[HELP] Aurora 8 or Metric Halo 2882+2d - i Can't Decide?

[macleodgrant]

hi guys, as in the title

please, i have a credit at a store for returning another unit that gave me hassles so i've been wrestling between these 2 units...

Which has the better quality converters and better sound

the metric halo wins on price and features by far though only supports 96k - who uses 192k anyway!

any other ideas???

thanks for the advise guys

cheers, grant

[narco]

you know I have the lynx

and I know nothing of the metric halo

but yeah, you don't need 192

narco

[SoundEng1]

Originally Posted by macleodgrant

hi guys, as in the title

please, i have a credit at a store for returning another unit that gave me hassles so i've been wrestling between these 2 units...

Which has the better quality converters and better sound

the metric halo wins on price and features by far though only supports 96k - who uses 192k anyway!

any other ideas???

thanks for the advise guys

cheers, grant

Im with you, still waiting to hear what sounds better.

[macleodgrant]

Originally Posted by narco

you know I have the lynx

and I know nothing of the metric halo

but yeah, you don't need 192

narco

thanks man, you've been really helpful for which i appreciate. i have gathered that people really love the Aurora so i can only assume i'd be getting great quality with that but i'm not 100% about the 2882

i hope someone has experience with both

cheers, grant

[SoundEng1]

I heard the demo over at the MH website, it sounded pretty good

[thermos]

Lynx wins by a mile.

[thermos]

Also, check out this thread over on Brad's forum.

PSW Recording Forums: Brad Blackwood => A/D - D/A accuracy tests

[macleodgrant]

hmm, tough one, still struggling but the 2882 is looking like a great deal considering what you get.

i've got a few more days to make up my mind

i'm really loving the idea of not having to use software monitoring for reverb and guitar simulation while recording - also the possibility of insert fx and summing...it's just so interesting with a lot of potential.

at the end of the day if i do go for the 2882+2d then i guess i do have DUET which i preferred to the Ensemble so i guess i have that covered if necessary

[henryrobinett]

You know my opinion, without even hearing the Aurora! LOL.

[George Necola]

lynx for me. after talking to the designer @ aes amsterdam, he promised me to solve the driver issue. if he was telling me the truth, I would buy lynx in a heartbeat.

cheers

[narco]

I once had a driver issue with my old L2 card (years before the auroras came out), and I emailed lynx. They wrote a new driver update for me overnight.

now thats service

narco

[macleodgrant]

damn you guys...

i thought i was settling on the 2882 for the feature but this Aurora is enticing...

you got to admit though that the 2882+2d+DSP looks amazing. i've watched their Demos on their site and it's incredible what you can do. it's like having loads of high quality outboard gear.

presently i don't feed the vocalist reverb since i would probably have to use software monitoring and that screws with latency compensation, etc so this would avoid all of that.

people use the 2882 for recording orchestras so they have to be good right?????

[narco]

Like I said I have no idea what the 2882 is like

but in order to give a vocalist reverb I just track them through a reverb plugin AND through the lynx mixer, with only the wet signal from the reverb on, the latency is just pre-delay. Problem solved, and its not hard to do.

I added a post on your other thread about how the mixer on board the AES 16 now has more inputs per output channel, this may be the same for the aurora mixer, I don't know

narco

[cynics1207]

Originally Posted by macleodgrant

you got to admit though that the 2882+2d+DSP looks amazing. i've watched their Demos on their site and it's incredible what you can do. it's like having loads of high quality outboard gear.

Im with you on this. the feature from v5/2D is so flexible. get an ULN-2/2882, you can always add one a aurora 8 with adat later for the converter if you think you need to upgrade the AD/DA quality. this is what i plan for my self, and i have made up my mind. hope this can help.

[A440]

Doesn't it really boil down to how useful you will find the MH 2d features? Do you want/need the processing options it offers you, and the 80 bit summing?

I don't know if this helps, but since using a 2882, I've never thought to myself 'I wish the converters sounded better' because to my ears the converters sound fantastic. Unfortunately I can't comment on the Lynx converters as I've never heard them.

[macleodgrant]

Originally Posted by A440

Doesn't it really boil down to how useful you will find the MH 2d features? Do you want/need the processing options it offers you, and the 80 bit summing?

well it's down to a little more than that. the 2882 includes phono SPDIF (handy for my MBOX), ADAT (handy for my Mackie Onyx 800r) and the real time FX and flexible routing options and it's cheaper than the aurora.

the Aurora is more expensive and has DB25 connections only so i'll have to buy 3 DB25 cables to connect to my patchbay & 800r since it doesn't include ADAT as standard and as long as you're using firewire you can't upgrade it to include ADAT either. so it's going to cost an additional £600 for the aurora with cables. i don't mind the cost so much but just looking at the features of the 2882 is messing with my head

Originally Posted by A440

I don't know if this helps, but since using a 2882, I've never thought to myself 'I wish the converters sounded better' because to my ears the converters sound fantastic. Unfortunately I can't comment on the Lynx converters as I've never heard them.

that does help thanks


i just found this helpful'ish post

I used Genelec 8030A's, Sony MDR7506's, Sennheiser HD280Pro's, and it was all
fed though my Coleman Audio M3 passive monitor controller. Everything
was clocked to an Apogee Big Ben with Canare wordclock cables. 48khz,
24bit. And the cabling used to go from the D/A's to the Coleman was
all Redco heavy duty balanced cable with Neutrik connectors. The
Aurora was interfaced via the Lynx LT-ADAT expansion option and
through the 2882's ADAT connection.

--- MIO D/A vs. Lynx Aurora 16 D/A---
The MIO seems to have a bit more boost in the 300-400hz range. But i
really had to strain to hear this. Its not a detailed boost and its
not that these frequencies are greater pronounced, its just a small,
hardly noticable boost. The same could be said for the 12khz range.
At these frequencies the Lynx was slightly more smooth, yet detailed,
however the difference was truley negligible. The Lynx also seemed to
have a more extended high frequency response. But once again, i had
to work to hear it and in this case i only heard it when monitoring
through the 7506's.

Overall i was quite impressed with how well the MIO held up to the
Lynx Aurora as far as D/A conversion is concerned. And had i not
scored the Lynx for such a great price, i probably would have added another pair of
2882's instead.

I am happy to use both the MIO's and the Aurora combined, i feel they
complement each other well for my uses.
Under normal situations I use a pair of 2882+DSP's with the Lynx
Aurora 16 for a total of 32 ins and outs. The outputs feed my
AudioArts 8x console, and i typically use the Lynx's A/D's only.
(except on remote gigs)
The ULN-2 adds 2 analog in / 4 analog out. In the studio i use this
for added D/A to feed my monitors, and for remotes i utilize the ULN-2
preamps.

If i ever find time to do comprehensive tests on the A/D, i will.

[bannerj]

I'm so confused why Metric Halo doesn't get better press on GS or the TOMB. It has been the best money I've ever spent and now with the 2d? I don't know anything about your other option, but you will not be disappointed with the metric halo. It's dsp power, its interface, customer support and routing capabilities are insane.

[joshroseman]

I use the 2882 for remote recording and as a utility converter- it's a cool piece, super flexible, with many routing possibilities. Great company, and the sound is a step up from a 192.

The Lynx is another step up sonically- it's not as flexible, but it's a very big improvement over a 192.