Pristine sound in

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crazydoc

crazydoc

Master Baiter
I'm looking for a mic pre and soundcard to get the most pristine, unaltered sound for voice or accoustic instrument into the computer, in the $1500 or less range. Single channel.

So far I've come up with the Lynx L22 card and the John Hardy M1 pre.

I've no experience with higher end gear. Does anybody have opinions on better or cheaper equivalent gear for my purpose?
 
If truly looking for "unaltered sound", I personally wouldn't be buying a preamp with a transformer input or output.

I myself would be looking further into the DaviSound TB-6, Millennia Media HV-3B, Crane Song Flamingo, Grace Design 101 or 201, Sytek MPX-4Aii, and Earthworks 1021 or 1022.

Not to say that I wouldn't take a John Hardy M-1 or a Jensen Twin Servo 990 ANY day of the week for ANY applcation (In fact, my rack WILL have one or the other, one day!), but I myself don't see any preamp with a transformer being "unaltering"; regardless of the transformer of choice.

As for the sound card, personally I'd buy something "decent enough for now" (if I had to), so I could afford the preamp of my choice now. If you don't already have something "decent enough", maybe a Delta 44 or something? (I really don't have much experience on this end.) I'd then go for Lucid converters or something later-on down the road for my next big purchase.

If there simply won't be another big purchase within the next 5 years, then maybe buy your Lynx L22 and your preamp decision will pretty much be made for you; as whatever you have remaining will go to your preamp.
 
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I use a Focusrite Trakmaster with the A/D card installed and a Rode NTK condenser into an Echo Mia soundcard via SP/DIF.

The sound *is* pristine, in my opinon, but you'll have to make sure the voice (male/female) you record sounds good using whatever combination you decide.

This gear falls around your budget.
 
crazydoc said:
I'm looking for a mic pre and soundcard to get the most pristine, unaltered sound for voice or accoustic instrument into the computer, in the $1500 or less range. Single channel.

So far I've come up with the Lynx L22 card and the John Hardy M1 pre.
Click to expand...

That sounds about right.
 
Recording Engineer said:
If truly looking for "unaltered sound", I personally wouldn't be buying a preamp with a transformer input or output.

I myself would be looking further into the DaviSound TB-6, Millennia Media HV-3B, Crane Song Flamingo, Grace Design 101 or 201, Sytek MPX-4Aii, and Earthworks 1021 or 1022.
Click to expand...

Alas, all except the Grace and Earthworks are out of my price range. It appears the Earthworks would give the truest "wire with gain" sound.

The Crane Song Flamingo sure looks interesting, with the four possible combinations of "fat" and "iron" sounds. Unfortunately both channels are switched to the same sound, and it's way out of my price range until I die and collect my life insurance.

Anyone familiar with the Crane Song?
 
word around town is its the shizznit...but i've never heard it...
 
Anybody know the Crane Song?

The Sabatron vmp2000e looks nice also, although it's a tube pre. Has anybody that's not in the review business used one?
 
Shizznit is good!! :)

How about Lynx L22 and a Sytek MPX-4aii.

$1525 + plus shipping by my calculations. With the Sytek you'll get two types of sounds too. Normal and then the Burr Browns on 3 and 4.

I am actually looking at the Lynx L22 myself, but I need the ADAT option with it.

Beez
 
crazydoc said:
Has anybody that's not in the review business used one?
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lol. :D That's a good one, Crazydoc. I'm LMAO over here.

I still dont' see what's wrong with the Hardy. That's probably about as pristine as it gets, according to my calculations. I wouldn't let the trannie scare you off. Especially if it's a Jensen. You're talking about a transformer that is designed to do it's function in a moreless pristine fashion, from what I can gather.
 
Absolutely NOTHING wrong with the Hardy! I say go for it with FULL throttle and don't (and you won't) look back! I was just simply stating that I wouldn't consider anything with iron in it to be "unaltering", due to the characteristics of transformers. Yes, even with the most latest and greatest.
 
The MiniMe is surprisingly good for the price, I like the converters in it better than the Rosetta. The mic pres are quite neutral - in a good way. However, the Earthworks is more like what I would describe as "pristine", and the Flamingo is drop-dead great!

Scott
 
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