[linux-audio-user] Re: Digital Fidelity

[Maluvia]

>I'd argue that Apogee is *hardly* worth it -- I've never *liked* the sound
>of their convertors.  Their filters are very "shimmery" or "smooth" on the
>high-end . . . . . . 
>For 96k+, you may get different results, but I still don't like Apogees
>sound -- it washes out way too much high-end detail and does funny things
>to transient response in my professional opinion, because of their
>stylized filters.

That is a really good thing to know in advance, as filtering effects are
precisely what we want to get away from (for the particular sound we are
looking for).

>I built some D/As out of a Crystal 24-bit evaluation board that blew the
>socks off an equivalent Apogee -- with a good clean power supply and
>clock.  For about $200 US!  

Wow - that's really encouraging!
(BTW, where does one come by something like a Crystal evaluation board?)

>For A/D, I found that a 20-bit Burr-Brown chip
>*sounded* better than the Apogees at 44.1/48k and 24-bit, though most of
>that was still the input filtering.
>
>If it was a personal purchase, I'd be looking at Troisi convertors (not so
>much $$) or db Technologies (if I needed something to *really* spend $$ on

Thanks for the heads-up.
I had not heard of any of these before.

>Keeping the Cult of Saints and Relics **{1} from between your ears and
>your music is often harder than it sounds.  "Only a poor craftsman blames
>his tools," and I'd also say many who credit their tools are dilettants! 
>I've always tried not to be one of either group! ;)

Agreed! 

>the reason their stuff is so good is not directly related to the
>converters themselves, but to the sample clock that drives them. 
>apogee has basically the best clocks you can buy.
>
>their gear is not worth the money, but it is better than just about
>anything else. however, my compromise is to buy an apogee clock, when
>possible. so for example, the mackie digital 8 bus that i own has
>mackie's own burr-brown based converter circuitry, but it also has the
>optional apogee clock card to provide word clock to the converters.

This I can understand, and that sounds like a good alternative solution.
Thanks for the feedback.
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>Please take this discussion in private. 

I don't think this merits a response.

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Thanks again for the suggestions,
Maluvia