Re: [LAU] Sound quality of the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen

On Sun, 8 Jan 2017 12:49:41 +0100, Georg Krause wrote: I've got the impression that my hearing isn't that good today. However, the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 2nd Gen, as well as the Behringer ADA8000 directly connected to my amplifier, even today, definitively, without doubts, sound disgusting compared to the RME HDSPe AIO, but I can't hear anymore a considerable difference between the Focusrite and the ADA8000 connected to the Focusrite. OTOH the test was not really neutral, since the RME's outputs had much more gain, which likely affect the amps inputs. OTOH, if I connect all of them to my Behringer mixing console, then even the audible difference to the RME is marginal for me at the moment, if audible at all and part from this there's no mixer to control the Focusrite's analog and ADAT outputs and since the source was the same for the RME, as well as the Focusrite, I would need to lower the output levels for the RME, but actually the chosen levels were "normal"/"optimal". The hifi CD-Player doesn't sound as good as the RME, but while the colouration of the Focusrite and the ADA8000 are similar, the CD-Player has got it's own colouration, maybe a little bit closer to the RME, but with too much muddy bass. To compare my own recordings with CDs from bands, I should rip the CDs in the future and listen to the RME card only. The Focusrite and the ADA8000 are missing nuances by all frequencies, the bass is muddy too, but for the Focusrite it seems to be not that much boosted, as I claimed before. All tests were done with an AKG 240 DF headphone. I just listened very short to two different kinds of speakers, but couldn't form an opinion. I need to do a third test in some days. At the moment I'll test use the Focusrite without comparing the sound quality. After that I shouldn't listen to sound for at least one day and compare different songs with similar output gain connected to the amp's inputs. IMO it's not only important to care about the volume of the headphone and speaker outputs of the amp, but also what goes into the amp. Btw. the only available control by alsamixer is "Clock Source". ┌────────────────────────────────────────────── AlsaMixer v1.1.3 ───────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Card: Scarlett 18i20 USB F1: Help │ │ Chip: USB Mixer F2: System information │ │ View: F3: Playback F4: Capture F5:[All] F6: Select sound card │ │ Item: Clock Source [Internal] Esc: Exit │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌──┐ Internal ┌──┐ ┌──┐ │ │ │OO│ │OO│ │OO│ │ │ └──┘ └──┘ └──┘ │ │ ADAT Validity < Clock Source >Internal Validity S/PDIF Validity │