PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Finally, my 13 yr old A16 (original version) is giving up the ghost. Crackle, crackle.
So, I thought I'd ask you folks which AD-DA converter, with ADAT, would be a suitable replacement/upgrade. Might also be interesting to know what others are using, as I'm not well versed in compatibilities of various units with Scope 5.1 other than Ferrofish and Lynx.(And there's a $1500 price difference between those two alone)

Thanx

get the Ferrofish box. it's the best on the market/price. it compares quite favorably with the Lynx.

my second choice for quality vs. price would be RME. for more money than those two, there are nothing but good converters. for less money, there is a steep drop off in quality.

are you sure it's not just the power supply?
also, Ferrofish DOES repair A16 Ultras.
the new A16 is much better sounding than the old one....

Hi Gary,
Thanks for your thoughts. Interesting that the Ferrofish competes with the Lynx quality-wise, given the price difference. I've been reading up a bit and the price v. quality for many different models seems a bit erratic in the market place. I'm leaning towards the Ferrofish with 16 I/O, or a secondhand Lynx.

Anyone else got any good or bad experiences?

BTW the power source seems fine. The crackling occurs as audio signals are played through the old A16, despite the PAD switches and volume levels of the input. Sometimes it's quite a nasty sound. All cables and connections are good. I am guilty however of not powering it up for about a year. May be the components deteriated. I'm not tech savvy, so really I don't know. And it's the old, old Creamware A16 (16bit). At least now I can upgrade to 24bit.

I had that problem. Plug it directly into the wall, do not use a power strip.

OK Thanks, I'll try that.

Well I never! Braincell, that worked. Although I have absolutely no idea why. The only problem now is that it's 16 bit only. But it'll be OK for routing a synth or keyboard through.
Thanks

Ricardo wrote:Well I never! Braincell, that worked. Although I have absolutely no idea why. The only problem now is that it's 16 bit only. But it'll be OK for routing a synth or keyboard through.
Thanks

Well, it is actually 18 bit. The noisefloor is around -81 to -84. So that leaves you with roughly 15 bits of noise to clip ration. This is the same as with the A16 Ultra. I do not know how the A16 MkII compares in this respect.

But then again, we do hear some sounds though they are covered in a louder noise.

the Ultra is 20bit, iirc.

the Mk2 is 24bit.

the original A16 is quite old. it had very high resolution in it's day.

garyb wrote:the Ultra is 20bit, iirc.

the Mk2 is 24bit.

the original A16 is quite old. it had very high resolution in it's day.

Mine is 13 years old. The fact that it still works is testament to the quality of the old gear, cards included.
@ Immanuel, your sub paragraph is well noted.

Happy holidays

The A16 Ultra is 24 bit. As far as I know, the only 20 bit Creamware/Sonic Core hardware was the analog inputs on the first generation Pulsar cards.

(I am not sure about the first generation Scope cards)

Lucid 88192 & Mackie Onyx 800r over here. Picked up both used last year & am happy with em.