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[Joe_caithness]

(you may have noticed I also posted this on GS, sorry for anyone who gets cramp in their fingers cross posting!!!)

Not seen a thread on this unit specifically on here, so I thought i'd drop it in.

In the market in about a month to two months for a new DA to feed my analogue chain, currently using the DA side of an RME ADI2 and a Mytek Stereo AD96 for the capture... also have a Benchmark DAC1 for monitoring.

Looking for something to improve the sound of my chain, which went up massively when I installed the Mytek to capture.

I'm drawn to the Lavry because of it's stepped control, I really like the idea of as much as possible in my processing chain to be stepped, the big LED on the front makes me happy.

Is anyone on here using one from day to day, any problems? anything they compared it to? anything in the same price range I might have missed.. I'm probably looking to buy second hand.

Also looked at the Apogee mini DAC but it has a lot of functions I don't need and I can't help but think the Lavry is more of a simple beast and therefore improved in quality?

Not out the question also is another DAC1, any thoughts folks?

[lucabasano]

If U're happy with your new ad,why don't buy a Mytek 96dac,even a better value used,and anyway for sure better than the RME in my opinion.
If that it's your budget,for me it's better,not that I'm really a pro,but that's my choice too,even if I'm partial to Mytek,I'm using a 8x192 for ad and monitoring and the 96dac to feed analog chain,I don't like both the lavry black none the blue.
About pot,never used one in any of my converter,if that really matter for your workflow,its an easy choice,go for lavry.

Luca

[Joe_caithness]

Hey

The pot or lack of isn't the end of the world, I am definitely interested in the Mytek DA too as I love this AD. I'm gonna keep an eye on the used market for a month and see if I can find a few different folks with all of these in their studios and get some real life opinions of how the run in a session.

Thanks for the input so far!

[aleatoric]

If U're happy with your new ad,why don't you buy a Mytek 96dac,even a better value used,and anyway for sure better than the RME in my opinion

+1.  It is a great DAC and pops up used for a good price pretty often. 

The potentiometer issue can be solved by not using it and calibrating your converters to a fixed dBu (thus disabling the pot all together).  You'll have to look into your analog gears headroom to determine what you want to calibrate them to and if that way of working is good for your workflow. 

if I can find a few different folks with all of these in their studios and get some real life opinions of how the run in a session.

Re: Real life opinions:  I am very happy with my Mytek Stereo96 DAC and Stereo96ADC feeding my analog chain with the Benchmark DAC1 for monitoring.  With the DAC1 I do use the pot to control gain to my monitors.  It's a big ole pot and gets the job done great.  The Mytek's to my ears are very transparent.  I do however have some interest in getting an Stereo192 ADC in on demo sometime just to see if it is worth ditching my Stereo96 ADC for. 

I like having two different DAC's.  My logic in this is that if there is some small sonic anomaly with the DAC that feeds your analog chain than that inconsistency would be greater emphasized because it is also present in your monitoring DAC and vice versa.

Can't go wrong with Mytek and Benchmark IMHO. 

[Joe_caithness]

Looks like we're gonna end up with the same studio Mr Aleatoric if we keep on at this rate.

Just spotted the price on the Mytek DA on Thomann, very good deal indeed, Mytek surely is the dark horse of conversion right now, it seems like the people in the know are jumping on it too

[phonon]

I have a DA10 for headphone listening.  They hadn't yet come out with the DA11, which would be even better, since it has PiC.   But the DA10 is quite good sounding and very reliable.  Nevertheless, I'd recommend you go with the 4496 framed M•DA-824 as your D/A for transfers, or for monitoring, since it has the better (imho) implementation of CrystalLock.   The version implemented in the black boxed Lavry's is actually called, simply, Crystal.  It relies on SRC, whereas the purist CrystalLock uses the ram-buffered pullable xstal osc.   This (~10 sec?) is only a slightly briefer buffer than is used in the DA924 (~15 sec?).  In any event, it involves SRC only for upsampling 1xFs sources to 2x, but doesn't use SRC for jitter attenuation (whereas, I believe that the DA10 and 11 do).

The M•DA-824 can be run single-ended or balanced.  There are trim pots which need to be calibrated to your voltage reference of choice, but the trimpots turn many times and can, therefore, handle a wide range of nominal settings.  After that, you need only attenuate digital sources (the only kind a DAC can play (;  ) in the digital domain with several dozens of bits of resolution, and Bob's your uncle, as they say.

If you choose to attenuate with an analog switch for purist monitoring, you can hang anything higher than about 600R off the outputs and they will be happy.  Most use 2.5k or 5k for the output Z of their attenuators. 



Andrew

[aleatoric]

Looks like we're gonna end up with the same studio Mr Aleatoric if we keep on at this rate.

Yeah, totally!  Noticed that as well.   

[MoreSpaceEcho]

Is anyone on here using one from day to day, any problems?

i have 2 DA10s for monitoring and feeding the analog chain here. had them for years with no problems at all. the stepped volume controls are great. i have a DAC1 as well, and while it's a good DA, to me the DA10s sound much better. more natural, more detail, more depth...

[OTR Mastering]

I use a DA10 to feed my analog chain. Love it. The switched output is actually a great function since it allows for accurate repeatable settings should you need to revisit a track. Also, Having the ability to easily adjust DA output gives freedom to get the desired amount of signal into the first analog device - especially useful when you want to saturate the transformers on the unit that follows it.

I'll be looking into the Lavry AD10 soon...