Do they make such an audible difference? I don't mean when recording subtle acoustic stuff at 192khz, but, in everyday life, for rock and roll and heavy music.

The best I had were probably the ones on my old M-Audio Delta. However, my monitoring system back then wasn't really allowing me to enjoy subtle nuances.

As you know, I have yet to replace the Fast Track I grabbed before we left for the tour and I suspect that the converters are pretty average. And the preamp, well...  But it worked as expected.


I also remember reading something back in the days that basically said that, usually, the higher the sampling rates the audio interface could handle, the better the conversion was even at lower sampling rates.

I've been looking at Focusrite, which appears to have decent converters and good preamps. But I might also have the opportunity to get an Apogee duet. It would fall short of providing me the 4 outputs I'd like, but I can always compensate by using a little mixer as a patchbay.

W/ Christmas coming, I've been doing some serious online pre-shoping and Apogee sure gets a lot of praises for its converters and preamp. And since the audio interface will probably be the first thing on my list...

 I don't think that the difference between mid level and high end A/D converters is significant although it exists.

http://audiogeekzine.com/...-really-doesnt-matter/
 
Converters have come a long way and become less expensive in a short time.

 If you are not recording at 192khz and are recording a run of the mill rock sound I seriously doubt it makes enough difference to matter if levels are set up ok.I think other factors probably influence it more.

 I watched a few videos comparing high ended gear but few exist that compare something like a decent Focusrite to a high end Apogee or something similar. A real listening test would be the most persuasive and I would think this would be a great selling feature if you happen to manufacture and sell mid level gear like the Focusrite and now Apogee.

 I am curious if  Apogee  have possibly changed the type of converter to get to the price points offered. IOW maybe its not the same as some of their more expensive gear.

 Since I haven't worked in a world class studio with all the best equipment I can only base my opinions on what some of the engineers who have been in these situations and heard a lot of gear have to say about mid level gear as compared to high end. Many of these guys say that the differences are not significant enough to matter in most situations.

 Paul White who has probably tested and seen more gear than most mortals ever will has said that it is now possible to make a good recording with most of the recording interfaces out there. I'm not quoting him exactly here but in a nutshell this is what he says.

 I regularly hear music good enough to pass as pro level coming from small home studios so I tend to agree with him.My music isn't quite up to that point but that limitation is with me not my gear.

 I don't think you could go wrong with either of those choices.
 

Suppose you could actually hear real differences between sets of converters in modern interfaces.
 
How do you then decide which ones are the 'better' ones?
 
Pres are a different matter, some will match what you are plugging into them better than others, noise levels, colouration and other stuff come into play when finding a preference to suit you. 
 
I've found that it's most likely if you ask Focusrite owners which are the best they will say Focusrite, and so on... you get the idea. 
I've yet to find an interface which is a bit-crushing, sound mangling, distortion unit, usually because the designers are better audio engineers than many of those would be experts appraising the end-product. 

Oh... Audio converters.  I thought this was a SONAR/Pro Tools type thread.  My bad.

Rain: totally agree with Starise and Jonbuoy. The way stuff is made today, you'll get good results with just about anything. That said, on some of the cheaper cards, you literally have to use a higher sampling rate to get the best out of them.

Like, ever hear a guy praising 24/192 because he thinks he can really hear a difference? The fact is...he CAN, but it's because the card is lame at the lower sampling rates. With a good card that has good converters, you shouldn't be able to tell a difference between 24/48 and above for rock. You'll notice a little something going from 16/44 to 24/48, but nothing totally huge like 1 inch tape compared to 2 inch tape.

If you can get the Apogee, definitely grab it as it's one of the best in the business in my opinion. I have them as well as others between my 2 studio's. Just for your head...

Anything Focusrite, Echo, RME, Lynx or Apogee would be your best bet in my opinion. Those are the ones we have. I can't tell any difference between them to be honest. Heck I still have 3 old Layla 24/96's that sound terrific to where I can't tell a difference when using them. I would look into the ones I mentioned as they are all great and you'll be able to find the options you need. Stay in about the $400 range (or higher if you can afford to) with those companies and you won't go wrong, I promise. They just use the same converters on the smaller units as the do the super pricey ones, so you're still in great shape. :)

-Danny

I often think if 'pres' are your thing having the ability to bypass the cards built in ones in order you can use your own is a good idea.
 
I'm not sure what (if any) cards offer that facility but it might be worth bearing in mind if you ever want to add your own boutique pres to the chain.
Just a vague afterthought I had on the subject.

Jonbouy


I often think if 'pres' are your thing having the ability to bypass the cards built in ones in order you can use your own is a good idea.
 
I'm not sure what (if any) cards offer that facility but it might be worth bearing in mind if you ever want to add your own boutique pres to the chain.
Just a vague afterthought I had on the subject.

To bypass the mic pre, use the line in....

Karyn

Jonbouy


I often think if 'pres' are your thing having the ability to bypass the cards built in ones in order you can use your own is a good idea.
 
I'm not sure what (if any) cards offer that facility but it might be worth bearing in mind if you ever want to add your own boutique pres to the chain.
Just a vague afterthought I had on the subject.

To bypass the mic pre, use the line in....

 
 
D'oh...
 
You can tell it's something I do everyday...
 
In fairness I did say it was a vague afterthought.

Danny Danzi


Heck I still have 3 old Layla 24/96's that sound terrific to where I can't tell a difference when using them. 

-Danny

Good to hear 'cause that's what I still have!

The actual analog to digital conversion is done by commodity chips, for which there are only a handful of manufacturers in the world. Focusrite and Apogee use the same manufacturers, as do E-Mu and RME. Burr-Brown (a subsidiary of TI) makes chips for both Lavry Gold and Soundblasters. Truth is, even the cheapest converters do a good job for ADC/DAC.

What distinguishes converters is the analog components and I/O options. If you use outboard preamps into line inputs, that eliminates the most critical circuits in the interface, the high-gain stages of amplification. As long as the line input has enough headroom (some USB- and Firewire-powered units don't) you probably would not detect any differences from one unit to the next.

Which leaves the only real hardware consideration, which is I/O capabilities. How many inputs, how many outputs, MIDI, S/PDIF or ADAT, USB vs. Firewire vs. PCIe. Those are the main objective criteria for choosing an interface.

Probably far more significant than any of those things is the quality of the company that manufactures the device. RME and Lynx, for example, have reputations for jumping on bug fixes, providing good documentation, and frequently-updated drivers. Apogee's reputation is also good, even if somewhat tarnished by questionable marketing methods in their past. Behringer, OTOH, is not widely respected even though they happen to make a very good interface. I'd be inclined to base my buying decision more on the reputation of its manufacturer than anything else, assuming the product has all the gozintas and gozoutas I need.