Audient ASP880 - First Impressions
Short version - I needed at least four additional line inputs for my Apollo Twin USB. I ended up with the Audient ASP880.
The results:
The ASP880 sounds great! It is built like a tank. It does not use a wall wart or line lump (those things are unreliable for the most part). It worked perfectly at all four sample rates the first time, clocking off the Apollo Twin across the Lightpipe. It doesn't need a driver (yeah!!!). The switchable impedance is handy for some of my microphones. And I can bypass the microphone preamplifiers if I wish.
About as close to the perfect solution as I can imagine, and the only shortcoming - only 4 channels of S/MUX - is a "feature" of the Apollo Twin, no fault of the ASP880. And the price wasn't nearly as frightening as I expected.
The details:
I've been switching between a UAD Apollo Twin USB and a Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL for a long time now. Sometimes I even use WASAPI mode to combine them, but that doesn't work as well as one might like, so I switch depending on the task, and some days I'll limit myself to two microphones just to avoid the hassle of switching.
I finally grew tired of that drill, and went looking for an 8 input A/D converter that could send channels over LightPipe or S/MUX. There are quite a few, it turns out. Presonus makes/made a couple, Focusrite has a bunch, RME has a couple, as does MOTU, and used Apogee converters are nothing to sneeze at. There are others, but I can't remember any more names at the moment.
I didn't really want to pay for microphone preamplifiers, I have some good ones (Millennia Media, Melcor, TAB/Telefunken, SPL), and I like them. Other than that my requirements were sample rates up to 96k, S/MUX, and audio quality. probably not in that order.
Of the bunch I was able to scratch the Focusrite and Behringer immediately. They did not sound as good as the Apollo Twin, which was my benchmark. Of the remainder the Presonus and RME were the only ones that, while different, seemed like a good match.
And then someone suggested Audient. I've used Audient microphone preamplifiers, and even one of their consoles.They make good gear, but I was pretty sure it would be beyond my budget. So glad I tried them.
Audient has two current models - the 800 and 880. Both are 8 channel microphone preamplifiers with ADAT outputs. I could barely tell the difference in the audio quality, the measurements suggest that the the 880 is a tiny bit quieter, but I couldn't hear the difference. I do think the 880 handles transients a little better, but that could also be different instead of better.
The 880 does let me bypass the microphone preamplifiers and go straight to the A/D converter input. That works really well, and simplifies gain-staging. I have three preamplifiers hooked up the channels 3-8 now, and expect to leave it like that for a while.
I think I'd have been perfectly happy with the Presonus Digimax, at least for now. Spending twice that on the ASP880 was a difficult choice, but I'd like to think my ears, and my monitoring environment, will continue to improve.
Full Disclosure - I happened across an open box sale item, which saved me quite a bit. Since I didn't need any accessories that was just fine!
Bottom line - I am exceedingly happy with the purchase! No buyers remorse this time around!
-- Bill
Audio Enterprise
KB3KJF