Neve Portico vs DMP3, VM Pro, Great River,

[Rodger Hartlett]

That was one of my points.Those things can be dangerous.they are a cheap alternative to internal power supplies that are robust and reliable.

Choosing not to buy cause it doesn't have internal power supply just makes me laugh. Sorry, but in that case you have just been reading too many Behringer ads. Try to use your ears and make an opinion that's not so obviously childish.

it's not about the sound dude it's about value for money.

 

[CoolCat]

whooa..scary thoughts

yeah Heat and Electronics are bad...so what do we do?

we build a Wal-Wart!!
We make it air tight, cram a bunch of electronics in it and then stick it in the wall to get full AC!
whooa. thats fried..

yeah thats another plus for an internal P.S. maybe at least some breathing air!

i worked for a company that knew they had a bad part in it, but they made a lot of money selling that part and the broken robot parts that would fail because of it also. it wasn't really a planned Eng design..but it was a "known" cash cow...."so why fix it!" i guess was the greedy exec corps point of view. Customers didn't seem to mind either?

Teac kept making their cassette players cheaper and cheaper until no one bought them anymore.

 

[Stefan Elmblad]

it's not about the sound dude it's about value for money.

I see. But if the sound is equal and the wallwart is cheaper (in fact much cheaper if unit is to be sold worldwide which it is), isn't that a better value then?

If the wallwart is of good quality and with performance enough for the preamp's power consumption, I fail to see why it should catch fire more freqently than an internal one.

 

[fraserhutch]

it's not about the sound dude it's about value for money.

Of COURSE it's about the sound! Do you think the audience gives a crap about the great deal I got on the gear I used to make a recording?

Now if you want to argue tyhat there are better deals out there, present them. Don't blow this shit out of your ass. Until someone proves to us we can get a better deal than the Portico, your ministrations are meaningless.

 

[warble]

...and the wheel, goes round, and round. BUT I'm learning valuable stuff here:

Wallwarts get hot. Wallwarts are dangerous. Wallwarts are a cheap way to supply power when an internal supply should be used for quality. Sound has nothing to do with the selection of gear, but rather whether or not it has an internal or external power supply and is a great value (I'm not sure what's more important here because I've gotten gear with wallwarts that was a good value, and also sounded great, but that damn power supply...)

Crap, I gotta dump quite a bit of gear now so:

A. I can decrease the risk of something serious happening in my studio (even though common sense has allowed me to use gear with external power supplies for years without incident)
B. I can move on from the mistakes I've made by selecting gear I thought sounded good, when it really doesn't matter.

Thanks Rodger. Where were you a few years back when I got into all this stuff. If what I posted sounds ridiculous, it's suppose to.

 

[acorec]

That was one of my points.Those things can be dangerous.they are a cheap alternative to internal power supplies that are robust and reliable.

it's not about the sound dude it's about value for money.

An internal power supply does not make it "robust and reliable" The design does. A wall-wart is a cheap, poorly designed device. There are external power supplies that are more reliable than some internal power supplies.

The design and component selection dictates the reliability and performance characteristics of any power supply.

 

[Rodger Hartlett]

The design and component selection dictates the reliability and performance characteristics of any power supply.

what about space and heat dissappation?what about solder joints that are made by humans as opposed to automated soldering?they suffer the most under heated conditions.if it's an AC to AC wall wart the only major component is the mains transformer. if its AC to DC wallwart then ithas a bridge rectifier and a smoothing capacitor or two . big deal .not many components there .and none of them pass audio.

There are external power supplies that are more reliable than some internal power supplies.

we're talking about the neve protico that has a wall wart

Crap, I gotta dump quite a bit of gear now so:
A. I can decrease the risk of something serious happening in my studio (even though common sense has allowed me to use gear with external power supplies for years without incident)
B. I can move on from the mistakes I've made by selecting gear I thought sounded good, when it really doesn't matter.

Thanks Rodger. Where were you a few years back when I got into all this stuff. If what I posted sounds ridiculous, it's suppose to.

no it doesn't sound ridiculous it sounds immature

 

[warble]

no it doesn't sound ridiculous it sounds immature

Why thank you! That warmed my heart today.

By the way... your opinions, are they specific to the new portico that you haven't tried out yet, or to all gear in general that uses wallwarts? I may be misunderstanding that.

 

[CoolCat]

If the wallwart is of good quality and with performance enough for the preamp's power consumption, I fail to see why it should catch fire more freqently than an internal one.

Wal Warts, if plugged straight into the wall, never turn off..they just get hot and melt.
Walwarts should plug into a AC strip or something that can turn it off when your not recording...or unplug it from the wall when not in use.

Most internal P.S have the house ac disconnected with the ON/OFF switch.

Energy never dies it just changes states...to heat in some cases.

 

[centurymantra]

Just to throw something in this conversation...let's not forget that a good outboard power supply would actually be preferable in many ways to an internal PS. My phono stage in my stereo rig utilizes a very substantial outboard power supply in it's own enclosure and I've had preamps in my stereo that utilize an outboard power supply as well. These are definitely NOT wall-warts and are typically very robust, over-engineered, enclosed in a proper casing, and usually heavier and more substantial than the box with the electronics. This isn't that uncommon to see in some of the more high-end audio equipment (usually pre-amps and phono stages). I've actually wondered on occasion if there are any pro audio manufacturers attempting this. This would, of course, be impractical in that it would occupy double the rack space and would certainly jack the price of the piece up, but it seems like some of the ultra high-end stuff would be a prospect for this kind of treatment.

 

[acorec]

what about space and heat dissappation?what about solder joints that are made by humans as opposed to automated soldering?they suffer the most under heated conditions.if it's an AC to AC wall wart the only major component is the mains transformer. if its AC to DC wallwart then ithas a bridge rectifier and a smoothing capacitor or two . big deal .not many components there .and none of them pass audio.
we're talking about the neve protico that has a wall wart

These considerations such as heat dissapation etc. are called DESIGN

DESIGN takes all these PARAMETERS into account. Mr. Neve has enough DESIGN EXPERIENCE to DESIGN a well thought out studio tool.

By all accounts, the Portico does not use a plastic encased wal-wart. It uses an external power supply much like my Avalon pre-amps. It is totally an A+ DESIGN. Can you read these words and make any kind of a connection?

 

[junplugged]

I thought about the portico, but without better mics and converters, and still not really being able to afford all of that, I just upgraded to the dmp3.

 

[acorec]

I thought about the portico, but without better mics and converters, and still not really being able to afford all of that, I just upgraded to the dmp3.

Well, be happy because my DMP3 sits in my rack next to many high-bucks units and still sounds impressive.

Me likey................

 

[junplugged]

I came close to kicking self for not getting the FMR RNP but then I figured, it's still less for DMP3 and I could try that one later, if I'm still trying to record.... and the DMP is popular enough to resell if after a while I don't feel like I need it.

 

[warble]

That's one thing I haven't got - a DMP3! Just got a Firepod though (which has a stupid external power supply , but somehow sounds good), so I don't think I'd need it now. I've always been curious about them though - a million glowing reviews here on hr.com. Does the DMP3 have an external supply? I'm guessing it does, which makes me wonder how it could sound so good.

 

[BRIEFCASEMANX]

That's one thing I haven't got - a DMP3! Just got a Firepod though (which has a stupid external power supply , but somehow sounds good), so I don't think I'd need it now. I've always been curious about them though - a million glowing reviews here on hr.com. Does the DMP3 have an external supply? I'm guessing it does, which makes me wonder how it could sound so good.

The DMP3 is much better sounding than the firepods pres to my ears. The lows are fuller on the DMP3 and the firepods pres sound a tad murky in the high compared to the DMP3 which sounds more clear.

 

[Stefan Elmblad]

Wal Warts, if plugged straight into the wall, never turn off..they just get hot and melt.
Walwarts should plug into a AC strip or something that can turn it off when your not recording...

Well, I did know that. My whole studio is wired so I can turn on console, speakers and the racks one at the time. No voltage in any outlet when I leave.

Wallwarts can of course get warm and so on, but they don't have to melt and burn just because some design has sometime. That's a silly statement. I don't know if the Neve wallwart is good or bad, but I won't comment on that until I've had it in my hands.

 

[warble]

The DMP3 is much better sounding than the firepods pres to my ears. The lows are fuller on the DMP3 and the firepods pres sound a tad murky in the high compared to the DMP3 which sounds more clear.

Interesting. I have a VTB-1 that I was planning on using for vocals, but so far, I've been pleased with the pres in the firepod - and have tracked an entire band with them. I might have to check out a DMP3 for my arsenal though...

 

[The Axis]

Great River - Interestingly enough, if you use the Silk button on the Portico it sounds very similar to the Great River, ....

That was similar to my observation of the GR also. The GR has a pleasant sound, but it is definitely not transparent. It sounds like it has an "exciter" function operating on the high end frequencies. This can simply be a slight phase mismatch on two portions of the signal remixed. Just speculating, though.

DMP3- Simply stated, this is an amazing little preamp. I'm not going to say it came close to the Great River .....

Speaking of its predecessor, the DMP2, I would say it definitely BEATS the GR on sound alone.
But the DMP is very cheaply built, whereas the GR is heavyweight, studio-quality construction.

If you ever get the opportunity, test an earthworks.

 

[Rodger Hartlett]

If you ever get the opportunity, test an earthworks.

do they use wall warts?