Converters

[S75]

Hello,
I use Digidesign converters but I'd like to use something different when I do my mastering.

Please could you give your impressions about:
Lavry Blue, Mythec, Benchmark, Hedd and Apogee Rosetta or other if you know (Prism and Lavry Gold now are out of my budget)

So far I tried Apogee 800 and Hedd and the first seemed to me clearer. maybe I'll have the possibility to test a Benchmark.

I produce above rock/punk/metal

Thank you

[yareck]

Do a search there are hundreds of posts about converters.

I've tested Mytek, Benchmark, Apogee Rosetta, Lavry Blue and ended up with Lavry Blue. My no.2 would be the Rosetta which has comparable DA to the Lavry and very nice (for me) limiter.

[MASSIVE Master]

HEDD and Lavry Blue - Can't really go wrong with either, IMO.

[S75]

How is Lavry Blue and Mytek if compared to Hedd and Rosetta?

I found Rosetta very clear, clearer than Hedd, and it's 8 for more or less the same price (ok Hedd has more options that could be interesting).

[MIKEHARRIS]

HEDD & UA 2192...unless youre a Mastering Engineer by trade...then it seems the Pacific Microsonic is king

[Roc Mixwell]

Check out the Lynx Aurora. The Lynx is an incredibly accurate reference converter. There is really no coloration or artifacts associated with some converters. It is VERY true to the source. It still maintains a high output with really low self noise.

And with option cards such as the PT HD and ADAT cards, you have total integration into your system.

peace
mixwell

[carlsaff]

The Lavry Blues are one of the best deals in converters today. I really think you have to jump way up in price to experience a significant difference. I use Lavry Blues exclusively to feed and capture from my analog loop.

I have a Benchmark DAC-1 for monitoring, too, and while it is good (and the feature set terrific), I suspect I'll be migrating away from that to a Lavry Blue/passive attenuator combo soon...

[Robin Reumers]

Originally Posted by S75

So far I tried Apogee 800 and Hedd and the first seemed to me clearer.

Hmm that is very strange, as I do think that the Hedd sounds soo much more open and sounds much more transparent (and musical) to me. However taste can make the difference aswell ofcourse.

[chrissugar]

Lavry and Cranesong HEDD here. If you can afford, buy them both.

Lavry is the best price/performance ratio available. I did some serious converter tests and compared double conversion (analog to AD to AES-EBU to DA to analog) to straight wire, everything calibrated to 0.01dB. On an extremely refined audiophile system, Lavry Blue double conversion was almost indistinguishable from straight wire. Not many converters capable of this kind of transparency, at least not at this price.
The Cranesong HEDD is also a great converter, a bit less transparent, but a very musical colour and there is also that fantastic TAPE/TUBE processor.

If your work is more oriented to classical music, quartet, church organ, choir, jazz quartet, etc (transparent recording/mastering) then go with the Lavry. If most of your work is modern music (pop, rock, electro, etc.) go with the Cranesong.

chrissugar

[S75]

Thank you

I record and mix in analogue/digital and mastering in digital Hedd can be good with the tape saturation?

With Hedd can I use both converters AD DA together?

[Robin Reumers]

Yes indeed you can, you can use it to go out to your analog gear and come back into the digital world ;-) That will work fine..

[Adebar]

Originally Posted by chrissugar

Lavry and Cranesong HEDD here. If you can afford, buy them both.

Lavry is the best price/performance ratio available.

chrissugar

Hmm, considering the fact that you get a Meitner with 8 channels for about 5800 € I would think again about the best price/perfomance ratio.

[lucey]

As for price/performance the Mytek 8x192 sound better (more natural mids and more extended low end) than the Lavry Blue and is around $3500 for 8 ch of AD DA. That's hard to beat.

The HEDD 192 is a bit aggressive/forward for me, and I have never liked it for mastering. I use it D-D for a tiny touch of harmonics life.

[DSD_Mastering]

Originally Posted by Adebar

Hmm, considering the fact that you get a Meitner with 8 channels for about 5800 € I would think again about the best price/perfomance ratio.

I just bought the EMM Labs Meitner. For price/performance ratio, they were over $18k... hardly a bargain!

Regards,
Bruce

[peeder]

So how much markup/spiff has Lynx mandated on its converter products? It seems a near certainty that any online discussion about converters will have a few people trying to sell Lynx boxes magically appear, and they are apparently the only ones arguing in favor of them.

I figure it has to be at least $500/unit if they're getting this much sales push.

(Sorry if you don't appreciate my pointing this out, but this is online. Deal with it.)

[chrissugar]

Originally Posted by Adebar

Hmm, considering the fact that you get a Meitner with 8 channels for about 5800 € I would think again about the best price/perfomance ratio.

8chAD+8chDA Lavry = less than 8000$
8chAD+8chDA Meitner = 18000$
I think they are from different price range.

Originally Posted by lucey

As for price/performance the Mytek 8x192 sound better (more natural mids and more extended low end) than the Lavry Blue and is around $3500 for 8 ch of AD DA. That's hard to beat.

Did you do any double conversion test against straight wire? I did, and considering that the Lavry is almost identical to the straight wire it is hard to believe the Mytek (or any other converter in this price range) is much better. The difference is so small that anything better than the Lavry should fit between the Lavry and the straight wire.
I can only imagine that the absolute high end converters like Lavry Gold and Prism are probably identical to straight wire, considering how close the Blue is.
Of course i was talking about 24bit 96K.

Originally Posted by lucey

The HEDD 192 is a bit aggressive/forward for me, and I have never liked it for mastering. I use it D-D for a tiny touch of harmonics life.

Did you try the ones with the latest upgrades?

chrissugar

[funka]

Did you do any double conversion test against straight wire?

FYI, I did it with aurora16 and could not distinguish, whereas, with RME ADI 8 DS, I could clearly hear stereo image narrowed.

[Bob Olhsson]

FWIW, I've learned that if you use better converters for your recording, it can dramatically improve the sound of digital signal processing in the mix.

The path to quality is always a downhill trip because every process degrades audio quality in addition to whatever subjective benefit it offers. Better quality later in the process will certainly do less harm however the limit is always going to be set by minimizing digital artifacts at the very front end.

[S75]

Anyone has tried Sphynx 2 (merging Technologies)?

[Masterer]

Originally Posted by Bob Olhsson

..... Better quality later in the process will certainly do less harm however the limit is always going to be set by minimizing digital artifacts at the very front end.

Word.

[jayfrigo]

..... Better quality later in the process will certainly do less harm however the limit is always going to be set by minimizing digital artifacts at the very front end.

Originally Posted by Masterer

Word.

Sometimes people overlook the obvious. Making it sound good to begin with rather than trying to fix deficiencies in post... what an idea! It's true. You're only as strong as the weakest link. If you don't capture it in the first place, post-processing won't re-create it.

[DSD_Mastering]

Originally Posted by S75

Anyone has tried Sphynx 2 (merging Technologies)?

Yes I've tried Digital Audio Denmark. They are excellent converters.
They are comparable to Lavry/Prism/dCS

Regards,
Bruce

[lucey]

Recently had a client with 2 mix processing issues, going DA and AD back in was duplicating the same kind of AD distortions from tracking. So best to have great converters or dont bother with external processing. Having a different AD might be helpful as there as well, to mix up the artifacts. Especially with lesser converters this duplication effect can be pretty obvious.

[Adebar]

Originally Posted by chrissugar

8chAD+8chDA Lavry = less than 8000$
8chAD+8chDA Meitner = 18000$
I think they are from different price range.

chrissugar

Sorry, I thought the Lavry Gold, not the Blue series, should be compared with the Meitner.

[S75]

Do you use Hedd after Digi Converters?

And at really high volume how the Hedd and Lavry are?

[musicsound-2]

Originally Posted by chrissugar

Lavry and Cranesong HEDD here. If you can afford, buy them both.

Lavry is the best price/performance ratio available. I did some serious converter tests and compared double conversion (analog to AD to AES-EBU to DA to analog) to straight wire, everything calibrated to 0.01dB. On an extremely refined audiophile system, Lavry Blue double conversion was almost indistinguishable from straight wire. Not many converters capable of this kind of transparency, at least not at this price.
The Cranesong HEDD is also a great converter, a bit less transparent, but a very musical colour and there is also that fantastic TAPE/TUBE processor.

If your work is more oriented to classical music, quartet, church organ, choir, jazz quartet, etc (transparent recording/mastering) then go with the Lavry. If most of your work is modern music (pop, rock, electro, etc.) go with the Cranesong.

chrissugar

did you also include the Benchmarks in your test ? How did they compare ?

[S75]

Hello,
I use Digisdesign I/O 192
How should I connect Hedd (I need it above all as convertitor) directly to my converters?

While Lavry?

Thanks

[Riccardo]

Originally Posted by S75

Hello,
I use Digisdesign I/O 192
How should I connect Hedd (I need it above all as convertitor) directly to my converters?

While Lavry?

Thanks

Use the AES I/O in the back panel of the Digi 192

[MattGray]

Originally Posted by jayfrigo

If you don't capture it in the first place, post-processing won't re-create it.

Unless you use drumagog & sample replacer.. sorry it's late & I couldn't resist.

Matt

[S75]

Originally Posted by Riccardo

Use the AES I/O in the back panel of the Digi 192

Is it the only way to connect them? If I don't want to go through Digidesign convertes?