Which would you rather have?

[catfishmusic]

PLEASE DO NOT ALLOCATE FUNDS TOWARDS EACH COMPONENT....but rather look at the total you have and think about "a system" within that budget. What I mean is if you say you have $8k and that being $4k on a mic and $4k on a pre, you might short yourself (or way overspend) on either.

I appreciate your input. The 4k per piece was a rough idea, to just give a gist of balance in quality. (i.e. I'm not buying a $25 mic with an $8k pre) I haven't allocated anything.

I think the next step for you is definitely great converters and clock. I think the Lucid GenX192 is the best choice for clock at this time and you can't go wrong with Apogee converters - although I would tend to use a Motu device such as 828Mk3 or 2408Mk3 to host the Apogees.

I think you are right. I was leaning towards the Apogee Symphony rig to begin with.

I appreciate everyone's help...going to do some thinking, and I'll let everyone know what I end up doing.

Best

[FM]

I should reiterate that I already have solid mics and pres....Avalon, Royer, Earthworks, Universal Audio, etc (most of them being in the $1500-2k range per piece).... I have about 8k to invest in either a REALLY nice mic and pre (spending about 4k for each piece)

Oh. If you already have pres in the 1.5 - 2.0 K range, then get a great mic and a better converter. You can get both for 4 - 5 Gs. Spend the rest on Goldfish crackers.

ditto.

good ad/da is definitely a thing of beauty.

cheers!

FM

FM... now you're cooking with gas.