How can you judge good converters other than just the sound?

[deuc647]

I go by how well the stack with each other at high track counts

[gainstages]

seriously, if it sounds good it is good. as with the first response - a good test is hearing how many tracks recorded through it sound vs a bunch of tracks not recorded through it.

i do think jitter and dynamic range specs are important, but you have to understand the various weighting scales in order for the dynamic range info to mean anything.

one thing often overlooked is the actual analog portion and circuit board layout - everybody gets obsessed with which chip is being used and never asks about how good the analog signal path up to the converter is, what kind of a power supply it has and if the circuit board is cleanly and intelligently organized. i've seen people put great components into a custom piece only to have it sound bad because the layout or quality of soldering or something else was poor.

[Sinewave]

Originally Posted by deuc647

I go by how well the stack with each other at high track counts

Would you mind explaining further what you mean , thank you.

[Cellotron]

One way to do a fairly revealing test is to send an analog source both directly to one input of a monitor controller - and also to a loop of the AD/DA you are testing which sends to the second input of the monitor controller - make sure everything is level matched by sending tones through - and then compare the source with the loopback of the converters. In general the "best" converter is the one that sounds closest to the source.

Best regards,
Steve Berson

[severe]

Usually, I judge by looks. If it looks like it'll sound good, it often does.

Oh.. and look for the word "Pro" in the title. It cuts out a lot of guesswork.

[deuc647]

Originally Posted by Sinewave

Would you mind explaining further what you mean , thank you.

LOL, kinda vague huh. I go by how well a converter can handle high track counts. Because to me, some cheap converters can sound as good as some higher end converters with 1 or 2 tracks, but when you get to 20, 30, or in tony sheppards case, 66 tracks, how well the converter is made starts to really show. A cheap converter will most likely start to cloud a mix with 10 tracks from my experience, but good converters will allow you to use more of the width and depth of the sonic spectrum. i have never heard them, but i hear prism has an amazing width and depth, wish i could afford them

[Sinewave]

Originally Posted by deuc647

LOL, kinda vague huh. I go by how well a converter can handle high track counts. Because to me, some cheap converters can sound as good as some higher end converters with 1 or 2 tracks, but when you get to 20, 30, or in tony sheppards case, 66 tracks, how well the converter is made starts to really show. A cheap converter will most likely start to cloud a mix with 10 tracks from my experience, but good converters will allow you to use more of the width and depth of the sonic spectrum. i have never heard them, but i hear prism has an amazing width and depth, wish i could afford them

Hey Dude thanks for the reply, wow everyday i learn something new,I've got the RME FF 800 but i never used all 8 inputs simultaneously , I was planning on finally getting new Converters in January, the prism orpheus is the closest any of us can get to a Prism .
Hey do you think that two channel converters are better built?

[deuc647]

It depends, i have a rosetta 200 and it does well for what i do, the build quality including converter chip power supply clock will play a big roll, I might get flamed for this, but i think this is where the " you get what you pay for"saying holds the most weight.