Yeah internal clock. I am just recording one track and playing it back simultaneously with the midi monitoring it live from the synth and alternating between synth and recording. The recording is good it’s just softer sounding and not quite as accurate to the original as I’d had hoped. I can only describe it as smearing details slightly or maybe softer would be a better word.

are you using the OverKiller Soft Limiter by chance ???

no Overkiller.

I think what I was experiencing was gain related. I think I was recording into the DAW at -10 from the line in and that boosted things. And then at some point I switched input to +4 and then after level down the recorded track they sounded slightly different. I was exploring the mixer and don't really remember my process. I was just playing around. I did some comparisons today and was quite happy at 48k. The input monitoring matched the recordings.

I also did some loopback listening to those recordings and was surprised to hear good change. What change I heard had a bit of widening and top end smoothing. Some loss of air but not bad. Will work great I think for my purposes sending out to vintage reverbs and delays.

Now I want a Titan.

"Now I want a Titan." LOL, a True GearSlut !!! ... happy to hear you found the Culprit

Its just I need more inputs and outputs. I was going to add a behringer ad8200 just for the extra ADAT IO while composing and then patch for recording but that will put me back $300. I can get a titan for about a $1000 more then got the Lyra. That or maybe adding a used aurora or something but again now thats 700-800.

I do love some aspects of the lyra/titan AD sound. Its very very clear and smooth and balanced but I feel its losing size and bottom punch on fat analog synths that I am recording. Top end is great and works well on some sounds. They just sound kind of processed in a digital way. I don't want to speak ill of it. I haven't tracked anything else yet and I could see me wanting this converter on things like vocals and guitar and drums. But I really am not happy with the way my synths are sounding. I am getting a bit disillusioned. Is it just impossible to capture that raw fatness of an analog synth. There has got to be a converter that is truer to the original than this. Its just losing way too much low end size and weight.

Have already tried, Focustire, Then RME, and now the Prism. This is way better than them but the added brightness over those is just revealing to me the lack of bottom end size that is there if I monitor the analog directly to monitors vs monitoring the inputs from the Lyra.There is also a top end sheen and sweetness that is there to that makes it sound very digital.

So I am not sure my search is done. I am bit exhausted and so I jsut might use it for a track and send that off to get mixed and mastered. See where it lands then.

I have Titans. Put a dither on the outputs, they will sound as you’re expecting. Also dont forget to dither the monitor out when you’re monitoring.

How do I dither output to monitor ? Also only mention I see for choosing dither is on digital outs in manual.

You use a dither plugin as the last plugin in the master channel, and you put a dither plugin as the last plugin in every separate out you use, for example as an hardware insert loopback or out for summing, etc.
Also, if you are freezing files, you should also use a dither.
Essentially, if it's going out or its rendered, it should be dithered.
I use MAAT Linearize because the options are useful for me, but airwindows have some really good dither, less options, for free (i think it's called Dark)

If you have the patience for a long read, follow this thread:
Good dither practices, what are yours?

Sorry zero patience. Dither didn't improve anything on playback tracks from DAW.

Its the sound of the DAC. So clear and open my juno pads sounds edgy in the mids and harsh compared to the warm way they sound going straight analog to the monitors with no conversion.

Lyra playback is actually brighter and clearer than the synth is. So that boosted clarity is making things sound harsh. I hooked up an RME ADI-2 and monitored the Lyra optical output and the RME is way more accurate to the source. So the AD side of the Lyra sounds pretty darn good. Its the DA side that seems to be hyped or like a microscope per say. Very revealing but was making me think the recordings were too glassy bright and processed sounding.

That might be beneficial on an analog mastering loop for the AD capture to print that sound to a pop rock or country track but its too bright for my tastes. Prefer a neutral DAC.

Edit: the noise shaping is pleasing on the optical out going to the RME DAC

I am considering a used orpheus. If I can get one for right price I could keep my RME ADI_2 for DAC and still get to 8 I/O and stay within my original budget albeit would have to sell my Lyra for what I paid. I am hearing good things from the AD side of the Lyra now that I am monitoring through the ADI-2 which appears to be very neutral. Go figure.The RME was too bright but its from the AD side. The Lyra is too bright for me to make tracking decisions but its from the DA side. They actually sound pretty good together.Much closer to the source now.

I just know the orpheus are getting old. Don't want to be repairing anything, I have enough headaches with vintage synths.

I have warmed to the Lyra DAC. It has so much more dynamic range I actually had to just turn the volume up more and move back from nearfeilds a bit. I also had to adjust the output on Lyra from -10 to +4 and gain stage my monitor amps and it sounds much better.

This DAC really exposes lower quality files like mp3 and bad 16 bit recordings as I have found higher quality recordings that do sound great on it.

I was not ready for this kind of detail retrieval and if there are distortion and imperfections they are painful to listen to.

Where the RME made things sound punchy and and pushed the kick at 100hz and had a shallow but solid bass , the Lyra is not bumped like this and exhibits a much smoother and much deeper low end. Bass coming out of my monitors I didn’t know they could make and the lack of that bump at the kick drum made me initially think it lacked low end compared to the RME. Now I realize it’s just more balanced and extended and more dynamics: Where as the RME has a more compressed bottom end and is dithered or filtered differently for a smoother more real world sound you would get from most consumer DACs etc. It’s a very usable DAC for having how things translate to consume playback products.

But I went ahead and sold the RME as I am more confident in working on the Lyra DAC now.

I don’t want to wrongfully steer anyone away from prism over my prior DAC comments. It’s still not a pleasure DAC by any means. I do think it will help me work harder though to make things sound good. You will hear every nasty thing ... hiss, squeaks , buzz, smear , aliasing , low bit artifacts etc. very revealing.

I will look into the dither article above.