Converter Performance and You

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 5:29 pm

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/gear-sho ... hread.html

Objective tests on AD/DA conversion that are very informative. The above thread adheres to a standard consistent with MOTUNation's prohibition of religious discussion. In the context of audio conversion, I find this is extremely refreshing.

For me, the biggest surprise was no surprise at all: Objective evidence clearly supports a position that the difference in performance between converters is largely nominal. This said, the ranking of devices may be startling to more than a few.

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 3:02 am

Very interesting. I'd always thought I had done well getting an 828mkII. Noce to see those tests agree - not very important, really, but nice.

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:44 pm

You did well Mike.

It is entertaining to read the typical GS interjections of completely unscientific "controversy" despite what, by all appearances, is a truly objective study in AD/DA converter performance.

Regardless, I think the best thing about the thread is that it will open at least a few minds to the idea that the most important things in music production and recording are talent, experience, and great songs.

PS: Still *patiently* awaiting Mac Pro refresh 2012.

kgdrum · Post by **kgdrum** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:11 pm

GS does have some great info & posts,unfortunately there's also tons of misinformed biased posters pushing their agenda unrelentlessly. You must weed through lots of BS but I have learned quite a bit from some GS posters & threads.
Some threads are fascinating & a great resource but as always, ymmv.

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:52 pm

The results are not surprising at all, but the discussion at GS baffles me. Why is everyone trying their best to come up with some "theory" as to why MOTU may be performing better in these tests? Oh yeah... everyone "KNOWS" that they make the most inferior stuff in the business. Everyone but me. I think their interfaces are quite good. The 896 and 1296 that I've been using rival anything I've heard on vinyl or CD. I've been following this MOTU hardware for a long time and have owned or used extensively 6 different MOTU Audio Interfaces:
2408
1224
2408mkII
1296
896
192HD

They have all produced amazing clarity and transparency, with extremely detailed sound. They have been so good that it didn't matter if there were interfaces that were technically better; when it reaches a certain point of quality, you quit worrying about it. Each of these boxes is still working as far as I know. The ones in boldfaced font are in my studio at this time, and I've used all of them in the past week. One is 12 years old. The other two are 10 years old this year.

I've watched this distrust of MOTU boxes grow over the years, and the only explanation I could find for it was the ProTools bias that causes neophytes to put down MOTU (esp. DP) excessively in order to sound knowledgeable.

I almost skipped this thread, because I thought it was another one of those subjective "my box sounds better than yours" threads, but was pleased to find that it was actually the opposite. Still, I'm not at all surprised at the results; this is consistent with what I've been seeing for many years.

Shooshie

Yawnstrosity · Post by **Yawnstrosity** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 4:22 pm

I have an 828mk2 BLA modded that works (and sounds) great except for in one respect: the LCD display is dead. Does anyone know how I might get this fixed? (MOTU won't touch it, since I voided the warranty by having it modded.)

mikehalloran · Post by **mikehalloran** » Wed Feb 15, 2012 5:36 pm

Yawnstrosity wrote:I have an 828mk2 BLA modded that works (and sounds) great except for in one respect: the LCD display is dead. Does anyone know how I might get this fixed? (MOTU won't touch it, since I voided the warranty by having it modded.)

i'd drop a dime on BLA.

MOTUnation.com