Difference between black face and silver face?

[tws]

I was wondering what the difference was. Is one better than the other?

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Blackface are the original units....... 16-bit... there were different models of silverface... the XT was 16-bit but had a more robust transport and faster lock-up/response times.

The XT20 came out later featuring 20-bit converters...

 

[Stefan Elmblad]

The Blackface has reversed polarity compared to the XT, XT20 and LX20.

 

[eh91311]

blackface, XT, XT20, LX

All ADAT units sound a little different from each other. Overall, the last model (XT20, type II) probably sounds the best, due to the more modern 20-bit converters. Many people don't mind the original blackface units, as the 1st generation digital converters have a more "aggressive" sound quality.

 

[sweetnubs]

shit I love the last comment. Let me wax poetically for a moment: aaaaahhh those vintage black face adats sounded so much better than the newer models, so gritty and aggressive. Those were the days. Holy fucking shit that is funny . . . .

 

[eh91311]

?

Sweetnubs, perhaps you should read my post again, from first word to last.

 

[prayerfurnace]

IMO: The blackface ADATs sound a whole lot better than any of the other ADATs. Plus they are far more reliable. I probably am sitting on around 12 to 20 broken XTs and LXs. The problem with fixing them-we can't get the parts too easily.

John
www.midtowninstrumentrental.com