Hi All,

I posted a question (actually, I highjacked someone else's thread --
d-oh!) about bypassing my ADAT XT-20 converters a while back.

Since then I've realized I have a problem. I track in one room and mix
in another, so if I want to completely bypass the ADAT converters, I
need two seperate units: at least 4 channels of A/D for the tracking
room, and 8 channels of D/A for the mixing room. Yikes!

So here's the question -- if for budget reasons I'm only going to
bypass one or the other of the ADAT converters (A/D or D/A), which
would I choose? My guess is that I'd get more benefit out of using an
external A/D and just living with the ADAT's D/A converters, than I
would the other way around.

But that's just an intuitive guess. What do all you experienced folks
think?

Thanks a lot for any help.

dB

(Dave Brown) wrote in
om:

So here's the question -- if for budget reasons I'm only going to
bypass one or the other of the ADAT converters (A/D or D/A), which
would I choose? My guess is that I'd get more benefit out of using an
external A/D and just living with the ADAT's D/A converters, than I
would the other way around.

Points for A/D

1) The A/D defines your digital signal. Poor A/D means your digital is bad
from the start.

2) Some day you may work in all digital to the finish. In that case, your
D/A is irrelevant.

3) Any analog procesing will need good A/D again.

4) It's the customer who does the final D/A.

Points for D/A

1) You can't hear digits. Your ears are the ones that decide what
processing and mixing happen.

2) Analog processing/mixing requires good D/A.