003r Still good for 12.7 and MacOS Sierra?

[nedorama]

Looking to upgrade from an mbox Pro 3, and I've heard that stock the 003R + is hard to beat in terms of sound quality.

Have others found success running 12.7 on MacOS Sierra? I ask because used these seem to be fairly cheap.

If there are other non-Avid interfaces recommended, let me know. Looking for better quality preamps and conversion. Prefer to buy used to stretch my dollars.

thanks!

[Cowboy Bob]

In my own experience, the 003R + runs just fine on Sierra. I've only used it with 12.6.1 though. However, I am sure it would be fine with 12.7.

I've semi-retired my trusty 003R+ and replaced it with the Focusrite Clarett 8Px. Thunderbolt vs FireWire. Higher resolution, more I/O, great sonding pre amps.

Just my opinion though.

[b mcgibney]

You'll think an 003 sounds good until you try RME:

[Southsidemusic]

Who said a DiGi 003 is "hard to beat in sound quality"

I can say that for $200 you can get a way better mic pre interface and that is much more modern aswell.

The person who said that doesn't know what he is talking about .. if you can get them cheap nowadays, what does that usually mean? .. i think they sound "OK" but would never buy one as there are soo many better alternatives out there for a very good price too.

[YYR123]

Yeah as everyone else's has already said....if your looking at it b/c of price....do it but I would get a 003 surface before a 003r+ just for the surface itself.

If price is not a concern, then Apogee, RME, MOTU.....are the best.

2nd tier would be Focusrite, Apollo...(I know)

[nedorama]

Originally Posted by Cowboy Bob

In my own experience, the 003R + runs just fine on Sierra. I've only used it with 12.6.1 though. However, I am sure it would be fine with 12.7.

I've semi-retired my trusty 003R+ and replaced it with the Focusrite Clarett 8Px. Thunderbolt vs FireWire. Higher resolution, more I/O, great sonding pre amps.

Just my opinion though.

thanks All - My gut told me that in the 10+ years since it was introduced that there would be better sounding interfaces, but then I look at the Black Lion Audio page and their subjective sound quality ratings https://blacklionaudio.com/mod-ratings/ and realize Digi put a lot into the 002 and 003 series - and then promptly took it out in the Mbox 3 series...

And yes, I would hope newer more expensive pres could sound better, but budget is also a concern. Would love to know others thoughts on the ratings in the link, as while it's subjective, certain brands like RME do score highest. Price is a concern as this is for home recording, not a studio.

[KV626]

Keep in mind that with the 003 you'll run into a well known bug/issue that will make your kernel_task eat up your cpu (100% or higher) when the interface is running. It has been never fixed since the Mavericks days, and probably never will, even if the 003 is still somewhat supported as a legacy interface.

I have never tested it under Sierra, but Mavericks, Yosemite and El Capitan all had the same problem with the 003 driver... So, yes, the 003s do work, but you might want to check if you either can live with this issue or not before making your decision...

[EGS]

Originally Posted by nedorama

...but then I look at the Black Lion Audio page and their subjective sound quality ratings https://blacklionaudio.com/mod-ratings/ ...

That's an interesting chart. I wonder how they arrived at those results. BLA, can you tell us the testing used ???

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by EGS

That's an interesting chart. I wonder how they arrived at those results. BLA, can you tell us the testing used ???

Exactly!!

Some of that looks prrrrrretty ... well ... exaggerated

They say that a old 002 sounds 25-30% better than a UA Apollo Quad .. right

[AlexLakis]

I don't know about BLA 002 vs. Apollo, but it definitely was a night/day moment for me when I received my 002 back from BLA. Great improvements.

I run my 002 on OSX 10.8.5 with Pro Tools 12.1. No issues, full functionality.