Eleven rack AD-DA quality

[hollow]

Hey everyone,

Anybody know any specs/quality info about the AD DA on the eleven rack?


That part has always been the very weak link on for example the pods...


My main question bout this is regarding the effect loop. Is there any sound quality loss due to the conversion when going out of the 11r -> into a effect stomp box and back in again?

???

[nst7]

I don't know the specs, but I briefly had the unit, and the conversion quality is less than that of the 003, which itself is nothing to write home about.

But it's at least as good or better than the new Line 6 HD 500, etc.

None of this is meant as a slam. At this price point, it's hard to pack all those features in, so none of these types of effects boxes are going to sound like Lavrys or Apogees.

And as you can see from the various videos and audio examples, people are making some great music with the 11R.

But if you have access to a high quality digital converter and DI and preamp, it will definitely improve your recordings. Though it would not be practical to take all that extra stuff out on live gigs.


As for the effects loop, you may slightly use some quality simply because of the extra step of conversion. But if you mainly use it for delays or reverbs, it won't be much of an issue because you'll be using the wet/dry control on the 11R, which means most of your signal will be the non-converted signal from the rack. If you do lose any quality on the wet signal, it may actually help to differentiate it from the dry signal, which could have a positive effect.

[derker]

Originally Posted by nst7

I don't know the specs, but I briefly had the unit, and the conversion quality is less than that of the 003, which itself is nothing to write home about.

I'd love to see the Avid guys comment about the converters in 11r and how they compare to related products.

I've used the mic pre on my 11r with great results. Sounds better than my buddy's 002.

[hollow]

Originally Posted by derker

I'd love to see the Avid guys comment about the converters in 11r and how they compare to related products.

I've used the mic pre on my 11r with great results. Sounds better than my buddy's 002.

I'm with you man, I'd love to see that as well

[nst7]

I was just going by my ears, which is not really scientific. Also, the 003 is better than the 002, so it may be that the 11R is closer to 003 quality than 002, which would explain it sounding better.

Keep in mind that even if they use the same converter chips, the design is completely different, which can affect sound quality in various ways. I only know this because of contacting Black Lion Audio early on about modding the 11R. They mentioned it was a totally different design than the 002/003.

But I agree, it would be nice to hear the official word on this. It would also be nice if Avid released a "Technology Guide" like they did for the new Mboxes. That was very informative.

[zedhed]

I use a 003 with an 11R and I always use the 003 converters. They sound better to me, though I don't know what the tech specs say on either unit.

[stvnscott]

I run my 11R into my MOTU HD192 to skip the DA conversion. It sounds much better to me that way. The other benefit is the MOTU's PCI interface, which means my roundtrip latency, including effects, is only 3.2ms. I can't get anywhere near that with the 11R as an interface.

[ketar]

For what I know it should use the same converters of 003

http://www.audiomidi.com/content/rev...levenrack.aspx

[hollow]

Originally Posted by stvnscott

I run my 11R into my MOTU HD192 to skip the DA conversion. It sounds much better to me that way. The other benefit is the MOTU's PCI interface, which means my roundtrip latency, including effects, is only 3.2ms. I can't get anywhere near that with the 11R as an interface.

So you're running digital out of the eleven rack into the MOTU? SPDIF or AES?

[stvnscott]

^ aes.