Omni Studio Pack vs. Delta 1010

C

copilotmusic

New member
Just purchased the Omni Studio Pack from M Audio, but I'm not sure if I should sell it and get the Delta 1010. I hear so much about the better convertors. The Omni Studio has D/A 103 db and A/D 99 db. The Delta 1010 has D/A 108 db and A/D 109 db. The Delta 1010's convertors are in the breakout box and with the Omni Studio the convertors are on the PCI card. I am an aspiring engineer who is still learning. Do these figures make a huge difference on the quality of sound i will be getting or should I stick with the Omni Studio and upgrade when my recognition of the differences is more evident than now. Will the Delta 1010's extra headroom allow me to get that extra level that I need, or can I achieve this with the Omni Studio and a decent Mastering program. Thank You for you help.
 
Personally, I think you'd be very hard pressed to hear a difference. For me, about the only situation where I'd consider the 1010 over the Omni is if I needed more tracks. So far, 4-in/4-out + SPDIF has been plenty.

I would keep the Omni and spend your money elsewhere. Keep in mind that the Omni has a great set of mic pre's and pretty extensive routing options while the 1010 is basically 8-in, 8-out. You'd at least have to pick up a nice mixer to replace these functions if you got a 1010...and you probably still wouldn't have as nice mic pre's.
 
Ir really depends on what your signal chain is going into the card. If you are using a SM57 with a behringer you will notice no difference. If you have a good condensor and preamp then you might notice a subtle increase in quality.
 
theOmni Studio uses the AKM 4524 converters while the 1010 uses the AKM 5383, which is a significant difference...however, both sound really good and it will come down to which has the features you need, as Dolemite pointed out......
 
hold on the AKM 5383, the 1010 has always had akm4393vf, did they change the chipsets? if so i have the newest ones in mine
 
As an owner of both cards I can tell you that there is a sig dif. If youre trying to record at a pro level, assuming your mixing skills are up to par you should go with the 1010. While the omni is definitely a great deal and one of the best all around cards out there right now given the pres, routing options, etc the fact that the converters reside in the computer is a big drawback. The specs really dont tell the whole story. Youre not going to get 99dB going in. 80-83dB is more like it and thats just line level. Subtract another 10dB for even fairly quiet mics depending on how noisy your studio is.

While you wont get 109dB going in with the 1010, you do get 10-15dB even 20dB more headroom, depending on your mixer/preamps and cables. That is alot when you start multiplying the tracks. Ive gotten good results with the omni but the definition in my mixes was 85-90% where I wanted it to be.
 
c9,
the 5383's are used for A/D conversion ( a little more critical) while the 4393's are used for D/A.......
 
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