896HD or 192HD? Which is better?

[zobomix]

BTW, I paid $2,500 for my Lavry. I shopped around quite a bit but it seems like everybody is selling those for the price I paid.

Besides, I use the Lavry as a clock generator, which is pretty good, and I distribute the clock through the RME ADI 4 DD to a Yamaha 01V and 002 via toslink. The RME also serves as a digital format converter.

If you need only two channels, I would suggest Lavry.

[wonder]

nice! Have you ever slaved your lavry to an external clock?

i have a BigBen and would slave all my gear off of that.

Whats the price for the LAVRY Gold?

[ryst]

Originally posted by wonder:
Whats the price for the LAVRY Gold?

Uh...do you really want to know?
From http://atlasproaudio.com/

The Lavry Blue 2 channel AD: $1650.00
The Lavry Blue 4 channel AD: $2500.00 (to be mine soon!)
The Lavry Blue 6 channel AD: $3400.00
The Lavry Blue 8 channel AD: $4300.00

The Lavry GOLD AD 12296-MK II - Stereo A/D: $7,500

Again, the cool thing about the Lavry is that it's modular. You could have a 6 ch A/D, 2 ch D/A or a 2 ch A/D, 4 ch D/A in one rack space depending on your needs.

[wonder]

ZOINKS!!!!

I guess the 2channel is within my reach....a LOOONG reach at that

[draudio2u]

I use and have used every single one of these converters and even written a review on the Mytek -I did the beta tesing on the eight channel version-.

- all of the following is IMHO, take as you may -

I am not going to get into details unless you want them for converters over your budget which seems to be in the 1500-2000 range. I personally own the 896HD and made that choice because I am running a remote laptop system and wanted the best quality I could get within MY budget. Motu is better than the PThd systems which is why I did not go with their rack version of the 8 channel unit. The Apogee stuff is very good but I find it overpriced. It is different from the 896 but I wouldn't say better. I don't have the 192 so I can not comment on that.
Now - the Mytek is a great unit and falls in line with a few others that you should consider. Believe it or not RAMSEY aka. Panasonic makes an amazing 8 channel AD which blows the doors off of some others I heard much higher in price. The nice thing about both of these is the versatility / double speed capability / and ease of use with IN/OUT clocks. If you need eight channels one of these two should do wonders for you.

Getting up in price - the Lavry / Genex / DCS land is extremely good. All of these are obviously better than those previously mentioned. I have done A/B/C tests and found the DCS to be the most true, until...

Pacific Microsonics and Meitner. I don't think they are making the Pacific Microsonics any more but that is by far the best converter made for PCM audio. Doing DSD for SACD release? Meitner is beautiful - using them right now as a matter of fact. Does PCM just as well. But here is never never land for us mortals. BIG $$$$$.

My dream would be to upgrade my personal rig with a second set of 8 channel mic pre's, like Grace or Millennia, and then get a great eight channel converter like the Genex. My budget though will keep me in what I hope is coming - True Precision 8 channel mic pre with AD firewire... shhh. I didn't start that rumor.

[wonder]

all sounds well and good......i'm starting to stear away from apogee

[ryst]

[quote]Originally posted by draudio2u:
True Precision 8 channel mic pre with AD firewire... shhh. I didn't start that rumor.

[zobomix]

draudio2u - excellent post !!!

Personally, I like the Prism 8 channels although it doesn't sound as good as the Pacific.

The Lavry Blue can be slaved to external clock, of course and it's got wordclock in and out.

Keep in mind that Lavry only has AES digital in and out.

I never tried to slave my Lavry to an external clock since the Lavry itself is the best clock I've got around.

[wonder]

Whats the big deal about Lavry only having aes ebu? Isnt that a higher quality digital versus lightpipe?

[draudio2u]

The Lavry will lock to AES input and is rock solid. It does come with a strong cloock as well that you can use as master. And Yes, AES is the strongest digital connection you can have - that is the Pro format.

I used to like the Prism systems when we had to get 24 bit 4 track onto 16 bit MDM 8 tracks. But Since then I think other converters have left them behind. One interseting devise I heard about a year ago was this unit that would convert the math of DSD to PCM so you could drop it into a Pro Tools Session. Yes - DSD on Pro Tools!!!! You could not play back the files on PT without the Prism translating it back to DSD and then analog out. Imagine the math going on there... The idea was to get a system running for more than 16 tracks of DSD - Sonoma systems. It was an interesting experiment but I don't think it ever went beyond alpha. It had serious problems and would crash, and didn't sound as good as high bit PCM. Genex multi track DSD was also a big flop. What a mess that was....

Sorry, I guess this is way off the 896 - 192 question

[wonder]

its all good.

i dont hany any AESEBU ins or outs ...but the lavry is sure lookin sweet!

[zobomix]

AES is the top digital transmission protocol. Matter of fact, It bothers me a bit that I have to deal with lightpipe for my 01V and 002. Well, that's life.

Cheers

[wonder]

i dont own any MOTU gear that has AES EBU....im in the same boat

[ryst]

Originally posted by wonder:
its all good.

i dont hany any AESEBU ins or outs ...but the lavry is sure lookin sweet!

Wonder,

I should be getting my Lavry Blue later this year. Not sure if I am getting the 2 or 4 ch. version yet. But if I get mine before you decide what you are gonna get, I'll let you know my experiences.

[wonder]

please do! that would be great