Two channel S/pdif preamp for a Digi 001

Brett Siler · Post by **Brett Siler** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 3:26 pm

I am looking for a two channel s/pdif preamp to add to my Digi 001 so I can do all 18 ins and outs. I record at 24/44.1kHz For price range anything from really inexpensive (more preferred, of course) to nothing over $1000. I just want something that sounds good.

Any recommendations?

b3groover · Post by **b3groover** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:29 pm

DBX made one... 536 or something?

Presonus has the Eureka, which is a single channel, but if you get one with the digital card in it, you can put the output of another Eureka (or any other analog preamp for that matter) into that same digital card and get both channels of spdif.

The Eureka is a great sounding channel strip, by the way. The compressor is quite useful. The EQ, not so much. The ability to change the impedence of the input is handy, too.

Lazy_Q · Post by **Lazy_Q** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 6:30 pm

Apogee Mini-Me, non USB version. I got one when the price on it dropped earlier this year, and it's a pretty solid upgrade, good preamps, spdif and AES/EBU, and you get a good wordclock for the money. It's now discontinuted and starting to get scarse, but can still be found for around for about 800$ with USB and less if someone has it without.

No Wave Casio Kitsch · Post by **No Wave Casio Kitsch** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:06 pm

Lucid AD9624?

hopeless_opus · Post by **hopeless_opus** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:09 pm

Meek TwinQ looks pretty cool.

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:10 pm

DBX makes a whole series, I think its the 286, 386, 486 and 586. Each larger number being physically larger, more rackspaces that is.
My buddy has the one rack space two channel silver one. Its got a tube or two in it. Sounds pretty decent, and he uses it with a digi 002 rack system.
Another pal of mine had the Focusrite twintrak. Piece of junk, just not possible to get a decent sound out of it.

Am I the only one that wishes UA made their mic pre/dynamics combos with an AD option?

T-rex · Post by **T-rex** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:25 pm

Lazy_Q wrote:Apogee Mini-Me, non USB version. I got one when the price on it dropped earlier this year, and it's a pretty solid upgrade, good preamps, spdif and AES/EBU, and you get a good wordclock for the money. It's now discontinuted and starting to get scarse, but can still be found for around for about 800$ with USB and less if someone has it without.

I have to second this big time. I bought one, USB version, and since they switched to firewire even those are going for $600 used and less. It's great! The pre's are nice, clean and fast, the conversion is amazing so all overdubs get sent through the Apogee converters AND I clock my delta's to it which really cleaned up their conversion too. I mean a slight, but noticeable difference when clocked to the mini me as opposed to clocked internally (just sounds more crisp to me). I never really use the compression with it, although that is a cool feature too but it's just kind of like a swiss army knife, it just does everything well and it has definitely cleaned up my overall sound going into the computer along with the extra two tracks.

Oh yeah, it makes one hell of an instrument DI too, just plug 1/4 right in the neutrik connector. Before I got my U5 it was definitely my go to DI for bass. I can't say enough good things about it.

Sean Sullivan · Post by **Sean Sullivan** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 6:23 am

I think the Apogee will fit your needs better than anything else suggested.

digitaldrummer · Post by **digitaldrummer** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 4:56 pm

if you do this you have to slave the digi 001 off the clock of whatever is on the S/Pdif port. Apogee minime would work well and has a nice clock. pres are very clean/transparent. of course if you want to spend more that API A2D looks nice...

RodC · Post by **RodC** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 5:05 pm

I have been eyin an Aphex 207D

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 5:17 pm

What about the new Black Lion Audio A/D converter and preamps of your choice? I bet it will sound as good as or better than the Mini-Me. http://www.blacklionaudio.com/ You're also upgrading your clock in a serious manner if you go this route, I am assuming. Matt was over at GearSlutz talking about a price of around $600. I'm sure that you can find a decent sounding 2-channel mic preamp for $400 or under. You can definitely score a Presonus MP20 and do that Burr-Brown mod on it for $400 or under. Also, RNP, Symetrix SX-202 (cheap!), etc for that price. And like I said, the Black Lion piece should upgrade your clock big time, and it'll do 192kHz, so it is future-proof as long as SPDIF and AES/EBU are still around.

My $.02,

Jeff

dsw · Post by **dsw** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 5:43 pm

How expensive?
The API A2D is cool but its $2000.
Lucid is a great convertor for under a grand but you'd still need a pre amp to go with it. It's not a preamp.

Brett Siler · Post by **Brett Siler** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:17 pm

ipressrecord wrote:What about the new Black Lion Audio A/D converter and preamps of your choice? I bet it will sound as good as or better than the Mini-Me. http://www.blacklionaudio.com/ You're also upgrading your clock in a serious manner if you go this route, I am assuming. Matt was over at GearSlutz talking about a price of around $600. I'm sure that you can find a decent sounding 2-channel mic preamp for $400 or under. You can definitely score a Presonus MP20 and do that Burr-Brown mod on it for $400 or under. Also, RNP, Symetrix SX-202 (cheap!), etc for that price. And like I said, the Black Lion piece should upgrade your clock big time, and it'll do 192kHz, so it is future-proof as long as SPDIF and AES/EBU are still around.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far guys. This sounds like a really good idea. I actually plan on getting my 001 modded by BLA in the future. Do you think BLA A/D would really make a cheap pre sound good?

T-rex · Post by **T-rex** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:00 am

I haven't heard the Black Lion stuff, but I would think for the $600 they are asking for their A/D (I could be wrong, looks like it from the posts above) that I would just get a mini me and be done with it. You get 2 ch conversion, 2 pre's, clock, comp/limiter all in one package. Now if you want some pre's with color etc. than you may want to look elsewhere. Going BLA gives you more options in the future. YMMV, but it's going to be a long while before I outgorw the mini me.

lotusstudio · Post by **lotusstudio** » Thu Nov 15, 2007 9:23 am

How about the TC Electronic Konnekt 8? I don't have it, but my research suggests it can also be used to add 2 tracks to the Digi 002 via s/pdif at up to 96k! And it can operate in standalone mode.

The company claims it has top notch converters and it costs less than $300.

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Two channel S/pdif preamp for a Digi 001

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