Soundcard list with chip,dac and adc - Page 2

Which DAC is better: AKM AK4358 or AK4620A ?

Here are the chips from some of my gear....

Echo AudioFire2: AKM4620BVF
Ecler EVO5: A/D CS5366-CQZ and D/A CS4385
Motu Ultralite: AK4620AVF
Motu Traveller: A/D AK5385AVS, sorry no info for D/a
Metric Halo ULN2: A/D is the AKM 5383 and D/A is the AKM 4393
Focusrite Saffire: CS42428

Important thread.

I'm looking to sell my Lavry AD10 and replace it with an "all-in-one" PCI or firewire based sound card with the best possible ADC.

Interesting that the Lynx L22 and EMU 1212/1616 have same ADC, really?

DC

Do you know Motu 8pre's DAC too?

What good is this thread exactly? The name of the chips used can't really tell you much about how a unit sounds, can it? This depends on more than just the chips, or so I've read.

-> PJ: sorry no, i don't have this unit...

I agree, but this is a good start.

Indigo DJx - AK4396
Indigo IOx - AK4620B
AudioFire 2 (Newer models) - AK4620B
AudioFire 2 (Older models) - AK4620A
AudioFire 4 (Newer models) - AK4620B
AudioFire 4 (Older models) - AK4620A
AudioFire 8 - CS4272
AudioFire 12 (FireWire ports' beveled edges pointing down) - AK4620B
AudioFire 12 (FireWire ports' beveled edges pointing up) - CS4272
Layla3G - CS4272
Gina3G - CS42426
Indigo dj - CS4392
Indigo i/o - CS4272
MiaMIDI - AK4528

Any threads with reviews on performance -dac headamp- quality of portable recording gear?

What is your info source on Indigos? I thought DJ has AKM 4393 chips inside.

Mackie Onyx Satellite firewire freshly dissected :

satellite : CODEC AK4528 2ch ADC/DAC 24bit/96k, 8 AOP JRC 4580 (ref 128G)

dock : DAC AK4358 8ch DAC 24bit/192k, 6 AOP JRC 4580 (ref 127G)

 

I should try the dock outs as it should be better thanks to the ak4358 instead of a codec.

Hello guys. The information regarding OP Amps, used with ADCs and DACs, is equally important to evaluate the limits of sound quality for some particular device. For example widely used in the professional gear cheap JRC 4580 is not so good ... although its total level of THD is quite low, it still produces audible high harmonics, especially the most audible 7th ...

TL072 are called by many professionals as "sound quality killers". Used in Lynx Two, L22 OP275 are MUCH better OP ams, and still many people consider their sounding (especially in I/V) as "dry", and prefer something else. AD797, used in many top level devices (such as Boulder preamps), are MUCH better than OP275, although they are more expensive.

Today we have a lot of extremely good OP Amps for audio, such as OPA827, OPA1612, etc. OPA627 is still very good (it is used in Mark Levinson $35k AV processor, for example), although it is too expensive.

Fortunately the mass production audio industry, lead by ASUS, has started to use good OP Amps in sound cards - LM4562 is used as a standard OP Amp, and there is a possibility to swap it with something one likes better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by gmcg - 10/22/11 at 10:17am