[John Albert]

Hello all -

I currently use an FMR RNP preamp running into a Presonus
Firebox firewire interface into a 24" Intel iMac.

I'd like to improve the signal chain with better
analog/digital convertors. I've heard those in the Firebox
aren't nearly as good as some standalone units (or perhaps a
higher-end interface like a Fireface 400 or 800).

I've seen some fair deals on a now-discontined product by
Frontier called the Tango 24. It offers 8-in (I actually
only need 2-in) and 8-out into ADAT. These can be found in
the $200 range or so.

Anyone with experience with the Tango 24? Worth trying, or
better to avoid?

Having said that, I'm wondering if it is even compatible
with the digital inputs on the Firebox, which are SPDIF with
RCA type connections. Obviously, I'd need some kind of
format convertor to get from digital/optical to digital/coax.

But will the ADAT 8-channel output be incompatible with the
SPDIF input, which (I believe) is only 2-channel? (apologies
in advance for my ignorance)? Any workarounds that wouldn't
cost too much?

Thanks,
- John

[Nate Najar]

On Mar 26, 10:44 am, John Albert wrote:
Hello all -

I currently use an FMR RNP preamp running into a Presonus
Firebox firewire interface into a 24" Intel iMac.

I'd like to improve the signal chain with better
analog/digital convertors. I've heard those in the Firebox
aren't nearly as good as some standalone units (or perhaps a
higher-end interface like a Fireface 400 or 800).

I've seen some fair deals on a now-discontined product by
Frontier called the Tango 24. It offers 8-in (I actually
only need 2-in) and 8-out into ADAT. These can be found in
the $200 range or so.

Anyone with experience with the Tango 24? Worth trying, or
better to avoid?

Having said that, I'm wondering if it is even compatible
with the digital inputs on the Firebox, which are SPDIF with
RCA type connections. Obviously, I'd need some kind of
format convertor to get from digital/optical to digital/coax.

But will the ADAT 8-channel output be incompatible with the
SPDIF input, which (I believe) is only 2-channel? (apologies
in advance for my ignorance)? Any workarounds that wouldn't
cost too much?

Thanks,
- John

I'm not sure about the lightpipe/spdif conversion, but as far as the
sound, the tango 24 is a good unit. I have one and use it when i do
remotes to get 16 channels i/o with an maudio fw1814. It's a few
years old now but still a very good sounding box. I haven't heard the
presonus so i cannot compare them, but it is noticeably more clear
than the converters in my maudio unit (and the muadio sounds fine).
$200 is a great price, they were new even a few years ago for almost
$700 and i think I paid close to $400 on ebay for mine about 3 years
ago.

The tango24 was like a mid range converter- not quite an apogee but
not entry level either. very good value for the price.

Nate

[Arny Krueger]

"John Albert" wrote in message


But will the ADAT 8-channel output be incompatible with
the SPDIF input, which (I believe) is only 2-channel?

Yes, violently so.

While Toslink uses the same optical interconnect as ADAT, and Toslink uses
the same data structure as SPDIF, SPDIF and ADAT have vastly different data
structures.

[Richard Crowley]

"Les Cargill" wrote ...
Arny Krueger wrote:
While Toslink uses the same optical interconnect as ADAT, and Toslink
uses the same data structure as SPDIF, SPDIF and ADAT have vastly
different data structures.

I have seen interfaces where S/PDIF or ADAT were soft-selectable for the
same physical transceiver pair....

Alesis chose to use the same physical/logical infrastructure
for their ADAT scheme as the existing Toslink standard.

So that means the physical layer (the connectors and "cable",
etc, and the logical layer (what is interpereted as a one or a
zero) are the same.

After that it is just a matter of interpereting the ones and zeros
as required by the selected protocol.

[John Albert]

Arny wrote:
Yes, violently so.
While Toslink uses the same optical interconnect as ADAT,
and Toslink uses the same data structure as SPDIF, SPDIF and
ADAT have vastly different data structures.

After I wrote my original post, I did some googling and
began to find this out for myself.

I did stumble onto a now-discontinued product by Midiman
called "Sam", which can convert 8-channel ADAT into
2-channel SPDIF (allows you to select "pairs" from the ADAT
to be directed towards SPDIF).

Anyone ever try one of these gadgets? New they had a street
price of about $200. Apparently it's been out of production
a few years. Couldn't get a hit on one on ebay.

Better yet, does anyone have one they no longer need?

There were some other solutions out there, but they all seem
to be a bit on the "high-buck" side for me. If I'm going to
pay that much, perhaps I'd be better off springing for an
RME ADI-2, or even a Fireface 400...

- John