UAD dsp vs spark plugins. Is there a difference between them?

[slas]

Do you think the UAD versions are identical? Do you think several thousand dollar plugins will be the same for 19.99 a month? This video answers the question! English subtitles.
link:

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

There's not. UA themselves had said so.

Seems like the video creator is going out of his way to point out tiny differences in the PD readout at below -150db. Silly. And the multiple that by 20 or 30 instances comment...on the same track? What's the noise floor of his gear? Let me tell you something else about 1176LN hardware...noisefloor is about -80db.

Why not just play audio between both and invert phase on one? Much better test.

[slas]

null test.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Is that what Logic looks like these days? Damn that looks slick.

[slas]

this is custom skin. lpx colorizer

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

this is custom skin. lpx colorizer

Kudos on that. Nice job!

[slas]

There's not. UA themselves had said so.

Seems like the video creator is going out of his way to point out tiny differences in the PD readout at below -150db. Silly. And the multiple that by 20 or 30 instances comment...on the same track? What's the noise floor of his gear? Let me tell you something else about 1176LN hardware...noisefloor is about -80db.

Why not just play audio between both and invert phase on one? Much better test.

if they are the same, why is there a difference? the two DSP versions have no difference even in -150 dB

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

There's not. UA themselves had said so.

Seems like the video creator is going out of his way to point out tiny differences in the PD readout at below -150db. Silly. And the multiple that by 20 or 30 instances comment...on the same track? What's the noise floor of his gear? Let me tell you something else about 1176LN hardware...noisefloor is about -80db.

Why not just play audio between both and invert phase on one? Much better test.

if they are the same, why is there a difference? the two DSP versions have no difference even in -150 dB

I'm no developer but could be Plugin Doctor not accounting for latency, could be the same basic algorithms running on different chips resulting in different quantization noise (rounding errors).

The frequency response, harmonic response, phase response is identical and the differences are well below the audible spectrum. Differences at -150db are meaningless IMO. Again, the noise floor of a hardware 1176 is around -80db. They're noisy units. 24-bit audio has a dynamic range of 144db's, so -150db is below that threshold. I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm very happy with my UAD Spark plugins, and am anxiously awaiting the PC release, which could be as early as a month away. I won't fuss over those differences.

[slas]

There's not. UA themselves had said so.

Seems like the video creator is going out of his way to point out tiny differences in the PD readout at below -150db. Silly. And the multiple that by 20 or 30 instances comment...on the same track? What's the noise floor of his gear? Let me tell you something else about 1176LN hardware...noisefloor is about -80db.

Why not just play audio between both and invert phase on one? Much better test.

if they are the same, why is there a difference? the two DSP versions have no difference even in -150 dB

I'm no developer but could be Plugin Doctor not accounting for latency, could be the same basic algorithms running on different chips resulting in different quantization noise (rounding errors).

The frequency response, harmonic response, phase response is identical and the differences are well below the audible spectrum. Differences at -150db are meaningless IMO. Again, the noise floor of a hardware 1176 is around -80db. They're noisy units. 24-bit audio has a dynamic range of 144db's, so -150db is below that threshold. I wouldn't worry about it.

I'm very happy with my UAD Spark plugins, and am anxiously awaiting the PC release, which could be as early as a month away. I won't fuss over those differences.

When increasing the level, these differences will also be there. isn't that right? They will not disappear at -30-15 db.

[jamcat]

I think any difference is going to come down to how the 32-bit float SHARC DSPs handle rounding error compared to Intel and Apple Silicon 64-bit float CPUs. These differences would only show up in the lowest audio signals and aren’t going to make a difference to your ears (or even survive a 24-bit mixdown.)

And if you could hear a difference, it would be in favour of the native Spark versions’ higher internal processing resolution.

[fese]

I think any difference is going to come down to how the 32-bit float SHARC DSPs handle rounding error compared to Intel and Apple Silicon 64-bit float CPUs. These differences would only show up in the lowest audio signals and aren’t going to make a difference to your ears (or even survive a 24-bit mixdown.)

And if you could hear a difference, it would be in favour of the native Spark versions’ higher internal processing resolution.

I was actually wondering when UA claimed that SPARC and native versions were identical, if that meant they didn’t make use of 64bit precision on modern CPUs…. But maybe they just were clever and said the the algorithms where identical (which wouldn’t include the precision), can’t remember.
But I fully agree with you, if they took advantage of modern CPUs 64bit floats, there could be some differences due to the rounding errors, but the native versions should technically be “better” (especially for recursive filters).

[kmonkey]

I can still remember the days (decades actually) when a group of people (it was a really large number of people on their forum and then Gearslutz) claimed and argued how SHARC processors on UAD are something unmatched and superior and there is no chance you could run these plugins natively. They pursued this for decades - literally.

Today you not only have the same plugins but they (due to the nature of technology) are outperforming SHARC processors and induce much smaller latency.

So much about forwarding thinking.

The same people simply vanished in thin air. Crickets.

But hey now we are in a new era. Let us embrace WOKE digital nonsense.

Let us argue about something down below -150 dB which not even bats can hear and let us argue about it for the next 20 years

[fese]

When increasing the level, these differences will also be there. isn't that right? They will not disappear at -30-15 db.

Good luck trying to bring a normal audio signal to levels so that you could actually hear the noise floor… your ears will have probably started bleeding long before.

[LFO8]

Lol at these threads. Some AUD dsp buyers are having trouble accepting it was all delusion and now the walls are coming down but they don’t wanna

[jamcat]

Well I would still buy the DSP versions so I wouldn’t have to rent them indefinitely. I’ve looked into getting the cheapest UAD card possible. Anyone know of any license issues when purchasing a UAD card second hand?

Can you buy a really old card on eBay and still purchase any and all current UAD plugins for it?