Lynx2 opinions

[Rea]

Im new and shopping for a good ADA.
i read a lot of great things about the Lynx2.
i bought an Aardsync to take care of clocking and plan to get Benchmark DAC1+Lynx2 that still comes cheaper then, the lately celebrated Apogee Rosetta 800 not to mention Mytek etc.

any comments.
i really need some advice before its too late...
Thanks!

[Rea]

just thought id mention im new to the forum
sure aint new to the business...tutt

[atticus]

I really don't think that you'll have any problems loving that combo. Good luck with it!

[robdarling]

The Lynx cards are fantastic. You will be very happy with that setup. I've had Radar, Mytek, Ad-8000 SE, PSX-100 se, and Lynx is what I use every day now.

[Rea]

how would you compare the lynx2 to RME ADI-8 AE or DS?
with MOd and without.

Thanks!

[robdarling]

The RME's feel compressed, with less high end, in comparison to the Lynx, when a/b ing against original sources.

[Rea]

is it high end or digital harshness?
sometimes cheap converters give the illusion of high end when infact its distortion.

have you tried the RME clocked properly?
(im going to use Aardsync).

[atticus]

Originally posted by Rea
is it high end or digital harshness?
sometimes cheap converters give the illusion of high end when infact its distortion.

have you tried the RME clocked properly?
(im going to use Aardsync).

Well I can vouch for the fact that both the Lynx and the DAC1 are well designed converters with very low distortion and no digital harshness. I really don't know much about the RME stuff at all. The upside to getting the Lynx card is that you can get a decent set of converters and an interface at the same time. Having that combined with the DAC1 is pretty serious bang for the buck, in my opinion. Good luck.

[Teacher]

Originally posted by atticus
The upside to getting the Lynx card is that you can get a decent set of converters and an interface at the same time. .

i think the lynx2's A/D's are better then decent but your YMMV

[Rea]

funny, i remember not long ago everybody said the RME was as good as APOGEE for half the price or less...
now people say the RME is compressed, no high-ebd ETC.

i wonder if what im learning is that APOGEE is probably really amateur entry level for kids or that there is a hidden motive behind the opinions i hea,i.e BIAS.

im not sure...its a hard call, here is a $800 card(Lynx2)
compared to $3,000(Rosetta800) or $5,000(Mytek or APOGEE 8000SE).

i wish i had a place to test all of these but i dont and have to take the words around...

please continue to confuse me i get off on it.
no. seriously , i mean it AND i have to make a decision regarding my setup by tomorrow!

the new thought : LYNX2 W/HEDD192-and sell my AardSync...

[Rea]

OK The new is

i just ordered a HEDD192 just couldnt take the anxiety...fuuck

now the question is, for the rest of the channels:

Lynx2
RME
??? what else in that range?

the benchmark is going to have to wait for a bit, and the Aardvark will probably have to go unless people feel its a better clock then the HEDD.

comments anyone?

[Bang]

I've owned or used at some point an Apogee, the Lynx II, the RME 8di 8 pro, the Ramsa 96k... first off, when given proper word clock, the RME sounds great, not pinched or compressed to my ears. Its not as open as the Lynx II but it is not pinched either. The Apogee always has this harmonic color, I dunno, maybe something to do with the analog section, but they make great stuff and price it accordingly. Ramsa 96k has a hifi sound to it, little more extended on the top and TONS of midrange detail. It sounds better when clocked to the Aardsync, but its a subtle difference. Overall, these are all good converters. If I had to have one I'd have the Lynx, they are the all around best I'd say. I would keep your Aardsync because having a dedicated clock is always a good thing.
Steve

[tluke]

Hey Rea,

I'm a recent Lynx2 owner. I was in a similar situation to yours. I did a lot of looking around, and, as you read above, people seem to praise the Lynx 2C very highly.

I let a guy talk me into trying the RME Multiface, and a/b'd them. The Lynx seems more open, has more clarity. I love the sound of my converters, a first for me.

I have some other forums bookmarked on this stuff, would you like me to send them to you?

good luck,

tristan luke

[tluke]

Oh and Rea, don't be discouraged when people tell you that 'no one uses Lynx'. They could say the same of BMW vehicles. I found discerning ears that seemed to like them very much. By the way also, the guy i bought mine from was extremely helpful, considerate, polite, professional, and very knowledgeable. Haven't bought anything from him yet since, but i highly recommend him. HIs name is Brian Marine, at Digital Pro Audio. I can give you his number and email, if you like.

Let me know how it works out for ya,

tristan luke

[Rea]

tluke-

thanks a lot!
please send the links!

yeah, i bought the LYNX B(2 in, 6 out) and the HEDD192. for total 4 in 8 out which is what i need now.still havnt recieved it but im confident with the choice.
also just bought a Neve 5402 so my bussing/monitoring problems dealt with as well.

BTW-anyone has any info or experience with the Neve 4502(modules are 34121)

Thanks!

[tluke]

Rea! Congratulations on your purchase! And you're welcome, glad i can be of help.

Here's a few links and stuff. If i find a few more i'll send them to you. I did a lot of looking around, so please feel free to check with me if you have a question. The company is basically run by two guys, one does hardware, the other software, so you don't get brain dead tech support guys who say "No." and "I don't know" a lot, which is good. The guy i've been dealing with, Bob Bauman, has been helpful. I'd heard good things about them.

The guy i bought mine from at Digital Pro Audio told me he'd never had a return on a Lynx card.

it's a nice sound, isn't it? How does it compare for you to other converters you've used/tested?

You know it's interesting actually, because i've been quite interested in the HEDD 192 since i read about it recently. Can i trouble you to get back to me on that... just how you like it? How often and how much, quantitatively, you're using it to warm up your tracks (seems like it'd be very nice for mastering too). Do you like the tape emulation more than the tube? respond to that at your convenience... it's perfectly fine...whenever you feel like it. thanks. enjoy.

talk soon,


tristan luke

http://recpit.prosoundweb.com/viewtopic.php?p=73874

gearslutz discussion Lynx versus Lucid

forum: prefer Lynx to RME

sound on sound Lynx review

[syra]

I have the lynxL22 brother of Lynx2. Compared to my 192 it is a bit more bright and a bit less bass heavy. Very clean nevertheless.
The lynx card is the most incompatible piece of computer hardware I've ever come across in a period of 11 years...even worse than a windows Motu MTP. Just make sure you have a motherboard, memory, cpu and hard drive that it likes...otherwise you're in for a treat

peace

[robdarling]

Syra- you must have had some kind of issue, because I've never had a blip of an issue with the Lynx drivers, which is the concensus that I've seen online as well. In two years of watching the Lynx message boards, I've never seen an issue that wasn't quickly solved by David or Bob.

And as a turnkey computer consultant, I have to say that to put it in the league with Motu for Windows is sheer inflammatory irresponsibility or lack of knowledge.

[faeflora]

How stable are the Lynx ASIO drivers on macs?

What's the lowest usable latency on macs?

[tluke]

Fae,

I've been using the Lynx card on a mac, with Digital Performer. The Asio driver has been stable. I had some trouble at first, but i think that was because i was trying to set up projects to record at 96khz, which my G3 300 just cannot do, or so i presume.

Just received my G4 DP 1.25 from fed ex, and with that i should be able to record at 96, even 192 if the application supports it.


Anyway, i don't think the above issue was about the Asio driver so much as it was simply about processing power. I'll keep you posted, if you like.

Generally i've heard that the two guys at Lynx are very good at working out problems and testing software.


t

[Rea]

hi guys,

your advice helped me get the Lynx2 B for Mc on os9.2,
which i did yesterday.

NOW:

1- the card does NOT support Sound Manager, therefoe nothing like quicktime or any program that goes to the computer itself for routing (T-racks etc.) ,including alert sounds(thank god THAT dosnt work...) is gonna work which is a disaster for me!!!

2-i do a lot of music for TV and use the quicktime mobie window within Logic Audio to compose and edit to picture.what happens with the Lynx is that as soon as i bring in the QT window the clock starts to crap out and it goes to some odd meter in very low res.something ugly...

3-now for the funny part, i as comparing it, head to head with my old MOTU 2408MkII(24/44.1).
guess what?
i cant say for sure that i heard any difference in sound quality, and thats after Lynx was compared to Mytek etc. imagine if i had gotten a $5,000 Mytek 8 I/O and THEN realize its all the same crap...

guys:

THERE IS TOO MUCH HYPE IN DA WORLD
AND WE PAY FOR IT WITH HARD LABOR!!!
im not sure i

[Bang]

Originally posted by Rea
hi guys,

your advice helped me get the Lynx2 B for Mc on os9.2,
which i did yesterday.

NOW:

1- the card does NOT support Sound Manager, therefoe nothing like quicktime or any program that goes to the computer itself for routing (T-racks etc.) ,including alert sounds(thank god THAT dosnt work...) is gonna work which is a disaster for me!!!

2-i do a lot of music for TV and use the quicktime mobie window within Logic Audio to compose and edit to picture.what happens with the Lynx is that as soon as i bring in the QT window the clock starts to crap out and it goes to some odd meter in very low res.something ugly...

3-now for the funny part, i as comparing it, head to head with my old MOTU 2408MkII(24/44.1).
guess what?
i cant say for sure that i heard any difference in sound quality, and thats after Lynx was compared to Mytek etc. imagine if i had gotten a $5,000 Mytek 8 I/O and THEN realize its all the same crap...

guys:

THERE IS TOO MUCH HYPE IN DA WORLD
AND WE PAY FOR IT WITH HARD LABOR!!!
im not sure i

man, I don't use a Mac anymore but remember getting a card that didn't supporst sound manager and it sucks, which is why I left Mac and went PC and it rocks.

As for the 2408 and Lynx sounding the same??? What source material did you use, and what monitors do you have? They Lynx should be putting it to shame in terms of depth, clarity, width, smoothness... Are we talking about the A/D or the D/A that you find the same as your motu box? And did you try it agains the HEDD with and without DSP?
Steve

[Rea]

hey steve,

i used the D/A for this particular comparison.
i ran different types of source material. rock, electronic, acoustic.
2 trk masters and multi track sessions.
all through 2 outs though not multi outputs, but that dosnt matter.
im either a complete deaf (which i dont think i am but who knows...) or the difference is really not big if it exists at all...
im using mackie HR824 monitors+a sub woofer in a very dry room, so my monitoring is very revealing.

how about the thing with the clock crapping when i bring up the quicktime movie in LOGIC?
any ideas why?
i played around with the synch options and it still does that...
this is SO 1992..Damn!

[syra]

Sound-wise I didn't put it in the same league as Motu. I was talking Instability-wise. Because of that card I had to switch my motherboard 2 times on a perfect otherwise custom configured system. And as far for the asio driver is not all that either.
Fruityloops and CD extract don't seem to work well with it.

peace

[robdarling]

Syra- I'm not talking about sound. I'm talking about driver issues. MOTU has hands down the worst track record in the business for driver instability and I wouldn't think to put Lynx behind them under any circumstances. What kind of mobos/premade systems were you using? I can't imagine having that kind of problem.

Rea- As for not hearing the differences, I don't know what to say. I can't imagine not hearing the difference between a 2408 and the Lynx cards. Try this as a test and see if it is more revealing to you- a full ad-da cycle with the ability to hear original source material against post conversion. Take a very dynamic, wide range recording and send it through both the 2408 and Lynx. Now switch bewteen the original sound, the post 2408 sound, and the Lynx sound.

[Rea]

ROB

im less concerned with the quality right this minute.
see my previous post about the driver/sound manager support and worst yet, the freaky synch/clock stuff thathappens when i bring a quickTime movies into the Logic program.

can you comment on that?

never had ANY problems with the motu driver...can tell you that much...

[Teacher]

Originally posted by Rea
hey steve,

i used the D/A for this particular comparison.
i ran different types of source material. rock, electronic, acoustic.
2 trk masters and multi track sessions.
all through 2 outs though not multi outputs, but that dosnt matter.
im either a complete deaf (which i dont think i am but who knows...) or the difference is really not big if it exists at all...
im using mackie HR824 monitors+a sub woofer in a very dry room, so my monitoring is very revealing.

how about the thing with the clock crapping when i bring up the quicktime movie in LOGIC?
any ideas why?
i played around with the synch options and it still does that...
this is SO 1992..Damn!

from my experience the differnce comes into play more obviously when stacking multiple tracks...i had a delta 66... the single track differences were minimal...but when you mix an entire track using the ad and da of the lynx...then compare that track to one you did with your motu...i think a pleasant smile will cross yours and your clients face..YMMV

[Teacher]

Originally posted by Rea
ROB


never had ANY problems with the motu driver...can tell you that much...

go getta PC...if you sell the mac now you can get a pc and prolly some extra spending cash left over..

[Rea]

would be funny to get a PC just for an $800 card...
although the real reason to stay MAC is that im a long(10years) logic user and they stopped support for PC's.

still, i think there should be a solution for the QUICKTIME issue and id like to explore that before i make any sell/buy decisions.

Thanks!!!

[Ruphus]

Originally posted by Teacher
from my experience the differnce comes into play more obviously when stacking multiple tracks...i had a delta 66... the single track differences were minimal...but when you mix an entire track

That´s funny. I have a Delta 66 in my PC as second soundcard normally only using it for routing samples into PT ( it works ok ). Today for the first time I send a mix through it while fiddling with a new application. Before that I had heard the mix only through the DAC and I was nonplussed now how different it sounded through the Delta. Quite bad, I must say.

Ruphus