What are the best converters and why?

[raal]

Originally Posted by GYang

16Xs are my working horses.
They do 95% of job and no sonical complaint about them.
Lavry Blue does better on some acoustic tracks (so I keep it for that)

BUT

for AD conversion of final mix I rent the best what I can find and in order of preference:

-DCS (it just offers some hyperrealistic magic, not necessary for tracking, but awesome for final mix)
-Weiss - IMO the most neutral conversion available
-Lavry Gold - similar to Weiss, some like to push it hard

Everything else what I heard (incl. Prism) is not worth premium price over already excellent Apogee, HEDD, Lavry Blue or Lynx.
And it's more question of taste.

i only wish these things were rentable in mexico. i'd do exactly what you suggest! of the three you mentioned (weiss, lavry gold and dcs), if you had to commit to one, for mixdown and also for recording, which would it be? seems dcs has the most options, but the 'most neutral conversion available' (weiss) has a nice ring to it!

also, would you consider the new hedd 192 in the same league or better than 16X as a simple ADA (independent of the triode/pentode thing)? thank you for your straight ahead answers gyang.

[SMT]

Originally Posted by Recording David

MOTU converters are not good. They are woolly, jittery and unfocused.

I must say I disagree. What Motu have you used?
I use the 2408 mkII and I must say it´s very good. I have had absolutely no problems with it...

[squeegybug]

I had UA 2192 and Lavry Blue to compare. The UA is nice, had a "polished" sound, little soft on top end, full in the mids. It colored everything that went through it (AD and DA) with that tone.

Lavry is just so honest and full and emotional. Texture and realism and intimate.
Makes music sound alive to me.

If there is better than the Lavry Blue, I don't really care. This one does exactly what I want.

Steve

[raal]

^ very descriptive. thanks!

[johndale]

I been doing this awhile and I feel Motu is being unfairly criticized. OK, the 1224 and 2408 are back a generation or two in chip technology. But, send yours to Black Lion for the clock and analog stage rebuilds. I think you would be surprised at what a lowly Motu can really sound like. EMU and Berhringer, got anymore of those drugs, it is not nice to not share. There is nothing that will help those units on the level we are speaking. I'm going to go Lavery Gold I think when Vista comes out, but I'm gonna wait and watch the driver situation................JDW

[Stormkloud]

The Motu converters are surprisingly better with a good clock. I own a 1296 and there is a noticable difference when I clock it from my Radar.

[Recording David]

Originally Posted by SMT

I must say I disagree. What Motu have you used?
I use the 2408 mkII and I must say it´s very good. I have had absolutely no problems with it...

Hi - I've used the 828 (MK 1 and 2) and 896 HD. Don't get me wrong, MOTU stuff is not an absolute stinker but they're really not up to par in a commercial situation. If you shoot these side by side with any of the good crop of current converters (I have Mytek, Apogee and Troisi) the difference is huge. You especially notice the difference when stacking loads of tracks on top of eachother - try 16 or more channels with a MOTU and then compare that to 16 channels of [insert outboard converter here] and the difference is night and day, it's like a cloud has been removed.

As I said before the original poster is talking about spending some serious cash for good conversion - in my opinion this means outboard ADC/DAC units.

[huarez]

Originally Posted by raal

i'm curious as to how the apogee 16X series compares to the 'best' (lavry gold, weiss, dcs, prism AD-2 -- also hedd 192, UA 2192, etc.). there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus. for example i've heard lavry blue are not as good as 16X and vice versa. has anyone here actually compared some of the above to 16X?

these are all obviously very good, but which could be considered the best (truest to original source)? pacific microsonics is way up there but they're no longer made.

maybe a grading system would be helpful.

Just having the 16x and the 2192 for a heavy test ,and i must say the 2192 rocks.
The most fascinating thing is, when listening to solo sources, the converters sounded very different, loads of low-mids comming with the 2192, BUT ,in the mix, the 2192 sounds very elegant and open. It´s very hard to get a mix tracked with the 16x coming even close to the fat and open sound of the 2192. I´m just waiting for the HEDD 192 to compare.

[raal]

Originally Posted by huarez

I´m just waiting for the HEDD 192 to compare.

please let us know yoour thoughts.

[SK1]

Originally Posted by SMT

I must say I disagree. What Motu have you used?
I use the 2408 mkII and I must say it´s very good. I have had absolutely no problems with it...

With respect to your set-up the motu 2408 mk 2 won't hold up to the higher end stuff we're talking about.
(I own 2)

I wouldn't say it sucks .... just not in the same league as the apogee or lavry.

[SK1]

Originally Posted by Stormkloud

The Motu converters are surprisingly better with a good clock. I own a 1296 and there is a noticable difference when I clock it from my Radar.

I 2nd this ....

[Phunker]

I work with 4 Motu 1296 for years and there's nothing wrong with them. I now clock them from a rosendahl clock because so many people said that there would be a night-day difference, but I'm afraid to say that I bearly hear any. I suppose the difference is of mere psychological nature to me. You must all have far superior ears. I don't get why in this forum some equipment gets hyped ridiculously and other gets bashed for no apparent reason. At least these reasons are not apparent to me. According to an earlier post, more than 16 simultaniousely mixed motu outputs sound dull. As a consequence my 48 mixed outs should end up beeing nothing but noise. I must be quite a moron not to have noticed..

[Eemo1]

no love for the SSL converters?

[Bassmankr]

These Best Coverter threads seem to be the same, the original poster never gives enough critical info for people to chime in with a short list of BEST TOOLS. Info you should include in ANY converter question: What computer platform (Mac/PC)? How many PCI/PCIe slots are available for the interface? What DAW software will you be using? What sample rate will you be recording at? Will you be mixing ITB or Hybrid with an analog mixer/outboard? Which leads to ... How many channels of conversion will you need? What is your budget? .. .. . . You will need converters AND an interface, sometimes they are all in one. The answers to the above questions will give you a short list of options to start with, then you can pick the BEST tool for your needs from that. The more info you provide in the original post, the more likely we can give you meaningful tool suggestions.

[skybluerental]

RADAR is the best overall digital sound i have heard.