D/A converters

[Bitfiend]

so i'm mid-stream of remodeling the house and yard. master bath/bedroom is almost complete so i'm starting on the studio. which is actually just my basement. half of it is finished, that's where the band is set up. the other half is not but has had some treatment as it is my "control room" and obviously i do all the electronic production there.
that being said, i'm going to insulate it this weekend and over the next 2 weeks, frame and rock it. Additionally install Real Traps treatments once painting is done (and eventually adding diffusion as well - as i've everything i've read talks about having as much diffusion as you do absorption).
so now comes upgrading the system. I'm looking into D/A converters (most have monitor controls as well - a bonus i suppose as i won't have to buy a different unit for this function). I've narrowed it down to the Crane Song Avocet or the Grace M904 w/remote.
Anyone use either of these, or have thoughts/experience with others such as Apogee, Prism, Benchmark, etc.?

[Rambunkcious]

Bit,

Hi, im running apogees now and they are a big difference sound wise, both in playback and recording, I was running a MOTU traveller before that.

They're are crisp, clean, and capture the frequencies much better than the MOTU did.

Rambunkcious

[Bitfiend]

Hi Ram,
are you running the Rosetta 200? which monitor controller do you run?

[Maru]

I think it might depend on how many D/A outs you'll have. If you end up with a Rosetta 800, there are a number of items that might help:

Dangerous D-Box - pretty cool unit, you can get 8 channels of analog summing along with a great monitor control
Coleman TB4 - nice transparent box for monitor control too
Presonus Central Station - Lower cost unit, although not as transparent as the above mentioned
Mackie Big Knob - Lower cost unit than the central station, same concern with transparency

If you are looking to get 16 or more channels of D/A, maybe consider a larger summing unit with a monitoring section, lots of choices here as well although it gets really pricey from here on.

[Rambunkcious]

Bit,

Im running the rosetta 200 and monitoring thru an analog board. Theres actually a program called maestro made by apogee that comes free with their soundcards, it allows low latency monitoring, dsp mixer and such.

how many d/a are you looking for?

Rambunkcious

[admin]

At the level you're talking about, Crane song, Apogee, etc.. its really splitting hairs. Next thing you know you'll have a favorite dither ;-)

Converter technology is a lot more even than it was years ago. Even in 2003 I purchased a Lucid converter and was dissapointed when it didn't playback with any noticable clarity as opposed to a $150 m-audio card I had.

My recommendation is find the best value for money, it's easy to throw it away at the top end of the pro gear market. Last I heard the Lynx cards were excellent value and surely wouldn't pose a bottleneck in your mixing ability.

[pedro50]

Jesse,

What soundcard and converters do you use ?

Thanks

Pedro

[admin]

I have a Creamware Scope system. I have used Apogee before though when converters weren't so good (early 2000). I've also used the Paris harddisk recording system with Emu converters.

If you're doing a lot of tracking of analog sources having good A/D can help over the long run. For just stereo D/A the issue isn't anywhere near as pronounced in my experience.

[Bitfiend]

My recommendation is find the best value for money, it's easy to throw it away at the top end of the pro gear market. Last I heard the Lynx cards were excellent value and surely wouldn't pose a bottleneck in your mixing ability.

i think i will be steering clear of lynx.....
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/new-produ...ard-7.html

[admin]

Interesting. At the time I last read about these no one was having issues. I have problems with my Creamware in Cubase 4 now though too so it's a similar situation although not as bad. Good heads up though.