HD I/O, Burl mothership, Apogee symphony... BUT WHICH ONE.

[artkran]

HD I/O OR, Burl mothership, OR Apogee symphony

Which is the way to go for? I am in the market for a good converter.
Currently using Omni. It is a great little box that does it all. I just heard a number of people said good things about those converters. So I might be upgrading soon.

[Darryl Ramm]

With no idea of your needs or budget you are not going to get very useful input here.

HD I/O looks like its getting replaced by Avid rebadging DAD interfaces at least at the high-end.

You sure you want Digilink? There are lots of great lower-cost/more flexible products in the Omni to HD IO and somewhat above options out there without Digilink. Do you need more than 32x32 physical IO? Do you want/need to keep the Omni or would you sell it?

Multiple I/O (Digilink/Thunderbolt) capability of a Symphony Mk II would rank it high in my book if wanting to currently keep Digilink connectivity.

[LukeHoward]

I've only really heard the Avids so I can't really offer much advice, but they sound fine to my ears (and at least you know that latency compensation etc all works fine). The Burls sound amazing (as in, the concept of them does) but depends if you want transparency in a converter or not.

[Josh Voyles]

Out of those options, the Burl is my favorite I've heard.

However, you've already got a good interface that presumably meets your needs.

If you haven't already, consider things that make much more of a difference than converters. I.E. Room Acoustics, Speakers, preamps, mic selection, mic placement, etc...

You could also consider things that could improve your workflow like a control surface.

[syMPh]

I Have a Symphony Mk1 and Omni... and tried AVID hd against Sym.. I find the Avid a bit "warmer" which almost leans towards a tape kind of vibe but it's not quite in the pocket... it's a little flabby on the bottom where the Symphony is not as fat on the bottom but it is tight and seems more natural and precise in the pocket. If i'm mixing in the box the omni is fine for monitoring but the symphony is just right, it also "feels" right. .. I did a session with DAD Ax32 ages ago and really liked it.. i'm considering MTRX myself.. Burl i love the idea of but haven't heard yet. would love to A/B against a Studer 800 which was my favourite sound.. well still is lol..

good luck with the decisions :)

[artkran]

Thanks everyone for your inputs. I am not a sound engineer or even work in any kind of music production. I will use this interface to digitise my collection of Vinyl. My MY16 Mini cooper doesn't have a CD player anymore. I can't even buy it as an option. I brought an Avid native+omni as an interface to record the best possible file and bounce it to 24/192 for playing with AK380 in my car and in my home system.

With all that said, all i really need is a really good 2 channels recorder. The reason I go with protools is to cut away all the pop and hiss noises from vinyl record.

I found that my omni might not be up to this task. It sounded bit too flat and lifeless when compare to the playback from vinyl when playing back through the same system. I am considering an upgrade. If there is a better option than the one listed above, Please advice. IT doesn't have to be Avid mini digilink AD converter. I have heard that too many songs in the market were recorded with protools. So this is where I begin my journey in audio recording.

[LukeHoward]

Dumb question but - you are using a vinyl preamp yes? I've digitized test pressings into my Omni (using a balanced RIAA preamp into the Omni's mic preamp) and it sounded good to me.

[artkran]

Originally Posted by LukeHoward

Dumb question but - you are using a vinyl preamp yes? I've digitized test pressings into my Omni (using a balanced RIAA preamp into the Omni's mic preamp) and it sounded good to me.

Yes, Omni does sound good. It is clearly noticeable when playing back in my system.( Both portable and home system.) I felt that something is missing. It sound like a bit of cloudiness was added somewhere. Playing back was from protools software -> AES digital cable to Esoteric D-02X.