Apogee Symphony vs SSL XLogic Alpha Link MADI AX vs Pro Tools HD Native

[Patfriza]

I'm in the same boat for an i/o and been debating, symphony 16 anolog i/o is twice the price vs SSL 24 i/o ,
Is the quality of the sound of the converters worth the $3000 difference???? I need at least 16 output for summing OTB , thanks !!

[jasonwagner]

I really like my Symphony unit, haven't used the others you talk about. You could get the symphony chassis and one 16 I/o with room to expand to 32 down the road. It's very stable. The symphony fans are loud enough they will be picked up in mics if you are recording vocals in the same room, so I moved mine into a "machine room".

[mixerguy]

Originally Posted by jasonwagner

I really like my Symphony unit, haven't used the others you talk about. You could get the symphony chassis and one 16 I/o with room to expand to 32 down the road. It's very stable. The symphony fans are loud enough they will be picked up in mics if you are recording vocals in the same room, so I moved mine into a "machine room".

I have the symphony io chassis with one card in it. The 16x16 analog.

It is not above anything hot in the rack. My racks are open back. I keep my room at 70 degrees and the fans are never on. Period.

I record in the same room. Quiet stuff even. Zero noise.

It is my understanding that if I was to put a second 16x16 analog card in it the fans would be on somewhat.

The conversion is AMAZING sounding. Very clear, deep, wide and natural. I love it.

It is noticeably better than 16x and Lynx Aurora 16 ...to me.

It is my understanding that the SSL uses some cheaper (less good sounding) components. This makes sense, as it is a lot cheaper!

I have not heard the SSL.

I use the symphony io as a PT interface (TDM) plus in USB mode plus standalone. Works GREAT!!!

[jasonwagner]

Mine has two of the 16 I/O but it's been out of my room since I got originally with two 8 analog/8aes at that time it was too loud. Glad to hear they quieted it down.

It sounds fantastic and works great. Very happy with the purchase and would recommend it to anyone but I like to let folks know it's possible they might need it in another room. Would have saved me a lot of soldering if I knew my db25s needed to be longer than I originally built.

[Jeff Perkins]

I'm currently running the SSL MADI AX with PT HD10 on a MacBook Pro over Thunderbolt. Not a lot of tracking time on it yet as the room isn't finished but no complaints so far :-)

[waldie wave]

Buy the Apogee Symphony. It is fantastic. I used mine with PTHD 9.

[HDaudioCoyote]

Really Curious About That Question Here As Well

also about the new XLogic Alpha-Link MX

I heard about the Alpha-Link (AX/SX) that it's a pain in the *** to set-up. (With the cryptical binary lights on the front, etc. etc.)
My belly tends also more to the apogee kind-athing as I am totally happy with their previous stuff I've used. -> But I am also hungry for another AD/DA that is maybe a little "cleaner". -> please also some comments on that. I was using the Apogee Ensemble so far and it works well but I had to get an extra DA (Mytek St-DA) for monitoring as well as I felt the need for a less coloured conversion for my work.

Never used the Symphony I/O so far. So any comments on that? Is it really "clean" or does it sound "musical" as the other apogee converters I've used tended to.

In comparison I've heard my Ensemble already in comparison with RME, Lavry-Blue AD/DA, Gold AD and Black DA.

Sitting here in the same boat. Want to upgrade my AD/DA-side for inserting more outboard in the ITB-sessions as well as having more channels for summing.

cheers,
CoYotE

[waldie wave]

The Apogee is very simple to set up with Pro Tools. No hassles at all. I would describe it as very musical sounding. The low end is fantastic as are the mids and highs. When I has the Rosetta 800 192 and Digi 192 I always used to transfer mixes to a 2 track Ampex reel to reel recorder. No need to do that with the Symphony. It is sweet.

[andremattos]

+1 Symphony I/O

[dankin]

I have the SSL Madi AX with the Madiextreme Card and I love it. It's super stable.

[crille_mannen]

Originally Posted by HDaudioCoyote

Really Curious About That Question Here As Well

also about the new XLogic Alpha-Link MX

I heard about the Alpha-Link (AX/SX) that it's a pain in the *** to set-up. (With the cryptical binary lights on the front, etc. etc.)
My belly tends also more to the apogee kind-athing as I am totally happy with their previous stuff I've used. -> But I am also hungry for another AD/DA that is maybe a little "cleaner". -> please also some comments on that. I was using the Apogee Ensemble so far and it works well but I had to get an extra DA (Mytek St-DA) for monitoring as well as I felt the need for a less coloured conversion for my work.
CoYotE

Yes it was very difficult to get the alphalink to work properly. SSL support was superb though and answered just in a couple of hours explaining with pics and everything. It should have been a better manual, didn't make much sense trying to get the Adat ins to work properly. And i would have never figured it out without the support help haha.

Great unit though, im super happy.

[soypancho]

I'm using the Alphalink MX 4-16 right now. It was easy to get up and running on a Mac with PT9. I'm very, very happy with the sound. The Symphony might be a small step up but nothing I'm missing as it. Keep in mind though that with the MX and the SSL PCIe card, you have no optical, AES, or spdif connections and I have not had any success running an aggregate audio device with the SSL. Also, if at some point I went to HDX or HD native, the interface to get it to talk with the Alphalink is darn near the extra cost of the Symphony which has it built in. In that case I would probably switch over to the Apogee but I have a feeling I'm going to be less excited about Avid after AES this year. I cannot speak for the AX, which does have a nice selection of digital IO.

SSL, if you're listening, an 8x8 analog IO with optical and AES would be huge for the MX series.