Lynx Hilo - new offering from Pro Audio company. - Page 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by third_eye 

Thanks for this, I'm going to audition it next weekend. Do I need XLR-RCA adapters for this, my amp is RCA only.

Your local Radio Shack might or might not have them (mine didn't).  You need female RCA to male XLR.

Tell Jason you need them.  He might be able to loan them to you.  Or he might just whip up a custom RCA-to-XLR cable for you.

The XLR output is sending a "balanced" signal, which is very different from a consumer line-out. Pin 1 is ground, pin 2 signal is in phase, pin 3 is phase inverted. Normally what then happens at a balanced input is the phase inverted signal is reversed and summed with the in-phase signal by an op-amp circuit. This effectively neutralises any noise picked up in transmission, which is why it is used in pro systems. Obviously without the phase inversion circuit at the input you loose this benefit. It is possible to take the in-phase signal off pin 2 and use pin 1 as ground and connect them to an RCA connector and the like. As mentioned, there are adaptors for this purpose. This will now be a simple two wire line signal, no cleaner or better in quality than any standard line level signal. The disadvantage is that the voltage will be halved, since in the balanced setup the in-phase and inverted signals are added together, but in this case you are throwing away the inverted half. If your amplifier gain is sufficient and you have a low noise floor it shouldn't be a problem. In general I try to keep everything balanced.

I hope this makes sense and helps.

-J

No, that depends on the topology of the output, e.g., if it uses cross-coupled (often called "servo"), the output delivers exactly the same voltage regardless of running balanced or unbalanced, and the unused pin is referenced to ground (it usually must be when operated unbalanced). You can determine this from the schematic, other info from the manufacturer, or via trivial tests on the output, I don't recall what the Hilo uses (neat unit though when I played with one).

In addition, unless the "pro" gear has a configuration for setting output level to the nominal "consumer" standards, the output is already much higher so even if the output topology results in it halving when unbalanced, you're more likely to have concerns over overloading the input of the target than worrying about having enough gain.

Anyone making a cable/adapter to do this rather than buying one known to be correct (or a proper line-matching amp) should check the schematics / manual / manufacturer site for proper information: using the wrong technique can degrade SQ best-case and damage your equipment worst-case.

Edit - Hilo users can find this information in section 5.3 of the current Hilo manual.

Quote:

Originally Posted by third_eye 

[...]

I'm going to audition it next weekend. Do I need XLR-RCA adapters for this, my amp is RCA only.

Don't forget that the Lynx Hilo has several functions including:

• ADC
• DAC
• Digital signal switch
• Digital signal converter
• Pre amplifier with digital and analog inputs
• Headphone amplifier with digital and analog inputs

The headphone amplifier (module/section) is good. Don't overlook/pass on it. Some forum users have compared it to the Bryston BHA-1.

As I've written before in an other Lynx Hilo thread called "Lynx Hilo: Any opinions on the Headphone amplifier of the Lynx Hilo?":

So far I like it with Sennheiser HD 800, and it does a better job with this headphone than Grace Design m903. Both were used as DAC + headphone amplifier fed via USB from a PC running foobar2000.

"No, that depends on the topology of the output, e.g., if it uses cross-coupled..."

Thanks for the refinement, Heycarnut. I was outlining the simplest scenario to avoid information overload, but good point.

Hilo uses seperate DAC chip for headphone amp, and high current buffer LME48600 @headphone amp. ( I found infos from internet)

Quote:

Originally Posted by burnspbesq 


There is an internal jumper that you can reset to boost the 1/4" monitor outputs to line level.
The versatility of this unit blows my mind. Every time I go back to the documentation I find something I hadn't previously seen, and it usually causes me to say "wow, that was really well thought out."

Yeah, it really is a neatly done unit, and being FPGA they can add features, even pretty complex ones, via software/firmware upgrades. Had the Antelope Eclipse not been on the horizon (also very well executed), I probably would have kept the unit I played with.

I would be interested in about 2 or 3 weeks, maximum.