Best quality Analogue to Digital converter

BinaryB · Post by **BinaryB** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:34 am

Whats the best A/D converter around these days ? (for recording)

the Apogee Mini-Me was my last decision but its not around no more...

It had the best conversion And it had Preamp / compression.

Is the Duet as good ?

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/d ... tion=specs

I would prefer usb

and only need stereo input.

4ace · Post by **4ace** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:44 am

I'm STILL rockin my Apogee Mini-Me and will never get rid of it! It's a unique piece of kit that's for sure and the sound of it suits me fine.

Unfortunately i don't know of any two channel usb interface's that would be on par or better than the mini-me.
The Duet seems nice and i've read good things about it but the lack of digital i/o just pisses me off. Still in that price range it's killer apogee sound.

Might be time to pony up if your looking to stay within that quality of conversion/sound...So.....What's your budget?

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 3:51 am

RME and Metric Halo are also worth having a look at, in the same quality range for a recording IO as Apogees consumer IO interfaces such as Mini Me, Duet, and Ensemble etc. (the top end MH is arguably better), although both are firewire.

Both are pretty expensive too. A good compromise is MOTU who are not quite as good converter and s/n ratio wise, but 98% of the population would be hard pressed to tell and are they are more affordable.

bensuthers · Post by **bensuthers** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:03 am

prism.

BinaryB · Post by **BinaryB** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:12 am

bensuthers wrote:prism.

Whachoo talkin' 'bout willis ?

http://www.prismsound.com/music_recordi ... r_home.php

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:15 am

can you post the rest of your signal chain? I highly doubt your sound card is the weak link in your studio.

sound cards matter when it comes to latency and stability but IMO you're barking up the wrong tree.

for recording purposes you'll get MUCH more mileage from a *nice* pre-amp than shopping for a D/A converter.

leedsquietman · Post by **leedsquietman** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:21 am

and again, Metric Halo and RME have excellent pres too.

BinaryB · Post by **BinaryB** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:38 am

THANKS for the help guys.

At the moment im using my Rane TTM57SL
into my computer.

I have some buddies with nice synths like the MS-20 Jupiter8 etc..
So when i borrow them i would like to record them at the highest possible quality.
And when I get round to tracking the MC's I would like to have it ok for them too.

But just for now its ... Synth>Rane>Computer.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:06 am

not that I doubt your talent. but much more has been done with much less.

don't clip and you're gold, maybe platinum.

BinaryB · Post by **BinaryB** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:18 am

Tone Deft wrote:not that I doubt your talent. but much more has been done with much less.

don't clip and you're gold, maybe platinum.

come on baby...

nice retreat but you promised me some knowledge about preamps and signal chain.

I am a little concerned about the 16bit 44.1khz limit of the Rane.

I wanna future proof (a little) with my sampling.

Chang · Post by **Chang** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 6:39 am

BinaryB wrote:Whats the best A/D converter around these days ? (for recording)

the Apogee Mini-Me was my last decision but its not around no more...

It had the best conversion And it had Preamp / compression.

Is the Duet as good ?

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/d ... tion=specs

I would prefer usb

and only need stereo input.

Good question but now most are about the same. If you are really that concerned about the A/D sound, the question should really be 'What's best front end for recording'?

petterdass · Post by **petterdass** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:32 am

not usb, but UA2192 sounds good period

SubFunk · Post by **SubFunk** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:51 pm

binary b wrote:

I am a little concerned about the 16bit 44.1khz limit of the Rane.

marketing rubbish.

or are you producing - recording for dvds?

and even if, dvds in cinema rubish soundsystem or 5.1 plastic homebombers... come on get real... learn how to produce and sound propperly before all that 1000000khz 536bit rubbish.

man a vinyl still sounds dope well produced and played on a good system...

faaaar away from 16bit 44.1khz so does a decent produced cd. with the whole signal chain in 44.1 16bit.

jeeeez.

RME, Metric Halo, Apogee and a few others. make very high quality AD/DA

Mr Mowgli · Post by **Mr Mowgli** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:19 pm

If you can get an Apogee Mini-Me, go for it...they are great...1 up fo the Apogee Mini-Me!!!

monobeach · Post by **monobeach** » Thu Nov 13, 2008 5:44 pm

since you asked best: http://www.cranesong.com/hedd192.html

not so expensive, the Lavry AD-10: http://www.lavryengineering.com/index_html.html

Best quality Analogue to Digital converter

Best quality Analogue to Digital converter

Re: Best quality Analogue to Digital converter