Blacklist of Audio Interfaces/Devices to Avoid

[drtechno]

some reviewed by people I really respect for their pedigree of technical expertise

A lot of times, things are paid endorsements. Also, a lot of these interfaces use a bad grounding scheme. That is why they are prone to ground loops.

The trackmaster pro was another terrible mic preamp that they made that had issues with some mics.

Dbx 286s is another crappy mic pre/channel strip, Lots of noise. But that was from using lower quality and off the wall parts like video op amps. So its bad because of that instead of compatibility issues.

 

[TAE]

I once took a journey from Los Angeles down to Mexico City in an old truck. Now I could have said oh hell no it is not in perfect condition. I need to only drive the newest and best built vehicle there is today anything less than that is blacklisted. FWIW we made it all the way there and back with no problems. I understand you have come up with a theory and a benchmark that you believe will be helpful in folks trying to record making prudent buying decisions. Clearly it's a high bar and also clearly many of us here think your bar is way too high. Some of us are just fine with our old trucks. They get us to where we want to go just fine. Nevertheless you put some time and energy in to it and believe it is accurate, unbiased and valid. Just not useful to a lot of us and kind of annoying when we know that what you have blacklisted has served us well with no problems.

 

[drtechno]

I once took a journey from Los Angeles down to Mexico City in an old truck. Now I could have said oh hell no it is not in perfect condition. I need to only drive the newest and best built vehicle there is today anything less than that is blacklisted. FWIW we made it all the way there and back with no problems. I understand you have come up with a theory and a benchmark that you believe will be helpful in folks trying to record making prudent buying decisions. Clearly it's a high bar and also clearly many of us here think your bar is way too high. Some of us are just fine with our old trucks. They get us to where we want to go just fine. Nevertheless you put some time and energy in to it and believe it is accurate, unbiased and valid. Just not useful to a lot of us and kind of annoying when we know that what you have blacklisted has served us well with no problems.

The whole thing about it is that they made it wrong on purpose. Because in a lot of cases its only 1-3 different parts that have the wrong value causing the input impedance to be that high.

 

[Slouching Raymond]

It is just worth saying that we should tolerate free speech. Somebody having a blacklist is fine, and others can make their own minds up.
It is really annoying when you have paid for a product only to find it is a pile of s**t.
I have bought a few products that turned out to be totally useless.
It is my decision to make, and I'll go ahead and buy something, even if I've read bad reviews.
You have to question what's in the mind of the bad review author.

 

[grimtraveller]

It is just worth saying that we should tolerate free speech. Somebody having a blacklist is fine, and others can make their own minds up

Agreed, but it is a matter of how that free speech is relayed. If Doc said, "I think these products are shit and should be blacklisted and this is why...." that would be very different to stating that they are crap and to be blacklisted. It's a subtle distinction until one looks closely and realises it's an atom bomb.
Opinions are not necessarily facts.

 

[rob aylestone]

My feeling is that reviews of anything need to be honest, and have enough balance people can pick and choose what they think is vital. A pro or con list must be accurate to be of any use, or perfectly good items get rejected and potentially bad ones get purchased. I have no problem with testing something and telling people what I found - but I have trouble in assessing validity from strangers. On this forum, for example - we know people's likes and dislikes after a year or two and we know their little picky areas - so when lazer, for example says the distortion wasn't really enough - I know his liking for it - so his comments make sense in context - because he pays lots of attention to that area. Still useful comments, and people can ask questions on a comment "was that when you had the XYZ in or out?" and he can say absolutely IN. The danger with unattributed comments is that the statement of crapacity could have been made by a person eminently capable of proving it, or by a 14 year old using a cheap laptop and pirated software on earbuds who knows little. In the middle come students with the often totally misunderstood process they got wrong and slagged the product off. Collecting negative reviews on hotels for instance, shows trends maybe - but often the review of a place you stayed in happily makes you wonder?

Like trustpilot - if you don't swear and curse, your review could influence people the wrong way? Worse nowadays, false claims that damage reputation can cost you! I don't like XYZ is honest opinion. XYZ mislead in their specs and employ child labour might be actionable.

 

[drtechno]

It is just worth saying that we should tolerate free speech. Somebody having a blacklist is fine, and others can make their own minds up.
It is really annoying when you have paid for a product only to find it is a pile of s**t.
I have bought a few products that turned out to be totally useless.
It is my decision to make, and I'll go ahead and buy something, even if I've read bad reviews.
You have to question what's in the mind of the bad review author.

I don't like them because mics shouldn't change their basic characteristics. So I expect my e835 to sound like an e835 instead of an sm7 because the highs got attenuated with a badly design mic pre. I don't always track in the same place with the same equipment and its annoying at times. Problem with using an EQ with it is the attenuation of the highs is a phase shift as well. You might be able to get something good out of them because you are tracking with all the same interface/mic pre.