short Onyx 800R review

[JamesHE]

First off. This thing is huge. It's 14 inches deep. And also it's tight as hell side to side when getting it in the rack! It's like they added the rack ears as an afterthought after making the box the standard width. I was scared trying to get this in my rack. After some cussing and a final hard push I had success.

only having the box for only one night, these are my initial impressions.

the pres. Sort of hyper-neutral. Not really colored, but they are really glassy. The lows are very focused, not flabby or colored like the rest of my pre's. (soundcraft spirit, Aphex 107, ART MP, MOTU pre's) Very 3-dimentional. I loved having the impedance selector. I was using a e609 on a Boogie and the different impedances really changed the sound. Can't wait to try this out on drums.

the converters. I haven't wired up my d-sub snakes yet, so I haven't a'b them with my MOTU 828MKII. I think part of the glassyness I'm hearing could be from the A/D compared to the smeary MOTU converters.

the clock. At this I was amazed. I was listening to Mr. Bungle for this. Perfect. I went back and forth from using the MOTU as a master and the 800R as the Master. (the 800R has no D/A, so the same MOTU D/A on different clocks. Internal or clocked from the ADAT optical) I really exspected to not hear any difference, but it was nearly night and day! Everything had more clarity, more punch, more dynamics. I'm not sure if this says more about the MOTU or the 800R. I used to clock the MOTU off a blackface ADAT and there was hardly any difference.

overall I'm really happy with it. I now have better pres, seemingly better A/D (still have to a'b this with the MOTU - before my ADAT device was a Blackface ADAT - no comparison there) and as an unexspected bonus, better D/A because of a decent clock.

Still pissed of it dosen't easily fit in my rack though! lol

[hiwatt33]

First off. This thing is huge. It's 14 inches deep. And also it's tight as hell side to side when getting it in the rack! It's like they added the rack ears as an afterthought after making the box the standard width. I was scared trying to get this in my rack. After some cussing and a final hard push I had success.

only having the box for only one night, these are my initial impressions.

the pres. Sort of hyper-neutral. Not really colored, but they are really glassy. The lows are very focused, not flabby or colored like the rest of my pre's. (soundcraft spirit, Aphex 107, ART MP, MOTU pre's) Very 3-dimentional. I loved having the impedance selector. I was using a e609 on a Boogie and the different impedances really changed the sound. Can't wait to try this out on drums.

the converters. I haven't wired up my d-sub snakes yet, so I haven't a'b them with my MOTU 828MKII. I think part of the glassyness I'm hearing could be from the A/D compared to the smeary MOTU converters.

the clock. At this I was amazed. I was listening to Mr. Bungle for this. Perfect. I went back and forth from using the MOTU as a master and the 800R as the Master. (the 800R has no D/A, so the same MOTU D/A on different clocks. Internal or clocked from the ADAT optical) I really exspected to not hear any difference, but it was nearly night and day! Everything had more clarity, more punch, more dynamics. I'm not sure if this says more about the MOTU or the 800R. I used to clock the MOTU off a blackface ADAT and there was hardly any difference.

overall I'm really happy with it. I now have better pres, seemingly better A/D (still have to a'b this with the MOTU - before my ADAT device was a Blackface ADAT - no comparison there) and as an unexspected bonus, better D/A because of a decent clock.

Still pissed of it dosen't easily fit in my rack though! lol

Thanks for the review. I have been thinking about picking one of these up.

Cheers!

[Spark]

Hmmm.... Well this has me thinking the extra money spent on this over some of the competition might be worth it. Ive heard nothing but good reviews about the new Mackie pres, if the conversion is that good then it has to be a home run.

[hiwatt33]

Hmmm.... Well this has me thinking the extra money spent on this over some of the competition might be worth it. Ive heard nothing but good reviews about the new Mackie pres, if the conversion is that good then it has to be a home run.

This is exactly what I am thinking. I might hafta take the plunge tomorrow!

Anyone else care to chime in?

[snatchman]

Hey....anyone have samples of the Oynx 800-R in action? Would like to know how it compares to my Presonus Digi-Max LT before I consider having it modded!......

[matyas]

Anyone AB'd the Onyx to an Octopre? I've been mulling picking up the Octopre after reading the rave review in the most recent TapeOp, but id be interested in hearing more about the Onyx.

[AstroDan]

I must say, I've heard equally good things about the Onyx as well as the Metric Halo 2882 MIO. I went for the Metric Halo because of it being Mac only, and sort of half-assed figured that since they focused all their efforts into this singular format and not spreading compatibility to both Mac and PC, more attention would go into the design, blah, bah. So far, so good.

Anyway, I would like to hear the preamp comparison of these two units someday. I am very impressed with the sound of the MH's pre's, as well as the conversion quality and overall features.

[JamesHE]

I will start tracking my bands album this Sunday. I'll get to track some drums with this thing. (Well Maybe for like 5 minutes after spending a day re-heading the drums and placing mics.) I'll post some samples. I'm hoping to do a bit or AB'ing between different pre's as I'm setting up the drum mics, depending on how quickly things are going.

Maybe someone with more experience with really nice gear that me will chime in with their opinions. The Onyx has a really hi-fi sound compared to the rest of my gear. I feel like I've been able recently to really push my tools to their maximum - I'm hoping my new purchase pushes me a little. Next will be good cabeling. There's way too much Hosa laying around my studio.