I don't want to start any arguements, BUT it's interesting

[headman]

I always take this stuff with a grain of salt, but have a look at this topic on Gearslutz.
I wonder about listening tests and their results, and having put this up I suppose everyone can guess the result by default. The first post was 16 October, then the ball started rolling.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/gear-sho ... a8000.html

headman

[Thirteen]

Why do people do converter tests and then convert the results to MP3's to post them for others to compare? OK, I see someone talked him into posting proper files further down. I don't know the worth of things like this, Gearslutz is a chaotic mess with so much background noise, for all the talk on that forum there is so little information of value, it is such an easy place to waste time.

[TimS]

Hmm, interesting.

[NYMo]

Hi there,

Results don't really surprise me(people always said the b one was good)....luckily I now have both !
More snake oil in this business.....and manufacturing hype !

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

[Thirteen]

For what it's worth, I pulled my ADA8000 out of it's rack and binned it because it was so unreliable.

[TimS]

They did end up posting the original wav's as well if you went on to read the whole thread..

[Thirteen]

They did end up posting the original wav's as well if you went on to read the whole thread..

I initially read the first post and then went no further because it was the usual Gearslutz thing of putting up an MP3, I did go back out of morbid curiosity later just to see if anyone did ask for something better. I still doubt the methodology of the average Gearslut member with things like this, so I take them with a grain. The ADA8000 sounds good for the price, if you don't mind dealing with underrated phantom power capacitors that blow the power supply, a poorly designed power supply and general borderline build quality.

(Sorry, I must be in a grumpy mood tonight, but both be!@#$%^& and Gearslutz do my head in, so when you mix them together... :-)

[TimS]

They did end up posting the original wav's as well if you went on to read the whole thread..

I initially read the first post and then went no further because it was the usual Gearslutz thing of putting up an MP3, I did go back out of morbid curiosity later just to see if anyone did ask for something better. I still doubt the methodology of the average Gearslut member with things like this, so I take them with a grain. The ADA8000 sounds good for the price, if you don't mind dealing with underrated phantom power capacitors that blow the power supply, a poorly designed power supply and general borderline build quality.

(Sorry, I must be in a grumpy mood tonight, but both be!@#$%^& and Gearslutz do my head in, so when you mix them together... :-)

They could be modded though - JLM do a mod to them.. did you see the schematic in the thread on GS??

[Sammas]

Interest... though its only the D/A part of the conversion being tested. They didn't exactly skimp on the A/D conversion for the files.

[HA_DA_JA]

+1 for gearslutz being a black hole for sucking time.
IF you just spend the same amount of time using your gear and gretting the most out of it you wont be lusting after a new piece or wondering whether what you bought was any good.
I still enjoy spending some spare time going through gearslutz but as long as it is spare time (which is not that often) I have gained some useful tips and info.
E.G. I guess it is a trick everyone already knows but to make a mono vocal sound a little wider just make a mono aux track and buss the vocal to it, place a stereo picth shift with 1 side +8 cents and the other -8 cents and mix it in with the original vocal and low and behold a vocal that sounds a little wider.
Once again this was new for me but after I tried it I see I will be using it more.
Cheers

[NYMo]

Hi Dale,

Yeah.... I use the ole eventide 949 for that ;-)
Works great.

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

[heathen]

I've come to the conclusion that converter tests are useless anyway unless you take the results and burn them to CD for a listen. If I download a comparison between b#%&*^ and lynx then listen through my apogees there is absolutely no point, they will both sound ok.

But yeah burn it to cd and listen on a stereo or generic computer da outs then the results would probably be a little different.

I reckon gearslutz should be renamed to gearbitchez.

[Thirteen]

Posting a single stereo track recorded through 2 different converters is not a great comparison really. Depending on the source material they can sound almost the same. Where it gets a lot more obvious is when every track of a song is recorded using the particular converter, and has to handle drums, vocals, bass and so on separately. This kind of "mix build up" shows the limits of a particular converter more clearly I think.

[TimS]

+1 for gearslutz being a black hole for sucking time.
IF you just spend the same amount of time using your gear and gretting the most out of it you wont be lusting after a new piece or wondering whether what you bought was any good.
I still enjoy spending some spare time going through gearslutz but as long as it is spare time (which is not that often) I have gained some useful tips and info.
E.G. I guess it is a trick everyone already knows but to make a mono vocal sound a little wider just make a mono aux track and buss the vocal to it, place a stereo picth shift with 1 side +8 cents and the other -8 cents and mix it in with the original vocal and low and behold a vocal that sounds a little wider.
Once again this was new for me but after I tried it I see I will be using it more.
Cheers

Hey Dale,
I do that on guitars as well - I LOVE my pitch shift (it was a very 80's thing - think Lukather/Huff/Landau - LA rock session monsters)
Gives a very nice shimmer effect..
Tim..