[linux-audio-user] Re: Digital Fidelity - Linux-audio-user

2 Mar 2006

...
 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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...
 Please take this discussion in private.  
I don't think this merits a response.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks again for the suggestions,
Maluvia