Mbox 2 Pro SPDIF

[iraobryan]

Is it possible to connect a stereo A/D converter to the Mbox 2 Pro via spdif without setting the external device as the master clock?

edit: I guess the real question is if I were to buy a DBX 386, would I have to set it as the master and would this degrade or improve conversion quality?

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

That's pretty much the deal. Why is it such an issue?

I don't think it will make one shit of difference honestly.

 

[iraobryan]

It's not an issue yet. Just checking to make sure it wouldn't be if I bought one. I had heard that running an external clock would just add unnecessary jitter. I figured I'd get the truth here, vs. the typical gear snob propaganda. Thanks for the response!

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

That's nonsense. If a toneport UX2 doesn't cause jitter I doubt that preamp would.

 

[iraobryan]

That's a good point. I had not thought of it that way. I need to purge myself of all the gearslut nonsense.

 

[Trevoire520]

People on gearslutz really need to get over their converter elitism imo. All this "oh my stereo image is so much wider with my new £xxxxxxx converter, the mbox is a piece of junk" why would your image be wider? I've never noticed any crosstalk between the left and right channels on any interface I've used, so how can a more expensive converter give you a wider image?

As long as audio's being passed without clicks and pops then its fine. Can you play a great sounding record through the converters with it still sounding like a great sounding record in protools? If the answer is yes then there's no problem.

 

[iraobryan]

Since I've been on this forum I've heard more actual results and less talk about results. That's why I ask these dumbass questions here, because I read things on sites like gearslutz which I took to be true. Then I ask the question here to help weed out the bullshit. This forum is a great place to get information!

I guess it's time to give up the dream of finding that magical piece of gear that will make my mixes sound like Andy's.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I'm talking from experience man. I have connected the toneport UX2 via s/pdif and set the clock to s/pdif and had NO problems. I wasn't talking out my ass, you WILL be fine.

 

[Metaltastic]

People on gearslutz really need to get over their converter elitism imo. All this "oh my stereo image is so much wider with my new £xxxxxxx converter, the mbox is a piece of junk" why would your image be wider? I've never noticed any crosstalk between the left and right channels on any interface I've used, so how can a more expensive converter give you a wider image?

I have to disagree with this, I've noticed differences in stereo image between cheaper and better converters (my Onyx Satellite vs. PodXT vs. Onyx 400F), and the issue isn't crosstalk, but rather less clarity and fidelity in reproduction of the sound, smearing the details in each individual speaker that give us our perception of separation and localization (as well as diminishing low-end clarity and fullness, that's especially noticeable probably because of the longer wavelengths being more susceptible to audible distortion). I will agree that differences in A/D converters are extremely subtle and I would be happy capping out my upgrading in those at the RME/Digi 192 level, but for D/A the differences are definitely more noticeable! (though when I eventually get a Fireface, it'll be a long time before I feel I can justify buying one of these babies for the undoubtedly very subtle improvement)

EDIT: To be clear, I'm only talking about when the whole mix is being run through the D/A converters, not when outputting a single track to a piece of outboard gear for example

 

[BLUElightCory]

I have to disagree with this, I've noticed differences in stereo image between cheaper and better converters (my Onyx Satellite vs. PodXT vs. Onyx 400F), and the issue isn't crosstalk, but rather less clarity and fidelity in reproduction of the sound, smearing the details in each individual speaker that give us our perception of separation and localization (as well as diminishing low-end clarity and fullness, that's especially noticeable probably because of the longer wavelengths being more susceptible to audible distortion). I will agree that differences in A/D converters are extremely subtle and I would be happy capping out my upgrading in those at the RME/Digi 192 level, but for D/A the differences are definitely more noticeable! (though when I eventually get a Fireface, it'll be a long time before I feel I can justify buying one of these babies for the undoubtedly very subtle improvement)

I agree with this. It's not that the stereo image is actually wider with better conversion, it's just easier to make out the small details that contribute to our brains' perception of the sound field.

There was a noticeable difference for me when I upgraded from my 002 to a Digi 192 I/O. I also recently compared my 192 to a friend's Apogee AD-16/DA-16 setup in my room and noticed VERY slight differences, so slight that I probably wouldn't have noticed a difference if someone had just swapped converters and not told me. I think that once you get to a certain quality level with converters that the difference becomes pretty negligible, and that at that point there are many others factors that have a larger impact on the resulting sound than the converters themselves. Actually, that's probably always the case.

 

[Metaltastic]

I agree with this. It's not that the stereo image is actually wider with better conversion, it's just easier to make out the small details that contribute to our brains' perception of the sound field.

There was a noticeable difference for me when I upgraded from my 002 to a Digi 192 I/O. I also recently compared my 192 to a friend's Apogee AD-16/DA-16 setup in my room and noticed VERY slight differences, so slight that I probably wouldn't have noticed a difference if someone had just swapped converters and not told me. I think that once you get to a certain quality level with converters that the difference becomes pretty negligible, and that at that point there are many others factors that have a larger impact on the resulting sound than the converters themselves. Actually, that's probably always the case.

Sage wisdom indeed I'd say!