BLA "sparrow" A/D Converter - anyone have/use one?

[pixeltarian]

I would just like to see a stock, unmodded mbox2 or digi003 sound clip vs. an mbox2 using the sparrow...

too much to ask?

[dynomike]

I would just like to see a stock, unmodded mbox2 or digi003 sound clip vs. an mbox2 using the sparrow...

too much to ask?

There is a great soundclip of the BLA wordclock in action somewhere out there.. I imagine the results to share some similarities?

[Andy Peters]

Ned is right (I am an EE). I've heard lots of good things about Black Lion, so I'm sure they're doing a lot of things right, but this way of of spec-ing is just plain wrong.

Another EE here. Ned is completely correct and Black Lion's numbers/calculations are wrong.

-a

[GooberNumber9]

The Tweak 003 adds another 15dbV to the headroom of the existing stock 003 design

I'm with Ned. The above phrase makes absolutely no sense to me. You can't have a "15dbV [sic] increase" in anything, but you can have a 15 dB increase. Going from 2 dBV to 17 dBV is a 15 dB (no "v"!!) increase.

Look at it this way, Matt:
If you modded something and took its max output (lets say) from a stock .5 volts max output to a modded 1 volt output (a difference of .5 volts), how would you mention that spec on your web site? In mine and Ned's world, that would be a modest but repectable 6 dB increase (doubling of the voltage). According to your logic, you would claim that on your web site as a "-6 dB increase"!!! (.5 volts is -6 dBV). You can't have it both ways!

No offense and all respect to Matt and BLA. Personally, I can't see myself trying to justify something because Digidesign does it. I would want to distinguish myself as different from that type of company as much as possible.

[GooberNumber9]

I would just like to see a stock, unmodded mbox2 or digi003 sound clip vs. an mbox2 using the sparrow...

too much to ask?

I don't have a Sparrow (yet! - bad specs doesn't mean bad product any more than good specs means a good product). But I can say that after I started using an outboard A/D and D/A (and not a great one) on my MBox 2, I loved it a lot more. I'm a big non-fan of the Digidesign converters. If you're wondering whether it's better to use an external converter for your Digi rig, the answer is YES.