Reversible DAC's? A to D conversion!

Bruce B

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In another thread I'm convering vinyl/tape archival. I felt the A-D converter deserved a thread all of its own.

So lets start with the basics. An A-D converter is just a backwards DAC. What you use to interface with your DAC can be applied to the A-D converter. There are converters today that now use USB, Firewire, AES/EBU, MADI, S/DIF, SDIF-3 and others that are slipping my brain.
The easiest for most people would be either a USB or F/W A-D converter. "Usually" you can plug these into your computer and your software automatically recognizes it, loads the drivers are you're off an running.
There are several USB and F/W A-D choices that do a very commendable job. Look at some of these:

Benchmark ADC1-USB

Behringer U-Phono UFO202 this even has it's own phono pre!

Apogee Duet2

These are basic A-D converters with most doing up to 24/192. Some have RCA and XLR inputs for both Consumer -10 and Pro +4 connections.

I'll talk later about converters with more feature sets and what to look out for.
 
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Bruce B

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Moving up the chain we'll talk about mid-level A-D converters. These would be the converters between $1500 and $5000. Some of the more popular ones would be the Lynx Aurora, Apogee Ensemble/Symphony, Burl Audio B2, Cranesong HEDD, Metric Halo, Prism Orpheus and others I'm probably not remembering right now. All of these have A-D as well as D-A.
Out of these, the Lynx Aurora is probably the most versatile. You can get it in 8 or 16 channel configurations. There are I/O cards on the back which you can swap out for AES/EBU, Firewire, USB, MADI and Digilink. All of these converters can go from 44.1 all the way to 192k.

The Cranesong HEDD has settings to add 3rd harmonics if you wish. The Prism Orpheus is a F/W converter with mic pres as well as a phono input.


Here is a pic of the Lynx Aurora 8.
 

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Bruce B

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I’m finally getting around to updating an old thread. This weekend I will be embarking on a monumental task. I have a high profile client that has given me 30 original master tapes and they want to make sure no stone has been left unturned. I have assembled the crème de la crème of A to D converters to do these transfers. I no particular order:

Grimm AD1
Digital Audio Denmark AX24
Weiss ADC2
MSB Technology Platinum Studio ADC
EMM Labs ADC 8IV

and everything will be monitored through a Playback Designs MPS-5. This is over $100k of digital conversion!! Pictures will follow and samples will be blindly posted!! Stay tuned........
 
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flez007

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I’m finally getting around to updating an old thread. This weekend I will be embarking on a monumental task. I have a high profile client that has given me 30 original master tapes and they want to make sure no stone has been left unturned. I have assembled the crème de la crème of A to D converters to do these transfers. I no particular order:

Grimm AD1
Digital Audio Denmark AX24
Weiss ADC2
MSB Technology Platinum Studio ADC
EMM Labs ADC 8IV

and everything will be monitored through a Playback Designs MPS-5. This is over $100k of digital conversion!! Pictures will follow and samples will be blindly posted!! Stay tuned........

I would love to place my hands on those masters! - fun and interesting project!, no Mytech?
 

Bruce B

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I would love to place my hands on those masters! - fun and interesting project!, no Mytech?

No... we used a Mytek 8x192ADDA about a year ago and felt they were not up to the level of the EMM Labs, let alone the Grimm or MSB
 

amirm

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That's wonderful! Thanks for reporting on them and congrats on finding such a quality conscious customer.
 

Bruce B

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Here are a couple of pics of all the converters I'm using. Still spinning tape at 10pm!!

From top to bottom:

Korg MR2000s
Weiss ADC2
EMM Labs ADC8 IV
Grimm AD1
Digital Audio Denmark AX24
EMM Labs Switchman 3
Playback Designs MPS-5

and the MSB Platinum Studio ADC with Diamond Power Base at $40k !!!!!
 

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flez007

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Bruce - I am also curious on the Denmark, at least for their DAC unit - how it stacks to the rest in terms of musicality? (you know what I mean :) )
 

c1ferrari

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May 15, 2010
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F^2, Bruce

Here are a couple of pics of all the converters I'm using. Still spinning tape at 10pm!!

From top to bottom:

Korg MR2000s
Weiss ADC2
EMM Labs ADC8 IV
Grimm AD1
Digital Audio Denmark AX24
EMM Labs Switchman 3
Playback Designs MPS-5

and the MSB Platinum Studio ADC with Diamond Power Base at $40k !!!!!

Fun and Fascinating :cool:
Should the endeavor be archival in scope...will you be using DSD, ala MR2000s and PD, and comparing to PCM?
If you can make wav files available, it would be fascinating to compare :D

Thanks, Bruce.

o/t: my revised short list for micamps -- Crookwood Paintpot and Gordon Model 5. Mics -- DPA, Schoeps, and Josephson. Have decided to seriously consider Studer A810 for location recording!
 

Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Apr 25, 2010
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www.pugetsoundstudios.com
The only Antelope products I've had in my system were the Rubidium/Trinity clocks. I've heard from good ears that the converters could be alot better.

I've heard the converters in other systems and they didn't excite me.
 

garylkoh

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Sep 6, 2010
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Korg MR2000s
Weiss ADC2
EMM Labs ADC8 IV
Grimm AD1
Digital Audio Denmark AX24
EMM Labs Switchman 3
Playback Designs MPS-5

and the MSB Platinum Studio ADC with Diamond Power Base at $40k !!!!!

Hey, Bruce. Any preliminary findings? Or better yet, high rez wav files.

Is the Korg MR2000 standard? Todd's modified unit really impressed last Thurs.
 

David

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Aug 11, 2012
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Here are a couple of pics of all the converters I'm using. Still spinning tape at 10pm!!

From top to bottom:

Korg MR2000s
Weiss ADC2
EMM Labs ADC8 IV
Grimm AD1
Digital Audio Denmark AX24
EMM Labs Switchman 3
Playback Designs MPS-5

and the MSB Platinum Studio ADC with Diamond Power Base at $40k !!!!!

Hi,

what have been the conclusions of your tests ?

Best regards
 

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