I just found out i can bypass the my interface's D/A and go from ethernet from my Mac Pro to my monitors PMC 22.6. Is there any advantage by going this route?

Can't really see any benefit unless the PMCs have a much better DAC than your interface.

Give it a try. It'd be interesting to see what the latency difference is.

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Yeah it is kinda interesting. will come back with more input.

I contacted PMC they said Aes from my Hilo to Aes on the PMC two two six. Then ethernet thru from monitor 1 to monitor 2, thats it.

They both have ethernet thru and you can choose either one to be the master controller when going aes in.

It all comes down to which has the best DAC and signal chain (and by that I mean all things considered sich as internal gain staging, clocking/jitter, headroom etc).

That drawing could be misleading. They make the DSP look like a selling point as it cuts out some of the stages, but it glazes over the fact they do a lot to an analogue signal in the first place; For instance, they don't just amplify the analogue incoming signal - their speaker takes an analogue signal, gain changes it (wtf?), converts it to digital (2nd wtf), does a bunch of DSP (fine if you like that sort of thing, I don't) then converts it a second time (triple Wtf?) before being amplified.

In this respect, yes, the digital option is better, but that's a personal issue to these monitors.

Kinda dumb to have such an expensive DAC then only use the ethernet and built in DSP on your speakers.

The other bit I don't like is that when you look at a $2k speaker, you go $500 on the cabinet, $500 on the cones, $500 on the amps and $500 on the DAC.

That means you're using a $500 DAC - i.e prosumer like Echo or entry level RME/motu etc.

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Originally posted by DJ RANN Kinda dumb to have such an expensive DAC then only use the ethernet and built in DSP on your speakers.

I only just found out about the DSP feature so cut me some slack will ya?

FYI: The speakers are 2,500 each.

I could always use the D/A stage if i plan on getting a sigma after like i intended. Anyhow I cancelled the ensemble because i only needed lower latency with 6 more inputs for my other synths.

Oh and as Richie once said its hard to tell the difference between 500 dollar dacs and up.

What do you think is the best bang for buck interface for my setup, thunderbolt would be nice.

Last edited by Innocence Lost on Dec-04-2014 at 00:17

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Originally posted by Innocence Lost I only just found out about the DSP feature so cut me some slack will ya? FYI: The speakers are 2,500 each. I could always use the D/A stage if i plan on getting a sigma after like i intended. Anyhow I cancelled the ensemble because i only needed lower latency with 6 more inputs for my other synths. Oh and as Richie once said its hard to tell the difference between 500 dollar dacs and up. What do you think is the best bang for buck interface for my setup, thunderbolt would be nice.

What Richie said is true, but the full sentiment is someone making EDM in home studio on average equipment probably wouldn't notice any difference, but you're talking about soon having a full treated dedicated room and using $5k monitors. At that point it comes down to the listeners ability to tell the difference and frankly if you can;t hear a difference at that level then the money should not have been spent in the first place.

In your case, with what you've got, you should be able to hear hear the difference. I woulnd't go overkill though - in terms of signal chain, beyond $500 the DAC will make the least difference in perceived audio quality, compared to treatment or speakers.

Alright got it, We will see how it goes when the room is finally treated. Anyhow what about A/D conversion i'm sure most producers back than who use outboard gear didn't really use the best conversion right?

So a thunderbolt resident T4 4/4 In/Out for $500 good enough?

I'm not to familiar at all when it comes to A/D processing.

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Originally posted by Innocence Lost Alright got it, We will see how it goes when the room is finally treated. Anyhow what about A/D conversion i'm sure most producers back than who use outboard gear didn't really use the best conversion right? So a thunderbolt resident T4 4/4 In/Out for $500 good enough? I'm not to familiar at all when it comes to A/D processing.

I'm not familiar with the Resident T4 - there's very little info about it but it is kind of astounding that they've managed a completely buss powered 4/4 24/96k interface with phantom for under $500.

No one has really commented on sonic quality or even posted the specs of the chips or clocks so it's impossible to tell how good it is.

RME to be honest have had the same latency specs for nearly 10 years. The FF800 is one of the best interfaces out there - I sued one extensively for a sample development rig for film score and it was beautiful in terms of sound quality and rock solid.

The only sucky bit is that the fireface is FW800 and although you can use a TB to FW adaptor it's not really using the full potential of TB. But then again what more do you need than great sounding, a ton of i/o and rock solid?

quote:

Originally posted by DJ RANN I'm not familiar with the Resident T4 - there's very little info about it but it is kind of astounding that they've managed a completely buss powered 4/4 24/96k interface with phantom for under $500. No one has really commented on sonic quality or even posted the specs of the chips or clocks so it's impossible to tell how good it is. RME to be honest have had the same latency specs for nearly 10 years. The FF800 is one of the best interfaces out there - I sued one extensively for a sample development rig for film score and it was beautiful in terms of sound quality and rock solid. The only sucky bit is that the fireface is FW800 and although you can use a TB to FW adaptor it's not really using the full potential of TB. But then again what more do you need than great sounding, a ton of i/o and rock solid?

I decided to get a focusrite saffire pro 26 with firewire to thunderbolt adapter, it also has 8 inputs which I need. Later down the line after treatment comes i'll think about upgrading to rme.

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Originally posted by Innocence Lost I decided to get a focusrite saffire pro 26 with firewire to thunderbolt adapter, it also has 8 inputs which I need. Later down the line after treatment comes i'll think about upgrading to rme.

That's a nice interface - should serve your needs well. To be honest there's not much need to upgrade for a while. You'll need to spend a lot more to get a really noticeable difference in audio quality, so it's probably not worth it until all other things are equal (treatment, placement blah blah blah)