Black Lion Audio 2 channel A/D coming very soon!

[blayz2002]

Originally Posted by puff

No, they were tracked one after another. Like the 'read me' file says, they were recorded pretty hastily.

Ok cool..maybe you should do something a little more controlled though for all the "golden ears"

Originally Posted by puff

We don't have any dealers at all. No dealers and no distributor=lower prices, which is what we're trying to accomplish. We ship all over the world, though, and have sent lots of our Micro Clocks to the UK, so you're welcome to order an A/D directly from us when its available.

Matt
Black Lion Audio

I'll keep a look out

[everyday]

Hi, Matt?

I am sorry for a kind of off topic here.


Is the clock in the AD same one in the Micro Clock?


Also, if I have more than 5 digital devices, what is the best way to

use the Micro Clock and the AD?


Thank you.


T...

[puff]

Is the clock in the AD same one in the Micro Clock?
Also, if I have more than 5 digital devices, what is the best way to
use the Micro Clock and the AD?

The clock is exactly the same, minus the clock division circuit. You shouldn't need to synchronize anything in order to use the A/D. The device receiving the SPDIF or AES signal from the A/D should automatically detect the phase of the incoming digital signal.

Matt
Black Lion Audio

[living sounds]

Hi Matt,

PMed you again. :-)

[Isle of Weight]

Originally Posted by jeronimo

What about a D/A converter?

was wondering also...

AA

[living sounds]

PMed you again (will email next time).

[jayman]

I just now listened to these, and to my ears, the BLA is more detailed, but the biggest difference is going on in the low-mids. Anyone else hear this? There's some serious in-your-face-ness mojo going on in the low mids and even on down into the lows with the BLA almost to the point that I would suspect they were closer to the mic with the BLA sample... but I hear it in that synth sample too, so it can't just be a matter of proximity. Anyone else hear this, or is it just me?

[everyday]

Originally Posted by puff

The clock is exactly the same, minus the clock division circuit. You shouldn't need to synchronize anything in order to use the A/D. The device receiving the SPDIF or AES signal from the A/D should automatically detect the phase of the incoming digital signal.

Matt
Black Lion Audio

Thank you, Matt..

T...

[puff]

the biggest difference is going on in the low-mids. Anyone else hear this? There's some serious in-your-face-ness mojo going on in the low mids and even on down into the lows with the BLA almost to the point that I would suspect they were closer to the mic with the BLA sample...

I'm glad you noticed this. This is something that comes about as a result of the analog stage's speed and headroom. When we sent the sound samples to a friend and customer of ours who works with Sony Scoring in LA, he referred to it as 'daylight' in the mids. Although we haven't had an opportunity to use it in a session yet, I'm excited to see how this mid-range response will play out when several tracks stacked on top of each other.

We received the A/D's enclosures this morning, and the production run PCB's will be here in ten days. Right now, Jim is finishing up the silkscreening design. The only major thing we have left is to name it...we haven't settled on anything yet.

Any suggestions?

Matt
Black Lion Audio

[living sounds]

What about "roar"? It would fit your company name and contains all the liveliness and energy captured by the converter.


I still have trouble believing what I hear. Those differences are not subtle. I've never used the Benchmark but if price and reviews are any indication it should perform very well... The difference between it and the BLA is what I would expect going from a well made audio interface to the Benchmark. And I second what has been said about the low mids.
Anyway, I ordered one.

[Snatchman]

Hey Matt. Naming it is simple...... The "So-Clear" or " Un-Masked" AD........BTW..Can someone put this sample into a mp3. I can't download it....

[puff]

Can someone put this sample into a mp3. I can't download it....

Hey Clinton, you can play them in Apple's Quicktime.

Apple - QuickTime - Download

Matt
Black Lion Audio

[soypancho]

A/B ed these two on a play list and let it loop in the background until I forgot I was trying to compare converters. 5 minutes later I'm blown away. I already had a ton of respect for what you guys do. Now it looks like the big boys are really gonna be getting a run for their money!

Call it the "Aria" because this baby sings

[Snatchman]

Originally Posted by puff

Hey Clinton, you can play them in Apple's Quicktime.

Apple - QuickTime - Download

Matt
Black Lion Audio

Hey Matt. I loaded the QuickTime down. It comes up as in the folder, but that's fars as it gets... Probably me tho. Told ya. I'm not computer savy.....at all!......Hummm.....says" the compressed file is zipped or corrupt"...

[texdc]

Originally Posted by soypancho

Call it the "Aria" because this baby sings

Agreed. Good job, Matt.

[TheReal7]

This is very exciting.

How would you rank your A/D to other companys? Apogee, Mytek, and so on?

I am VERY interested in hearing feedback from the beta testers on this. I need a good 2ch AD and this is perfectly in my price range.

[TheReal7]

Call it:

"ANALOGITAL"

hahah :D

[puff]

How would you rank your A/D to other companys? Apogee, Mytek, and so on?

I've never heard a Mytek, so I can't make any comparisons. I have tons of respect for that company, and I've heard loads of positive things about their converters.

We chose the Benchmark ADC-1 to do A/B comparisons with for a few different reasons. My goal was to design an inexpensive two channel A/D that would compete with A/D's in the $2000-ish price range. The Benchmark ADC-1 is respected by many for its transparency and smoothness, so we wanted to see how our design stacked up in terms of audio quality.

Matt
Black Lion Audio

[Snatchman]

Originally Posted by puff

I've never heard a Mytek, so I can't make any comparisons. I have tons of respect for that company, and I've heard loads of positive things about their converters.

We chose the Benchmark ADC-1 to do A/B comparisons with for a few different reasons. My goal was to design an inexpensive two channel A/D that would compete with A/D's in the $2000-ish price range. The Benchmark ADC-1 is respected by many for its transparency and smoothness, so we wanted to see how our design stacked up in terms of audio quality.

Matt
Black Lion Audio

Hey Matt. Have you got any pics of the AD you could show as of yet? Thanks....

[puff]

Not yet, sorry. I wanted to have everything finished late last week, but sick employees and other unexpected delays have held things up. We'll post pictures as soon as they are available.

Matt

[Snatchman]

Originally Posted by puff

Not yet, sorry. I wanted to have everything finished late last week, but sick employees and other unexpected delays have held things up. We'll post pictures as soon as they are available.

Matt

Hey Matt. Thanks........

[jayman]

Jim, any update on this? What are you thinking for an ETA? I'll be in line to try one out.

j

[puff]

The A/D should be available around the first half of December. We were hoping to have it ready shortly before the holiday, but the week leading up to Thanksgiving set us back a little bit.

There's a two channel D/A in the works as well. I'm waiting on the prototype circuit board to arrive, and then we'll start testing it and (hopefully) putting up some preliminary A/B samples for everyone to hear.

Matt
Black Lion Audio

[Isle of Weight]

Originally Posted by puff

There's a two channel D/A in the works as well. I'm waiting on the prototype circuit board to arrive, and then we'll start testing it and (hopefully) putting up some preliminary A/B samples for everyone to hear.

Matt
Black Lion Audio

AA

[jayman]

Originally Posted by puff

The A/D should be available around the first half of December. We were hoping to have it ready shortly before the holiday, but the week leading up to Thanksgiving set us back a little bit.

There's a two channel D/A in the works as well. I'm waiting on the prototype circuit board to arrive, and then we'll start testing it and (hopefully) putting up some preliminary A/B samples for everyone to hear.

Matt
Black Lion Audio

Great! I'm looking forward to pitting this thing against my mytek. My the best A/D win! Any pics yet? Decide on a name? I kind of liked the "Aria" idea.

[puff]

We don't have any photos yet, sorry. As soon as we do, though, we'll post them.

Matt
Black Lion Audio

[lukejs]

Hi... Great work on this AD converter ...it gets very close to a converter costing 4 times as much ! Here is my evaluation... First, when doing an AB test like this, it's really important to match volume levels.... and...make sure the mics were the same distance from the guitar in both examples. I just kinda felt like the acoustic guitar sample for the Benchmark was taken from a farther distance from the guitar. What I'd love to hear , is an XY stereo pair of small diaghragm condensers in front of the same guitar, at the same distance, and then compare the two AD converters... I always feel like the capturing in stereo helps to better show qualities of AD converters in that the one I like best is the one which makes me feel more like...I'm right there in the room. Can you put up a guitar sample with XY mics ? I'm really interested in this... I was considering a Korg MR1000 for mixdown, but it's twice what your converter costs... GREAT JOB on this...and thanks for the pricepoint !!!

Also...I just listened to the vocal sample... and am trying to figure out why there is so much of a proximity effect with the BLA AD converter sample.... are you sure the mics were at the same distance in all these tests ?

[puff]

First, when doing an AB test like this, it's really important to match volume levels.... and...make sure the mics were the same distance from the guitar in both examples. I just kinda felt like the acoustic guitar sample for the Benchmark was taken from a farther distance from the guitar.

I addressed this earlier in the thread. The mic'ed samples were tracked at the same distance and at the same volume levels, one right after the other. The difference you are hearing is the difference in the conversion process, not in the distance of the microphone. The keyboard samples have a similar quality to them that I feel is reflective of the differences in sound between the two.

Sorry, we won't be recording any other samples at this point, although one of our beta testers has promised me some A/B samples with a Mytek.

Matt
Black Lion Audio

[Paul David]

The BLA acoustic sounds amazing compared to the Benchmark. More detail, more presence... It sounds "Closer".

Which is probably because it is closer. Or the guitarist is just playing with a little more confidence. I record accoustic guitars all day with all sorts of mics, pres and converters. and it's easy to hear the difference a slight change of position or the level at which you play. Which makes this test completely useless.

There's only one way to do an A/D converter test and this aint it

Having said all of that... I might give these converters a try if they come out at the projected price point.

[puff]

The BLA acoustic sounds amazing compared to the Benchmark. More detail, more presence... It sounds "Closer".

Which is probably because it is closer. Or the guitarist is just playing with a little more confidence. I record accoustic guitars all day with all sorts of mics, pres and converters. and it's easy to hear the difference a slight change of position or the level at which you play. Which makes this test completely useless.

I'll say it a third time: these were tracked at EXACTLY the same mic position, one right after the other. Have you ever experimented with preamps of differing speeds? You get this exact effect. A slower front end will have less room, less proximity, less articulation. A faster front end will have more of these. Listen to the keyboard samples--you'll hear the same artifacts in those that you hear in the samples that were mic'ed.

Admittedly, these tracks are not multed, but I feel that they are nonetheless representative of the differences between the two converters.

Matt
Black Lion Audio