lucid or Rosetta

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frist44

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Anyone have any opinions of these two converters. I know blue bear uses the lucid and really likes it. They both are quite cheap considering their function on the used market. I'm wondering if the rosetta will truely live up to the apogee hype and impress. The lucid can't be far behind (if any). I'm using an RME multiface right now and looking to upgrade 2 channels of a/d just for qualitys sake.

Some posts on RAP hinted at the idea of the Lucid adding more highs to your sound. The apogee has the soft limiting which sounds useful, but I don't think it will be the deciding factor in my purchase.

Thanks,
Brandon
 
Well, since I have both I'll throw my 2¢ in.
I like the Lucid just a little bit more, though the difference between them fairly subtle. It's hard to characterize the difference, but the Lucid sounds to me a bit smoother & more natural, particularly on things like the decay of an acoustic guitar note or chord. As far as the limiting goes, I prefer to handle dynamics before the signal hits the converter with a good analog compressor (I much prefer the sound of light compression over the whole signal to peak limiting).

Scott
 
digitmus-Thank you for your response. I was hoping I would hear from some people that have both. I feel the same way about signals entering the converters, I would most likely perform any signal processing before hand. Honestly, the apogee would have to much better for me to justify buying it, as it is a fair amount more. Will I notice an obvious difference when upgrading to one of these converters from the RME? Is there a certain style that you think the lucid or apogee would fit better with? I wish I could hear them both in person, but there's no store near hear offering that opportunity.

Brandon
 
you should put the mini me on that list....from what i've 'heard'(forums and what not) it has the best soft limit function of any of the apogee products...and its a/d is just as good as the top of the line apogee products...pre amps are usuable as well...YMMV
 
Is there any way to bypass the pres on it? I would think I would rather use some of my own pres to get a certain sound, whatever the situation would call for.

Brandon
 
Yep, you can go line in to the MiniMe, and it has compression as well as limiting. I use one for location recording of classical music - quite nice. It has one big drawback IMO, no wordclock in or out. That means you must connect it to something which derives its clocking from the information imbedded in the digital audio stream. The Lucid has WC in, and the Rosetta has WC out (meaning it must always be the master clock).
RE: your previous questions - I can't really say that the sound of either converter is better (or worse) for any particular style of music, they're just (slightly) different and I have a preferrence for the Lucid. As far as upgrading from the RME - the differences in converters are subtle; most people won't notice a lot until they've laid down 15-20 tracks. It's cumulative thing...

Scott
 
Teacher said:
you should put the mini me on that list...
Click to expand...

The Mini-ME is the best thing Apogee has released in years... the converters are the best I've heard from Apogee, the 'soft-limit' function is actually very useable [which it really wasn't on things like the Rosetta... at least I didn't find it very musical sounding on things like the Rosetta... but do find it very musical on the Mini-ME]... the mic amps are OK... but you can absolutely use it 'line in' with outboard mic amps or the output of a mixer.

FWIW, I have found the Mini-ME to be more in the ballpark with the Lucid 9624 than the Rosetta ever was.

As always, your mileage may vary.
 
Fletcher-So i am assuming you prefer the Lucid to the Rosetta. Is there any one thing about it that stands out to you regarding the quality of the sound?

Thanks,
Brandon
 
Brandon... other than 'depth', 'dimension', size of the 'soundfield', 'clarity', and overall 'opulence'... I think they're pretty close...
 
Well I guess that about sums it up...


Thanks again for the help
 
Mytek is also coming out with their 2 channel A/D converter, and it should be out in about a month. It's the same converter found in their $3K 8 channel unit. To my ears it sounds better than the Rosetta or the Lucid by leaps and bounds.

Nathan Eldred
atlasproaudio.com
 
nathan,
how much do you think that will be selling for?

Thanks,
Brandon
 
For that matter, Benchmark is about to realease their ADC-1 ... which in theory is supposed to go for $850 just like the DAC-1
 
I heard about the Benchmark.

I'm ready for all of them to come out and then we can get down to business. I suppose I'll wait until those converters come out and then make my decision, as I'm doing anything important in the next few months.

Is it fair to say that both the Benchmark and Mytek would be of better quality then then Lucid? I don't think Apogee is in the race anymore considering the cheaper solutions coming that will all have similar features.


Thanks for the help,
Brandon
 
its the clash of the pimps...one sells benchmark the other mytek...which will u buy?
 
frist44 said:


Is it fair to say that both the Benchmark and Mytek would be of better quality then then Lucid? I don't think Apogee is in the race anymore considering the cheaper solutions coming that will all have similar features.
Click to expand...

I feel you are on the right track with Benchmark and Mytek. They are both companies that make a very high quality product. BTW, the fact that we don't currently carry Benchmark does not reflect on anything other than I've got a million things on my plate to take care of. One day at a time....

Nathan Eldred
atlasproaudio.com
 
Nathan-Thanks for all your help and the email links. The Benchmark DAC-1 seemed to make quite an impact once people got their hands on it. Hopefully their ADC will to the same. I'm not very familiar with the Mytek products aside from the fact that they're mostly used in a serious recording environment. I guess I will consider it once they are readily available.

Thanks again,
Brandon
 
Teacher said:
its the clash of the pimps...one sells benchmark the other mytek...which will u buy?
Click to expand...

Yeah... that's pretty much what's going on. Bloody annoying ain't it.
 
not to me personally. having you and nate around for your experience and knowledge is well worth the few spam posts....;)
 
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