KVR Audio

monsterbeetle · Post by **monsterbeetle** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 1:13 pm

Hi everybody, by any chance would anyone have tried this converter : SM Pro Audio ADDA 192-S ?

http://www.smproaudio.com/ADDA192S.htm

on paper it looks great for the price, however I'd like to have a confirmation that it does not have any particular or nasty hidden stuff to it before I order it !

thanks

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:23 pm

You're going to hook up a €330 DA-converter to a €50 DVD player ?

Did you try my suggestion yet: play a sine sweep with it and record it on your normal soundcard?

monsterbeetle · Post by **monsterbeetle** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:38 pm

BertKoor your are so kind!
Yes! plugging this slightly above average converter to my 50€ DVD player is my evil plan

I did not do the sine sweep test, my ears already tell me that it sounds bad compared to my RIP philips player, and bad compared to my old but fierce delta 44!

Plus I will surely use the converter for recording vocals, If I find a good preamp and condenser mic for cheap (studio projects C1 and the like)

dickiefunk · Post by **dickiefunk** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:45 pm

The D/A converters look to be the same as the ones in the EMU 1212M 1616M 1820M interfaces which are based upon the flagship Digidesign Pro tools pro converters. These should be very good. I'm not sure how good the A/D converters are but they also look to be very promising. What you also need to take into account is the jitter clock. Overall this looks to be a decent piece of kit capable of pro recordings(on paper), but I've not personally heard it.

monsterbeetle · Post by **monsterbeetle** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:54 pm

The converter seem to use a master quarz from Vectron electronics, which seems to be a company which knows about jitter

, so on paper it still looks good!

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:55 pm

monsterbeetle wrote:I did not do the sine sweep test, my ears already tell me that it sounds bad compared to my RIP philips player, and bad compared to my old but fierce delta 44!

Right, fair enough... I'd still do that if I were you, if only for confirmation.

And who knows the damage is already done to the digital version of the signal? Do you have a friend with a soundcard with S-PDIF input on his PC? I'd check it first, before making the investment...

monsterbeetle wrote:Plus I will surely use the converter for recording vocals, If I find a good preamp and condenser mic for cheap (studio projects C1 and the like)

Well, this converter already features two mic preamps with phantom power. I'd expect them to be rather neutral, which often is a good starting point.

But how will you go about hooking it up to your PC? Since your M-Audio Delta-44 doesn't have S-PDIF I/O ... You'd need to get another soundcard for that, so why not then do everything in one go?

monsterbeetle · Post by **monsterbeetle** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:19 pm

BertKoor! you're just like my Jiminy Cricket

Good news for the converters, I just browsed the spec quickly, I did not remark that!

My delta equipped PC is an old Duron 1200+ which is way too slow for my current needs.

I'm recording on my laptop now, just laying down guitar tracks in Tracktion 1.6 using a podXT live on USB, laying down some drum tracks using EZDrummer and a padKontrol on USB.

So to use the converter, I'll just have to find a budget usb/pcmcia board with spdif in/out, An audigy should provide this, I even think the laptop already has SPDIF in on mini jack !

Most of all I want the converter to be standalone, as I don't want to turn my pc on just to listen to CDs or watch movies.

Otherwise I'd go for an M-audio fasttrack pro or an e-mu notebook, for sure!

Thanks for your time,

I'll carry out the tests you indicated, just to have scientific figures to put on my gut feelings

anyone tried this converter : SM Pro Audio ADDA 192-S ?