C
cdwitmer
New member
WamiRack 192x versus LynxTwo -- please help me make up my mind!
I want my PC to do double duty - as a PAMS (PC-based Audiophile Media System) and also as a home recording system, and I would appreciate recommendations on hardware and software, especially soundcards.
The recording will be mostly of our family and friends singing Renaissance and Baroque songs, and my kids and their friends playing small ensembles of instruments and voice. Recording will be all from analog inputs, no digital or MIDI. Everything would be recorded all at once; nevertheless, I am tempted to think four inputs would be adequate, or perhaps even two . . . but I'm a just a newbie, so please correct me if I'm wrong on that point.
For playback, I want to use the soundcard's multiple outputs and a digital filter/equalizer program (i.e., computer software, like SoundEasy) to turn my computer into a digital crossover, from which I would output the different frequencies directly into their respective amplifiers for a multi-amp system. (Three-way.) This is not the most convenient way to listen to music, as the digital filter/equalizer software has to be running the whole time the music is playing, but if one computer can be dedicated to that, then it's not a problem. On the upside, the features of a program like SoundEasy are so sophisticated that all the speaker units and the listening room can be precisely equalized to achieve absolute optimum (i.e., perfectly flat response from 20-20kHz, and everything in perfect phase alignment) playback for that equipment, for that room. (The downside of this extremely powerful approach is that one can destroy tweeters and midrange drivers, and perhaps even woofers, if one isn't careful.)
The recording will start later, probably not until toward the end of this year. I still have to buy microphones, etc., but I'll put all that aside for the time being. On the other hand, I do have a pile of power amplifiers here waiting to be used in a multi-amp configuration to drive my three-way speakers.
Right now my main question is, do I want to go for a WamiRack 192x, with four inputs and eight outputs, but not-quite-ultimate sound quality, or go for a LynxTwo-B, with its two inputs and six outputs and over-the-top sound quality? Of course, the LynxTwo-B is also a few hundred dollars more. It is really hard to imagine anyone making a meaningful improvement on the sound quality of the LynxTwo. The WamiRack 192x is not quite as good - at least on paper and when measured by testing equipment - but I wonder if anyone can actually hear the difference between the LynxTwo and the WamiRack 192x . . . any comments that might help me make a decision would be greatly welcomed!
Christopher Witmer
I want my PC to do double duty - as a PAMS (PC-based Audiophile Media System) and also as a home recording system, and I would appreciate recommendations on hardware and software, especially soundcards.
The recording will be mostly of our family and friends singing Renaissance and Baroque songs, and my kids and their friends playing small ensembles of instruments and voice. Recording will be all from analog inputs, no digital or MIDI. Everything would be recorded all at once; nevertheless, I am tempted to think four inputs would be adequate, or perhaps even two . . . but I'm a just a newbie, so please correct me if I'm wrong on that point.
For playback, I want to use the soundcard's multiple outputs and a digital filter/equalizer program (i.e., computer software, like SoundEasy) to turn my computer into a digital crossover, from which I would output the different frequencies directly into their respective amplifiers for a multi-amp system. (Three-way.) This is not the most convenient way to listen to music, as the digital filter/equalizer software has to be running the whole time the music is playing, but if one computer can be dedicated to that, then it's not a problem. On the upside, the features of a program like SoundEasy are so sophisticated that all the speaker units and the listening room can be precisely equalized to achieve absolute optimum (i.e., perfectly flat response from 20-20kHz, and everything in perfect phase alignment) playback for that equipment, for that room. (The downside of this extremely powerful approach is that one can destroy tweeters and midrange drivers, and perhaps even woofers, if one isn't careful.)
The recording will start later, probably not until toward the end of this year. I still have to buy microphones, etc., but I'll put all that aside for the time being. On the other hand, I do have a pile of power amplifiers here waiting to be used in a multi-amp configuration to drive my three-way speakers.
Right now my main question is, do I want to go for a WamiRack 192x, with four inputs and eight outputs, but not-quite-ultimate sound quality, or go for a LynxTwo-B, with its two inputs and six outputs and over-the-top sound quality? Of course, the LynxTwo-B is also a few hundred dollars more. It is really hard to imagine anyone making a meaningful improvement on the sound quality of the LynxTwo. The WamiRack 192x is not quite as good - at least on paper and when measured by testing equipment - but I wonder if anyone can actually hear the difference between the LynxTwo and the WamiRack 192x . . . any comments that might help me make a decision would be greatly welcomed!
Christopher Witmer