Topic: ADC Shootout! Mytek 192 ADC vs Lunatec V3 vs Korg MR-1

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I don't think I'll ever sell any part of my rig now. My wife let me put together my dream rig, as long as I don't ask to buy anything else at this point. I just hope my ears will just grow into this rig as I get better at taping and listening.

I think that was a tactical mistake, you should have negotiated for box count; "I'm selling this box, for this new one, even wash 1 for 1, love you honey!" 

beware the placebo and confirmation bias effects though...

I picked out the Korg, but mixed up the other two.

I've really liked the Mytek ADC sound in samples I've heard and assumed that was #3 (which I prefered), but as a V3 owner I'm happy to find I guessed wrong!

Yeah, picking the Korg was easy enough. I knew enough about the other two to figure they would sound similar.

I think it takes quite a few recordings to appreciate the character of gear.  So no way would I discount the mytek at all from this comp.

I agree, I wouldn't discount it yet. I would like to hear a comp where the psp2 isn't used in optimum conditions, especially since you're using DPAs. Hearing people talk about how nagras were better then sound devices was abstract until someone on gearslutz did a comp. THe main material was very similar, but listening to off axis material in the micro detail (I think it was a side conversation or coughing in the distance) was where I could really say I heard a difference.

Playback system is HD650's with an M902.

threadjack time!

How do you like the 902? (It has some form of Crossfeed, right?). I had a 901 for a while and loved the amp section, thought about going back to the family, but I'm debating between the 903 and 902.

[hi and lo]

threadjack time!

How do you like the 902? (It has some form of Crossfeed, right?). I had a 901 for a while and loved the amp section, thought about going back to the family, but I'm debating between the 903 and 902.

I absolutely love the m902. For what I do (constant listening/editing of live recordings), I don't think there's a better investment to be made. The increase in detail I noticed over using a budget headphone amp is simply incredible.

For the m903, the only major feature update that I'm aware of is the USB interface. The m902 USB connection is dreadful... virtually unusable as it's limited to 16bit 44.1/48k audio and I only use the coaxial SPDIF since I am listening to 24 bit audio more often than not. I know Grace says just about everything on the m903 is higher quality (newer generation A/D chips, improved s-lock circuitry, etc.), but it's hard for me to imagine anything other than the USB upgrade that would make the justification for an m903 when the m902's could be had b-stock for $1k. Looks like they're out now, though.

[Gutbucket]

I may have to re-visit these Mytek & V3 files again with better gear than the humdrum AT earbuds and built-in dell soundcard I use at work.  Looking forward to listening to the HD650s through the Mytek stereo96 DAC I've on it's way..  Like the Grace units, this model has been superceeded by the newer model with USB input (stereo192).  The new one also has a digital display of gain setting like Grace which would be nice for repeatabilty, but I can live without that and with an external 24 bit USB>SPDIF box for the significant cost savings.

Another TS'er in town has a Benchmark DAC that we'll comp.  Wish one of you Grace users was nearby.

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Wish one of you Grace users was nearby.

no you don't, you'd want one. 

my only wish is to have done all of my notes on the usbpre2, and second, to have done them first thing in the morning or over lunch. Its better then my E9 (which I use because it doesn't have any residual HF hiss due to impedance/drive).

[Gutbucket]

I've heard/played with the M901 a few times several years ago at a couple HeadFi meets.  Great piece of gear. One of them belonged to Ray Kimber, who was using it to demo his Isophone recordings (the truck sized Jecklin disk) which he was selling along with his cables/interconnects at a table off in a corner by himself.. I tried to engage him in some talk about recording with Jecklins both gigantic and not so gigantic, but he wasn't interested and seemed to regard me somewhat suspicously after that.  Everyone else was in full audiophile poetic non-sense blather mode, so maybe the mental switchover to talking in terms of 'actual reality based engineering' was too much to ask. 

[SmokinJoe]

One thing about this comp is clear... the MR1 sounds terrible in comparison.  I was really surprised by this, because I've done comps which don't show this at all.  My gut feeling is (as tedy said in a later post) the unbalanced > balanced (and probably Hi-Z to Lo-Z) put the MR1 at a disadvantage.

A few years ago I started running my V3 (a)digi-out and (b) analog out into different recorders.  I did this mostly for redundancy, but I did compare.  At various times I ran Digi into my R4 or an H120, and analog into my R4 and MR-1.  Generally speaking the result is the digi-out was a little "brighter" and the analog out was a little warmer.  When I got home, I went with the better sounding of the two. The other source eventually gets trashed when I run low on disk space.

I have one comp that has been spared... Cowboy Junkies 4/3/2009, AKG414's > V3 > R4 (digi) and MR1 analog (using homebrew attenuators).
Go to http://joe.bouchard.com/tunes/ and grab the "alternate_mr1_v3ad_samples.flac".
This alternates source every 15seconds.  You can frequently here a little pop when it alternates because i didn't align the sources perfectly, but try to ignore that.
00:00 - 00:15 = analog into MR1 source
00:15 - 00:30 = digital into R4 source
00:30 - 00:45 = analog into MR1 source
00:55 - 01:00 = digital into R4 source
and it repeats like that until the end of the song

Using an M-audio Lightbridge firewire box as D/A > Senn HD280 headphones and my 48 year old ears, most of the transitions are "very subtle, and it's hard to say which is better". That's my opinion anyway.  I also feel the same about the Mytek vs V3. I'm the one guy who voted "I think 2 sources are identical".  I did enough of these informal and unpublished MR1 comps that I am happy to use the MR1 as my main recorder.  My handy 2 track rig is Schoeps > Apogee > MR1 and I love it.

[macdaddy]

Thanks for the comp-i know it takes a decent amount of work to do it and to put it all together. One of these days it would be great to run a comp with your mytek and my ad2k+. you are (somewhat) local to me, so i am sure we will end up at the same gig one day.

[newplanet7]

THe main material was very similar, but listening to off axis material in the micro detail (I think it was a side conversation or coughing in the distance) was where I could really say I heard a difference.

Love this post page.
I often listen to other points in the recording other than the music. Didn't realize there was a name for it besides ANAL   
But yeah, whenever the sources are too close for comfort I will do what you describe above.
-todd