Is presonus stuff high end gear?

[Barish]

Originally Posted by sopre

Is presonus stuff high end gear?

Their current product range (except for the Studio One V2 software) is nowhere near it.

B.

[shatz]

Didnt you post something like this about 7 months ago in the low end forum? Like, Why is Presonus hardware so poor?

[Arichlsss]

No low end. have you priced much gear?

[superwack]

ADL 600* = YES

EVERY OTHER THING THEY MAKE = NO

That's not to say it isn't useable or good "bang for your buck"... but it's not "High End"






* except, of course, for it's Presonus-y look

[littlesicily]

prosumer, not high end.

[Sqye]

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I had an original MP20 a while back.

I wouldn't call it high end, per se, but the quality of the build and components (chassis, knobs, pots, etc.) was clearly better than their stuff now.

The last Presonus gear I owned a few years ago was an original Firepod interface, and the HP60 headphone unit.

I would not call either of these units high end, at all.

They were decent, and if you can't make a decent recording and mix with them, chances are it's probably not the gear.

That said, the build and component quality were just not there. Cheaply built stuff that frankly just did not hold it's own compared to quality gear.

Upgrading to the RME Fireface 400, and now RME UFX was a LARGE improvement, sonically. Detail in frequencies in recording and mixing were clearly superior. Specifically, overtones in mids and high end detail, as well as clarity in bass, and clearly superior amplification, jacks, etc. - not to mention the killer matrix and matrix software, obviously. I believe I can hear more depth in the stereo field as well, but this may again be attributed simply to the overall detail in frequency spectrum.

There are folks here who don't consider RME gear seriously high end. So for them, I can imagine Presonus gear must REALLY be low end.

At any rate, I can't imagine using Presonus gear in my own studio again, unless there is nothing higher end available.

Since I have serious monitors and amps (and HP amps), I could never take Presonus amps seriously, at this point.

And I wouldn't want to be printing their A/D converters if I could help it.

Again, though, you use what you have. And IMO, you can use Presonus stuff to make decent - even good - sounding mixes. But I personally wouldn't call their stuff high end. The pots and knobs are cheap. Their products seem to be clearly made for profit, not quality.

YMMV.


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[sopre]

Originally Posted by Sqye

.

I had an original MP20 a while back.

I wouldn't call it high end, per se, but the quality of the build and components (chassis, knobs, pots, etc.) was clearly better than their stuff now.

The last Presonus gear I owned a few years ago was an original Firepod interface, and the HP60 headphone unit.

I would not call either of these units high end, at all.

They were decent, and if you can't make a decent recording and mix with them, chances are it's probably not the gear.

That said, the build and component quality were just not there. Cheaply built stuff that frankly just did not hold it's own compared to quality gear.

Upgrading to the RME Fireface 400, and now RME UFX was a LARGE improvement, sonically. Detail in frequencies in recording and mixing were clearly superior. Specifically, overtones in mids and high end detail, as well as clarity in bass, and clearly superior amplification, jacks, etc. - not to mention the killer matrix and matrix software, obviously. I believe I can hear more depth in the stereo field as well, but this may again be attributed simply to the overall detail in frequency spectrum.

There are folks here who don't consider RME gear seriously high end. So for them, I can imagine Presonus gear must REALLY be low end.

At any rate, I can't imagine using Presonus gear in my own studio again, unless there is nothing higher end available.

Since I have serious monitors and amps (and HP amps), I could never take Presonus amps seriously, at this point.

And I wouldn't want to be printing their A/D converters if I could help it.

Again, though, you use what you have. And IMO, you can use Presonus stuff to make decent - even good - sounding mixes. But I personally wouldn't call their stuff high end. The pots and knobs are cheap. Their products seem to be clearly made for profit, not quality.

YMMV.


.

Excellent explanation here! I basically was thinking high end refers to how much an item is. Would the quality of build of an interface be taken into consideration as high end?

[AB3]

There little 4 channel headphone amp is suppose to be pretty good.

Get the best you can afford and do the best with it. Sometimes talent can make up a little for gear IMHO.

[Alex Breaux]

Everyone can say what they want, but I think the Eureka is not THAT bad. Just saying..

But no, not high end..

[narcoman]

Good for the money, but not high end.

[Jomox]

Middle of the road stuff, very good if your on a budget.

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by sopre

Excellent explanation here! I basically was thinking high end refers to how much an item is. Would the quality of build of an interface be taken into consideration as high end?

.

Correction to my previous post - I meant RME Fireface 800, not 400.


To answer your question, how can high end NOT generally refer to part and build quality?

Do you think it's ALL just profit margin??

Real quality hardware costs money. And most commodities aren't getting any cheaper!

Real quality design can take time and require the time of experienced and skilled designers.

Real quality builds can take time and require the time of experienced and skilled builders.

For instance - as I've pointed out before - my studio monitors have $200 tweeters in them. The tweeters are AMAZING. The detail is incredible. I have a total of 9 of those tweeters in my studio, each fed by hand-made crossovers and each tweeter fed by a discreet 200 watt amplifier (!) You think this helps with more power and less frikkin' distortion? YOU BET! But it costs MONEY.

Now if I listened to a $200 KRK "professional studio monitor" - where TWO ENTIRE SPEAKERS cost THE SAME AS ONE OF MY TWEETERS, and it performed with the same clear detail in balance across the frequency spectrum with little to no harmonic distortion and crossover anomalies, and a huge clear stereo image, etc., then I would BELIEVE that the $200 KRK monitors are good enough. But they're simply not. Why? Cheap parts (!) Cheap drivers, cheap crossovers, cheap amplifiers, cheap cabinets, etc.

And while KRK as a company may have a fair amount of not so cheap overall R&D time into their company's products, the motivation behind selling $200 speakers is GENERALLY not the same as the motivation behind selling $20,000 speakers. That's a difference of $19,800 (!)...or 99% (!)...Or to put it another way, my Linkwitz Orions cost 100 times as much as a pair of cheap KRKs. That's a BIG difference.

Same with my Buzz Audio ARC channel. The parts used in this build are infinitely superior to the Presonus gear I've used. And the cost reflects this. And the cost of the Buzz preamp is roughly ten times higher than the standard traditional Presonus channel strips.

Again, most pots, stereo balancing busses and amplification on Presonus units are just cheaply built. The gear is built at a price point for earning profit selling bulk qualities of units, not built specifically for high end quality for high end users. You can't say a piece of gear is high end if the parts and build labor are cheep - ESPECIALLY, if those parts and build labor AFFECT the overall quality of the performance, which certainly is the case when you compare most Presonus gear to real high end gear.

That said, the Presonus ADL600 is in a different price category, so the design and build quality must be better. I'm betting significantly better. This piece of gear is likely potentially high end, but I haven't used it. People I respect use the ADL600 and really do like it.

Bottom line, if a piece of gear costs 1/10th or 1/100th of another (higher end) piece of gear, you have to at least WONDER what the actual difference in the piece of gear is. Usually, it's parts, and design and labor. Now that difference might not always be 10 or 100 times, but there are OFTEN at least SOME distinct quality differences.

The best way to understand some of the differences in quality components is to build some of your own gear. It's not hard to build gear, and it could really deepen your understanding of what you're buying from other companies. Plus, it's fun And it MIGHT even be useful - you can build a little piece of custom gear that you need for your studio setup - like a basic custom channel splitter.

You might need a solder gun, some solder, some kind of drill or screw gun to drill holes in your chassis (I'd recommend aluminum, as steel is a bitch to drill though, unless you have a machine shop), and various other tools and accessories.

Check out the DIY forum here at GS - or anywhere. Then go to Parts Express - or whatever parts company, and get a basic chassis or simple front panel, some jacks, knobs and wire, maybe even a PCB, etc. and off you go! Everyone's doing it, so it can't be THAT difficult, right

You can learn the REAL difference between parts, designs and builds. It's not rocket surgery, but good quality gear costs money. You'll find out soon enough if you build your own stuff.

Cheers, and good luck! ...I can't wait to see what gear you come up with!...

Just please don't hurt yourself. Screwing around with sharp metal edges is dangerous.

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[Denny C]

[QUOTE=superwack;7971503]ADL 600* = YES

EVERY OTHER THING THEY MAKE = NO

That's not to say it isn't useable or good "bang for your buck"... but it's not "High End"


+1.

[AllAboutTone]

Originally Posted by superwack

ADL 600* = YES

EVERY OTHER THING THEY MAKE = NO

That's not to say it isn't useable or good "bang for your buck"... but it's not "High End"






* except, of course, for it's Presonus-y look

Both prosumer

[The Real MC]

Definitely NOT their Bluetube Preamp. A buddy has one and a channel went bad on it. He has been unable to get it fixed. Read about similar problems on the net too.

[littlesicily]

The OP question has been sufficiently answered that Presonus is NOT high end gear. I'm not sure who would even mistake their gear for high end.

I've been very happy with my central station for many years now. I think of good bang for the buck with presonus (certain products)... no more than that.

It's a shame they (presonus) are getting blasted a bit in this thread. Kinda like asking if Peavey is high end. Maybe the OP was just confused about what is high end gear. It's decent gear for a decent price.

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by littlesicily

The OP question has been sufficiently answered that Presonus is NOT high end gear. I'm not sure who would even mistake their gear for high end.

I've been very happy with my central station for many years now. I think of good bang for the buck with presonus (certain products)... no more than that.

It's a shame they are getting blasted a bit in this thread. Kinda like asking if Peavey is high end. Maybe the OP was just confused about what is high end gear. It's decent gear for a decent price.

.

Agreed.

I don't think the OP's getting blasted too badly, though.

You gotta take all our posts with a huge grain of salt, after all.

And it's usually possible to tell the serious folks from the jokers.

.

[littlesicily]

You're right, the OP isn't getting blasted. I meant Presonus. I updated my previous post to reflect this. I wasn't clear before.

[Sqye]

Originally Posted by littlesicily

You're right, the OP isn't getting blasted. I meant Presonus. I updated my previous post to reflect this. I wasn't clear before.

.

I was a reasonably happy Presonus user for a few years until I moved to the next level.

They definitely make gear that is excellent for home users, home studios, people starting project studios or on a budget, etc.

Again, if you can't track and mix decent to good sounding recordings on most Presonus gear, it's likely not the gear.

.

[Eq_1084]

yes but only Presonus CS

[Sqye]

.

Annnnnnnd, here's your answer - in Low End Theory.

At least you know what the High End mods think.

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[shatz]

Originally Posted by AllAboutTone

Both prosumer

Disagree. ADL 600 is not prosumer.

[phatbeatstudio]

Originally Posted by

There little 4 channel headphone amp is suppose to be pretty good.

Get the best you can afford and do the best with it. Sometimes talent can make up a little for gear IMHO.

+1 to the second comment

This isn't the pretty good forum
Im a pretty good guitar player but Jimmy Hendrix is highend, we don't belong in the same forum or sentence for that matter.

Honda Civa is a pretty good car but it aint no Ferrari

Have you seem the price of a high end head phone distribution system .
Even a high end guitar flight case cost more than that headphone amp. If its only $500 theres a really good chance its not within $4000 of high end.