Sound quality of 2408/1224 converters

[soundscore]

OK. I am running DP 5.11 with a 2408MK3/1224 setup. I had black lion audio upgrade the converters in both units, and they put a new clock in the 2408 so both interfaces are running off the 2408 word clock. I did notice a difference in sound when I got them back, but I don't know if it is all that much better.

I do have several mic pres that are normalled to channels on the two boxes and sometimes I am using several channels at once in a record session. Most of what I do, though, is single composer multitracking and I am moving away from hardware synths.

Would one killer D/A A/D 2 channel converter make a LARGE difference in sound quality? If I am recording into several channels at once, dont I need multiple channels of conversion? It always plays back on analog 1&2 so I assume even multichannel audio stuff is all covered by 2 channels of D/A for playback.

A rosetta?

Sorry for the egregious lack of knoweledge.

JUD

[stephen1212b]

With good mics and outboard mic preamps coming into the 2408 or the 1224 (modified no less) I would think you would be happy with your sound. Better conversion would carry a much heftier price tag than the Rosetta which will sound slightly different, but not necessarily better.

You are correct that you would still need several channels of A/D converters when you use several mics at the same time. The 2 channel playback is sufficient only for a stereo return which may be all you need.

Have you heard your recordings at a really high end mastering facility? I wonder if your dissatisfaction could be because of your monitoring chain? Look into a Benchmark DAC1 ( modified of course ) as the D/A is weaker than the A/D on the units mentioned. Be sure to record at 24 bit and whatever sample rate makes sense for your final output. Make sound quality judgments with mono and a simple stereo pair matched mic pair.

The speakers are always the weakest link so get some electrostatic headphones and hear what you have recorded without any processing, and not what happens to it with the rest of the chain. You may be in much better shape than you think.