Convertors...

[johnnypraze]

I'm currently working with an Echo Mia. I've had it for years, and it was never a major concern of mine to upgrade.

Now I'm begining to think it may be limiting my sound from what I read concerning good convertors. I guess it doesnt make sense to have $3000 in a mic and preamp, and $100 in A/D conversion.

How much do convertors affect the sound?

Problem is, I dont know what I'm looking for. Everything is around the $1000 range or more and most, if not all, of them have built in pres, in and outs I dont need, and other bells and whistles that jack up the price.

Are there any options that are worth the upgrade from the Mia in the $500 range? All I really need is an analog in and stereo outs. Anything after that is just icing.

Also, I can do firewire or PCI.

Thanks in advance...

 

[Massive Master]

The MIA doesn't suck, but you can certainly do better. If nothing else, the interface itself is pretty rock-solid - So and external unit wouldn't be out of the question at all. Used MOTU Traveler perhaps? RME, Lynx, all solid performers.

 

[BRDTS]

I'm a big fan of Echo and if you move into the newer versions (3g, Audiofires etc), you're moving into some nice converters. I don't personally believe RME or Motu units are better in that department. Taking it even further, there are quite a few Gearlslutz posts from guys who have both Echo and Apogee in the same rooms and do not hear an appreciable diff in those two. That always sounds like a pretty good endorsement for Echo. Layla3g or Audiofires are also in your price ballpark. If you're going Firewire, the Audiofire 12 has simple line in/out without all the extras. I personally don't mind having the heaphone connections, extra couple of mic/instrument inputs found on the Layla3g and Audiofire 8.

 

[johnnypraze]

I'm a big fan of Echo and if you move into the newer versions (3g, Audiofires etc), you're moving into some nice converters. I don't personally believe RME or Motu units are better in that department. Taking it even further, there are quite a few Gearlslutz posts from guys who have both Echo and Apogee in the same rooms and do not hear an appreciable diff in those two. That always sounds like a pretty good endorsement for Echo. Layla3g or Audiofires are also in your price ballpark. If you're going Firewire, the Audiofire 12 has simple line in/out without all the extras. I personally don't mind having the heaphone connections, extra couple of mic/instrument inputs found on the Layla3g and Audiofire 8.

I was looking at both the Motu traveler, Layla3g and Audiofire 8. Thanks, I'm going to check them out some more...