{"id":24461,"date":"2012-02-24T13:05:07","date_gmt":"2012-02-24T21:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9n2.ac0.myftpupload.com\/1313\/?p=3702"},"modified":"2012-02-24T13:05:07","modified_gmt":"2012-02-24T21:05:07","slug":"ad-conversion-can-you-hear-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24461","title":{"rendered":"A\/D Conversion, can you hear the difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In my downtime I decided to do a in-depth comparison between the A\/D converters I have at hand. With the amount of &#8220;Night &amp; Day&#8221; reviews you read about it&#8217;s easy to question if converters are drastically different from box to box, It got me questioning at-least. The technical converter specs over the last 10years or more out perform most sound sources, processing, &amp; environments. I have done my share surgically analyzing the THD+N, frequency response, Jitter, &amp; so on, But that never answered the question if one can audibly hear the difference? Time for a real-world test I say.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I 1st decided on a few methods\/guidelines to rule out any false impressions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Analog generation source.<\/li>\n<li>Same signal to all converters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For the sources I recorded some late night noodling of Analog synth\/drum, Rhodes, &amp; Udu drum. I also took a random cross selection from my Vinyl collection (via a kab 1200\/apt holman for the curious audio geeks). This gave me a wide range of content to listen\/judge.<\/p>\n<p>I split &amp; recorded the signal into the analog line inputs of a Lynx, API, TC, &amp; a MBox. All levels are roughly matched to within .1dB.<\/p>\n<p>The files below are the 24bit\/48khz recording from the four converters. Download the files, can you hear a Night\/Day difference? Can you tell what is what?<\/p>\n<p><div id=\"polls-3\" class=\"wp-polls\">\n\t<form id=\"polls_form_3\" class=\"wp-polls-form\" action=\"\/index.php\" method=\"post\">\n\t\t<p style=\"display: none;\"><input type=\"hidden\" id=\"poll_3_nonce\" name=\"wp-polls-nonce\" value=\"d0115b547c\" \/><\/p>\n\t\t<p style=\"display: none;\"><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"poll_id\" value=\"3\" \/><\/p>\n\t\t<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>What converter sounds best?<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"polls-3-ans\" class=\"wp-polls-ans\"><ul class=\"wp-polls-ul\">\n\t\t<li><input type=\"radio\" id=\"poll-answer-9\" name=\"poll_3\" value=\"9\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-9\">A<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"radio\" id=\"poll-answer-10\" name=\"poll_3\" value=\"10\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-10\">B<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"radio\" id=\"poll-answer-11\" name=\"poll_3\" value=\"11\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-11\">C<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<li><input type=\"radio\" id=\"poll-answer-12\" name=\"poll_3\" value=\"12\" \/> <label for=\"poll-answer-12\">D<\/label><\/li>\n\t\t<\/ul><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><input type=\"button\" name=\"vote\" value=\"   Vote   \" class=\"Buttons\" onclick=\"poll_vote(3);\" \/><\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"#ViewPollResults\" onclick=\"poll_result(3); return false;\" title=\"View Results Of This Poll\">View Results<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n\t<\/form>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"polls-3-loading\" class=\"wp-polls-loading\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-polls\/images\/loading.gif\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading ...\" title=\"Loading ...\" class=\"wp-polls-image\" \/>&nbsp;Loading ...<\/div>\n<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/A.wav\">A.wav<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wavesurfer-block wavesurfer-audio\"><div class=\"wavesurfer-player\" data-wave-color=\"#000000\" data-cursor-color=\"#dddddd\" data-progress-color=\"#ededed\" data-height=\"127\" data-url=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/A.m4a\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-progress\"><progress class=\"wavesurfer-loading\" value=\"0\" max=\"100\"><\/progress><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-buttons_set\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-play\"><span>Play<\/span><\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-stop\"><span>Stop<\/span><\/button><div class=\"wavesurfer-time\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-duration\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/B.wav\">B.wav<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wavesurfer-block wavesurfer-audio\"><div class=\"wavesurfer-player\" data-wave-color=\"#000000\" data-cursor-color=\"#dddddd\" data-progress-color=\"#ededed\" data-height=\"127\" data-url=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/B.m4a\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-progress\"><progress class=\"wavesurfer-loading\" value=\"0\" max=\"100\"><\/progress><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-buttons_set\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-play\"><span>Play<\/span><\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-stop\"><span>Stop<\/span><\/button><div class=\"wavesurfer-time\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-duration\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/C.wav\">C.wav<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wavesurfer-block wavesurfer-audio\"><div class=\"wavesurfer-player\" data-wave-color=\"#000000\" data-cursor-color=\"#dddddd\" data-progress-color=\"#ededed\" data-height=\"127\" data-url=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/C.m4a\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-progress\"><progress class=\"wavesurfer-loading\" value=\"0\" max=\"100\"><\/progress><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-buttons_set\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-play\"><span>Play<\/span><\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-stop\"><span>Stop<\/span><\/button><div class=\"wavesurfer-time\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-duration\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/D.wav\">D.wav<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"wavesurfer-block wavesurfer-audio\"><div class=\"wavesurfer-player\" data-wave-color=\"#000000\" data-cursor-color=\"#dddddd\" data-progress-color=\"#ededed\" data-height=\"127\" data-url=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/D.m4a\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-progress\"><progress class=\"wavesurfer-loading\" value=\"0\" max=\"100\"><\/progress><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-buttons_set\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-play\"><span>Play<\/span><\/button><button type=\"button\" class=\"wavesurfer-stop\"><span>Stop<\/span><\/button><div class=\"wavesurfer-time\"><\/div><div class=\"wavesurfer-duration\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In my downtime I decided to do a in-depth comparison between the A\/D converters I<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24461\">Read the post<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A\/D Conversion, can you hear the difference?<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[208],"class_list":["post-24461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","tag-adda-conversion","excerpt","zoom","full-without-featured","even","excerpt-0"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/DSC_0022.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24446,"url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24446","url_meta":{"origin":24461,"position":0},"title":"Hardware gain staging (with the DAW in mind).","author":"Eric","date":"August 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"For many when confronted with the terms dBFS, dBu, +4\/-10, VU, etc their eyes gloss over. Without understanding a few simple concepts, integrating your DAW with external hardware can be a game of trial & frustration. To properly drive & take full advantage of hardware in the analog realm, you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/DSC_0038-e1357759888674.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/DSC_0038-e1357759888674.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/DSC_0038-e1357759888674.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/DSC_0038-e1357759888674.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24448,"url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24448","url_meta":{"origin":24461,"position":1},"title":"Sum Comparison","author":"Eric","date":"September 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Got my hands on a pair of JCF LEVRs. I wanted to see how they compare to my usual \"go to\" API 312 for makeup gain after the folcrom. After a week of pulling my hair out trying to get the LEVRs to play nice with my setup, (more on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Analysis&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Analysis","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24427,"url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24427","url_meta":{"origin":24461,"position":2},"title":"Pro Tools 3rd Party interface record offset. Explained by Dead Man Johnson&#8230;","author":"Eric","date":"August 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Ever wonder why the timing of what you record sounds so off? Or why you get phase problems while parallel processing out of the box? Well you might just have horrible timing, or you might need to figure out your I\/O offsets.\u00a0 A\/D D\/A's, drivers, & software can all contribute\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ticks, Tips, &amp; Tricks&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ticks, Tips, &amp; Tricks","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pro-tools-3rd-party-interface-re.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pro-tools-3rd-party-interface-re.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pro-tools-3rd-party-interface-re.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pro-tools-3rd-party-interface-re.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pro-tools-3rd-party-interface-re.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24442,"url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24442","url_meta":{"origin":24461,"position":3},"title":"MPC3000 vs Pro Tools","author":"Eric","date":"March 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I decided to run a quick comparison between programming a 2 bar drum loop via the Akai MPC 3000 & doing the same via Protools\/midi track & a software sampler. I used the same samples for both. (my MFB-522 sample set.) I transferred the samples into the MPC via the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Analysis&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Analysis","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24481,"url":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?p=24481","url_meta":{"origin":24461,"position":4},"title":"Modified MXL 990 (RK-12 + microphone-parts.com\/Jim Williams PCB redesign)","author":"Eric","date":"August 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Finished soldering up\/shooting photos of an exciting soon to be released mic mod from microphone-parts.com. This particular mic started as a MXL 990. The capsule got swapped & the PCB\/components had a complete make over. The mic sounds wonderful. It's low-end response is insane. 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Being a fan of \"Doom metal\" & a synth freak can be rather conflicting at times. In an attempt to converge the two I figured some Amp (more importantly Cab) sound was in order. I tracked the dominant synth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hardware&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/driven-synth-experiment-analog-s.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/driven-synth-experiment-analog-s.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/driven-synth-experiment-analog-s.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/driven-synth-experiment-analog-s.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ericbeam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/driven-synth-experiment-analog-s.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericbeam.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}