I've heard that the converters in Pro Tools Digi 001, some other sound cards, and in the common stand-alone DAWs (Roland VS, Yamaha, etc) are not very good... that if one truly wants a nice sound out of any of these, one should bypass the onboard converters and use an A/D converter. OK, here's my dumb question:
* If you use the A/D converter, you're plugging your analog source into an outboard A/D unit, then plugging the outboard unit into the S/PDIF ins of your digital hardware, thereby never using the analog ins on the unit ... right???
OK, here's some follow-up questions for those of you who've used or considered using "after-market" A/D converters:
1. What gear (A/D converter, recording hardware whose converters you bypass) are you using?
2. What A/D converters did you try out before you chose the one you use now? Is there any hardware with good enough A/D (besides ADAT, unless you have a cost-effective solution for using these) to avoid using an external converter?
3. Some names I've heard but probably can't afford are Apogee and Lucid. Other names I probably CAN afford are Flying Calf (who makes this, or is that the manufacturer?), Behringer, ART ... but is going with any of these really any better than the A/D found in DAW analog ins?
* If you use the A/D converter, you're plugging your analog source into an outboard A/D unit, then plugging the outboard unit into the S/PDIF ins of your digital hardware, thereby never using the analog ins on the unit ... right???
OK, here's some follow-up questions for those of you who've used or considered using "after-market" A/D converters:
1. What gear (A/D converter, recording hardware whose converters you bypass) are you using?
2. What A/D converters did you try out before you chose the one you use now? Is there any hardware with good enough A/D (besides ADAT, unless you have a cost-effective solution for using these) to avoid using an external converter?
3. Some names I've heard but probably can't afford are Apogee and Lucid. Other names I probably CAN afford are Flying Calf (who makes this, or is that the manufacturer?), Behringer, ART ... but is going with any of these really any better than the A/D found in DAW analog ins?