,

the highs and mids of the 1st, and the lows of the 2nd. would be great.

[space2012]

Originally Posted by bluesj

what is your choice for favorite ad converters?
as for high frequency I chose emu1616
but as for low frequency i chose Apogee..
so, i am considering to buy emu m series or fireface 800... I also saw the blind test post about ff800 vs rosetta 800..

I named them in alphabetic order
a,e,g etc...

what is your choice?
first , second, or third?

I will let you know which was which later...

if i had to choose only 1 , the first, no doubt.

i had 1820m , and i didnt liked. the AD was great "better AKM chip", but the DAC verry colored sound, and a strange sound, those Cirrus Logic chips.
the pci card "1212" was too heavy for the pci buss, it holded back system performance quite a bit.
the wordclock was crap for listening.
thanks god i had alesis ai-2 around, at that time.
the 1820m DAC sound is so strange, that i thought it was damaged!
had to run free RMAA to test.
http://audio.rightmark.org

that keep me thinking why sounds so strange.
until i understand it was a combination of things.
first was the clock.
second the Cirrus chip, and 3rd the analog circuit design.
...
it happens that same company, same eng. team, can make a better product than the top of the line product.
could happen that the 1616 non m, sounds better than 1820m.
diferent circuit design.

apogee rosetta200 sound verry diferent than rosetta 800, and both sound diferent than AD16x/DA16x.
also same brand, same unit model could sound diferent between other serial numbers, like some lynx auroras, and some Roland mmp-2.

cant remember other examples right now.
but...
m-audio profire 2626 is a nice bang for the buck. in stand alone mode.
ua2192 and manley slam! digital are the cream of the cream.
but sound diferent.
all comes down to personal taste.

clocks make a big difference,.
you could make same test, usign the 1 clock for all units.
and again with other 2nd clock,
and again with the 3rd clock.

with top of the line digital cables 99.997% OFC or better.
psaudio, apc, proel, vovox, zaolla, etc...
cables affects too much the clock.

[DAH]

The first is the best to me, information and, contrary to space2012`s opinion, its lows is different from the rest two ADCs.
1 Apogee
2 1616
3 Gina

[bluesj]

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1 Apogee
2 1616
3 Gina

[Doc Mixwell]

Originally Posted by space2012

apogee rosetta200 sound verry diferent than rosetta 800,

Note what the +4 reference calibration is on the 200, match it to the factory 800 settings and check it again.

[bluesj]

Originally Posted by space2012

that PAD sounds awesome,
would be nice to know how was made...

BUT...
PADS are a bit subjective for ADC tests.

unknown PADS dont have what i call "ground"
like for example acoustic guitar does.

unless i know where that Pad comes from,
and i have it my self, then i have also common ground.

anyway...
the First sounds like has less jitter. "more details"
and lush,
but could be an LFO not in sync, running free the filter or something else.

the Second has more BOLD in the lows, like has an added lows layer, gives more muscle to the lows, in a good way. nice for lows.
but could be something that changed in the patch, maybe diferent keys were used for trigger, etc...

the 3 is not my favorite,

the highs and mids of the 1st, and the lows of the 2nd. would be great.

the pad came from Sy-85 factory sound

[rumleymusic]

i had 1820m , and i didnt liked. the AD was great "better AKM chip", but the DAC verry colored sound, and a strange sound, those Cirrus Logic chips.
the pci card "1212" was too heavy for the pci buss, it holded back system performance quite a bit.
the wordclock was crap for listening.
thanks god i had alesis ai-2 around, at that time.
the 1820m DAC sound is so strange, that i thought it was damaged!
had to run free RMAA to test.
http://audio.rightmark.org

that keep me thinking why sounds so strange.
until i understand it was a combination of things.
first was the clock.
second the Cirrus chip, and 3rd the analog circuit design.

Really? I think you had a bad unit, because, even though I don't have one anymore (I bought one when they first came out), I found the DA section to be the most clean and uncolored out of any interface I have every used. And the Cirrus 4398 DAC is one of the best out there, used in many high end converters.

[space2012]

Originally Posted by rumleymusic

Really? I think you had a bad unit, because, even though I don't have one anymore (I bought one when they first came out), I found the DA section to be the most clean and uncolored out of any interface I have every used. And the Cirrus 4398 DAC is one of the best out there, used in many high end converters.

verry strange, becouse the opamps & capacitors inside emu1820m are lowest quality & cheapest there is.

Cirrus 4398a is used in Universal Audio 2192 , focusrite liquid channel, esi ex8000, etc...
yes is one of the best...
but converters are not the chip, its also the analog circuit, and the wordclock.

by the way... emu 1820m e-dsp wordclock is one of the worse ever, in the level of yamaha ds2416 dsp factory, incredible bad wordclock.
usign it with a good wordclock , still had very colored sound.
sounded like a noiseless behringer ada8000.

[Groff]

Originally Posted by space2012

apogee rosetta200 sound verry diferent than rosetta 800

Please, can you elaborate a bit more about it?

[space2012]

Originally Posted by Groff

Please, can you elaborate a bit more about it?

search gearsluts for audio demos.