Outboard D/A

[eon sol]

Could someone answer a couple of questions for me regarding Outboard D/A? I'm considering strengthening my signal chain. Right now I'm using an NTK directly into the Digi pre. I know the next logical step would be a better pre, but I'm still very curious about improved D/A and how it would interface into this chain.

So:

1) How would a D/A interface into my signal chain, assuming I decided to buy an external mic pre (assume Grace 101, I'm feeling lucky!). In this example, I'd like to know how the sound gets from my mouth all the way to the screen of PTLE, more or less. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

2) How would a good outboard D/A *really* effect my sound? Would I need to be a well learned audio engineer with years of experience to really appreciate the difference?

Thanks for your time.

eon

[gerax]

I think you mean a better A/D converter, not D/A, or you just meant that you actually need someting better for conversion back to analog to your monitors?

Well, both ways you would get a major sonic upgrade: put it this way, a dedicated converter (both A/D or D/A ) that costs alone more than the Digi itself (like RME or Apogee A/D 16) "should" be a little more high quality than the stock converters on our beloved blue box, since all of the R&D, budget and care have been dedicated to the converters only, without having to worry about anything else (mic pres, monitor circuitry, CPU interface, ecc..) so...
The signal chani would become : mic, good cable, good mic pre, new converter, digital out from the converter (SPdif or ADAT depending on the model) straight into the corresponding digital in of the 001, plain and simple but check the clocking of the units, usually 001 needs to be set as slave, or for external sync.

Digi converters are OK for ordinary "everyday" recordings, but if you really want to go high quality a dedicated converter is a wise move (followed by a good pre, since somebody says they don't feel the need for a converter once they switched to a good pre) and I think even if you're not an experienced engineer you'll note the difference (if not as strikingly just make an A/B test to find out); if you feel the need for a D/A converter you can spend on a really good 2 channel only D/A (unless you're doing surround or you need to use lots of hardware outboard ).
Either way make sure you clock the machines to the same device and that it feeds a good clock to the rest of the chain.

Hope this helps

L.G.

[Kev]

Originally posted by gabriel_p:
[QB]
isn't it a simple little device (a clock that sends a digital signal so everything is triggered accuratelly)?
QB]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I'm not usually in this section and not an expert on clocks ... and perhaps you should fire this over at John Klett or Nika ... but here goes.

No it is not that simple ... one day it will be easy but for now it is still a little hard.

Firstly it is fast and it is important to be very stable. In the past the method was to have a crystal and over clock and then synthesis to get the segments needed... Digi super clock stuff from years ago.

Now there are Phase Lock Loop methods that provide what is needed and now very stable. I won't bore with specifications but lets say just better. Those of you here that are in to Radio Frequency Stuff will probably recognise the terms used above and think this is old school. The key here is the stability and accuracy need for Audio Applications is greater so even though the methods are old, they had to be improved on.

Analog Devices make some stuff that you will probably find in many of the newer crop of Digital Audio Equipment .... from all the usual suspects and probably Digi... I haven't lifted the lid on the new stuff so I don't know.

This is not really a full explanation but I hope it is enough.

[gabriel_p]

This Q may sound silly, why (like everything in life)are there good clocks and bad ones?!? I know bad clocks create glitches in audio but why? isn't it a simple little device (a clock that sends a digital signal so everything is triggered accuratelly)?

Sorry, I don't have much experience with Digital clocks! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Stone Knife]

There are users who swear they get better results using external clocks over the internal 001 clocks... in fact it seems that there may be more improvement with better clocking than with some A/D and D/A upgrades.
I agree... searching the TDM Tips and Techniques will yield some great discussions on the topic- But the short answer seems to be yes- bad clocks and good clocks.

[gabriel_p]

Thanks Kev, I'll consider posting somewhere else. But I know some DUC buddies here know lots.