Black Lion Audio MOTU 828 mk II MOD? Anyone Have one?

tablebeast · Post by **tablebeast** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:44 am

So, I have come full circle in my quest for a better sound card. I had a MOTU 828 mkII for the longest time but sold it and have gone through several levels of quality but I'm still not happy. The functionality of the 828 is really hard to beat but I always hated the smeared sound, clean and quiet, but smeared. Anyone who has owned one knows what I'm talking about.
So I found online this place, blacklionaudio, that does mods on the 828 MkII that supposedly improves the sound a lot by improving the analog audio path and the opamps. My question is does anyone have one of these modded 828's? Maybe another mod by this guy? What is the deal? Good stuff?

Jesse

Reuben · Post by **Reuben** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 12:34 pm

Well, it's certainly an inexpensive mod.

I am completely happy with my 828mkII and don't plan to get the mod at this time, but you go ahead and then tell us what it's like.

I'm curious, but not THAT curious.

matta · Post by **matta** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 6:10 am

Table Beast,

Matt from Black Lion will be adding clips to his site of some A/B's. He works on them quite a bit from my understanding, why not drop him a line and ask if he has a A/B, old 828 versus modded 828 and let your ears be your guide.

Cheers

Matt

tablebeast · Post by **tablebeast** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 6:50 am

A/B comparisons would be excellent, I don't see them on his site yet. I am going to go for the mod anyway, seems like something worth trying. I just got a MOTU 828 mkII on ebay for $430! I was expecting to pay at least $600 for one, so considering the price, the mod is almost free in my new rig budget. I will et you guys know what I think once i get it done.

Jesse

thethingwiththestuff · Post by **thethingwiththestuff** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:36 am

whoa.

whoa.

this is awesome. i'll take 3 (and i can pay......) so this is a mod for the converters mainly, or the preamps too? the pres are definitely smeary, but i never noticed a big problem with the converters, other than always being left desiring a better stereo image. i'd attributed that to my monitoring set up. this would be excellent for quick demoing, or mobile two track recording where i rely on the built in pres. i'll be contacting him...

John Jeffers · Post by **John Jeffers** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:07 pm

thethingwiththestuff wrote:so this is a mod for the converters mainly, or the preamps too?

From what's on the site, it looks like it's more for the op amps. He says the MOTU converters are fine, the same ones used by "Apogee, RME, and others".

http://www.blacklionaudio.com/828.htm

I'm pretty interested in this for my 896. If anyone has gotten this done, let's hear about it!

thethingwiththestuff · Post by **thethingwiththestuff** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:23 pm

ah, i get it.....by improving the I/O opamps, the converters' goodness will be revealed. neat.

Brett Siler · Post by **Brett Siler** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:23 pm

I really want to try the SM Pro PR8 mod. I need a new 8 channel pre-amp and that seems like a really cheap way of getting some good mic pres. Although the SM Pro PR8MKll just came out, i wounder if he could mod that?.....

musikman316 · Post by **musikman316** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 3:36 pm

I've been looking for a new portable converter for recording live shows and this looks like it is exactly what I need, I can clack this with my Lucid and be ready to go. I bet the sound quality change is huge once you open up the I/O and get a stable clock on this thing...

One question though, can you daisy chain these boxes, or use them as standalong converters through the ADAT ports?

Thanks,
Josh

thethingwiththestuff · Post by **thethingwiththestuff** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:32 pm

the 828? you can chain them to other 828's or their 896's. they do not need a computer to operate (if that's what you mean by standalone) and they have lightpipe.

musikman316 · Post by **musikman316** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:53 pm

Yeah, I went to the MOTU site and read up on the 828, looks like 2 of those with my clock with this mod might be the best 16 channel option i've found yet!

Later,
Josh

thethingwiththestuff · Post by **thethingwiththestuff** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 6:20 pm

FWIW, i'm collaborating on a record by a friend new to music with another local engineer out of his house....the first morning, his digi002 died, and we swapped my 828 out and worked with no problems.....

armanbohn · Post by **armanbohn** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:50 pm

so does it cover all the ins and outs?

I guess from what I can tell on the site - it does.... hmmm

tablebeast · Post by **tablebeast** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:21 pm

I'm pretty sure it applies to all the ins and outs, at least thats the implication. I know he replaces all the opamps in the whole unit, including the headphone amp. I'm getting mine done ASAP. It should be a great peice of sleeper gear. Like everything esle I have, it might as well be modified.

Jesse

Arman · Post by **Arman** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 7:29 pm

taking the plunge

wake me when it's over...........

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Black Lion Audio MOTU 828 mk II MOD? Anyone Have one?

Black Lion Audio MOTU 828 mk II MOD? Anyone Have one?

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