But I'm interested in what converter is the best YOU have HEARD in real life and especially what converter have you noticed can translate keyboard sounds really well?
There are other threads that cover this topic. Check out this one, which includes references to several very good converters:
Is a Prism really going to make a huge difference when recording a Yamaha personal arranger keyboard through it's internal converters, with unbalanced cables and no DI box to match impedances ...
Ah, may as well throw some money at it - this is Gearslutz after all.
Best A/D I've heard is the Crystal CS5381 ADC. Load it with a very fast transconductance opamp front end and it's very pleasing, not euphonic at all.
Best D/A is the BurrBrown PCM/DSD1792, by far. -129 db THD+noise is very hard to beat. With direct coupled, class A transconductance I/V stages and output filters, it's like digging down to the next level. You really start to hear new things on familiar recordings with this level of conversion.
Everything else is second banana to me. Tracking the A/D into a Alesis HD24XR is very hard to beat, especially with the PCM1792 on the outputs.
Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades
Jim,
just wondering which protocol you use to track to HD24XR - since it only has ADAT in/out.
Best D/A is the BurrBrown PCM/DSD1792, by far. -129 db THD+noise is very hard to beat. With direct coupled, class A transconductance I/V stages and output filters, it's like digging down to the next level. You really start to hear new things on familiar recordings with this level of conversion.
Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades[/QUOTE]
Jim how similar are the PCM1792 vs 1794 ?? is the 74 a simpler version that doesn't require a microcontroller ?? are there sonic differences ?? didgital filter options etc ??