For me Apogee Symphony is the clear winner because of the clarity in the higher registers and openness of the stereo field,

This is video is very well done and helpful. I had apogee for up to 10 years, and last year i ve bought the horus. Its night and day. The horus is the best converter in the world, no comparison. The difference is huge between the both, the horus system is a bit complicated, but is worth it.

I went with the Apogee for my studio. I was curious about the Burl but I needed 32x32 and the price was prohibitive. I wanted something that didn’t feel like it was limiting my 5088 console. Everything gets installed next month so I haven’t had a chance to hear them yet, but I appreciate this video because it gives me a sense of how things will sound as we seem to have pretty similar setups. Thanks for making the this.

@mechanizerstudios9516

Ай бұрын

The Apogee 32x32 and the 5088 are going to be an excellent combination 👍🏻👍🏻.

Really apreciate this shootout, thank you Song is also sweet

merging is more centred and allows the music to express itself naturally Symphony has more stereo and lows and highs which doesn't help to focus on the music but more on the sound. very interesting .

Most extreme A/B from the ribbon for me. Symphony is a great sound but the merging is significantly more open. Thanks for putting this together. The song is great too :) I’ve noticed that Eric Valentine shoots things out in short loops reason being a lot can change as a song evolves. A 1 bar loop allows the brain to really reflect on the changes. Might be a cool addendum video since you’ve already done the hard work now.

@mechanizerstudios9516

3 ай бұрын

Very interesting idea, appreciate the feedback! We did include links to all of the raw files and summed mix buses so if a steady loop is what you’re looking for make sure to download those files and give it a try. I really wanted to make the video that would have made life easier for my studio back when we were trying to choose the best option. My studio runs every mix through our API console so I wanted to be sure to fill the video with fully summed mix busses to show how the cumulative sound came together in both verses and chorus sections. For future videos, would a longer video with single bar loop sections, in addition to console summed full song mix busses be something you would be interested in?

@arirahimzadeh

2 ай бұрын

Apogee blows merging away by far ; ) .

@Truth565

2 ай бұрын

Would agree, appreciate you’ve gone to great and meticulously lengths to make a great video, so thanks for that. In my view you can hear the differences, but definitely a simple 4 bar loop, back to back between the two interfaces of different sections of the song would make it easier to compare. That way your brain can account for the musical changes and separate them from what two interfaces are doing. It would however, make a more boring video 😢. All that said and done, I prefer the Horus. Also a closer match sonically, would have been the Lynx Aurora n and the Horus. They are closer in sound.

@polyspace

2 ай бұрын

@@mechanizerstudios9516i'd also recommend if you do more AB tests like this to include a part where you null one against the other with a phase invert. i'm gonna try it out when i'm at my daw next. i think it's helpful to hear exactly what the differences are rather than trying to distinguish between actual sonic differences and psychoacoustic differences regardless this is a great video and resource to have! i wish there was testing like this on every preamp/interface/converter out there especially the budget ones. thanks for putting in the time

@ramonfelizjr

Ай бұрын

It will be good for Latin percussion and Trompeta’s and Saxophone. Thx great. Video

Great video! Also had a Symphony, and how am all Merging. This highlights the differences very well. Mainly that Apogee has that sort of appealing grain that you can never get rid of, and it just compounds on itself the more tracks you add. Merging is the 1st converter that doesn't have that in any way shape or form, and it took a while to get used to. The good news is you can add it back in with post processing VERY easily if you want, but never the other way around. Once I got used to the sound I bailed on external pres as well, the internal ones give so much flexibility with post processing. The other thing that is so amazing is the expandability of network. I started with an Anubis, added a Hapi and just added a Neumann MT48. They can all be wired up 100s of feet away with just a network cable, no patchbays or snakes needed. And the Anubis and MT48 don't even need power cables! (powered by the network switch). I'm guessing you went with the ADA8S cards?

Not a fan of the ribbon mic. I have Apogee Symphony. But the comparison shows that the Horus has a more open top and the bottom is not nearly as muddled. You've made me a believer. I'll have to visit the studio one day. Great song and video too!

Okay, what's the clock you used in comparison? Also have you tried to clock Horus with Symphony and the other way around?

Symphony sounds cleaner, the other lower end pops more.

Maybe a null test just for fun? 🙂

What is your opinion? Which interface better ?) thanks!

@wakesfield

2 ай бұрын

Merging more engaging musical sound, Apogee analitical steril sound. I like Merging more

@Victoravd

2 ай бұрын

@@wakesfieldthanks! Which your opinion about UAD Apollo interfaces ?

@wakesfield

2 ай бұрын

@@Victoravd I like your acoustic guitar sound through the Arrow. I think that a good performance in recording is more important than the interface. Antelope audio owner here

@Victoravd

2 ай бұрын

@@wakesfield thanks a lot!

@DarkTrapStudio

Ай бұрын

@@Victoravd The SSL at 200 has better conversion and headphones preamps, Appollo one knob is highly cumbersome for the workflow and it sometimes has a strange dark pretty quiet noise in the preamp that happens without knowing why. Ive seen that on multiple youtube videos, one pointing out the problem, one comparing the Apollo to another interface. Tho It's quiet but youll need gain staging and the mic preamps are good.

Time to get serious with the Greek statue hairdo

@mechanizerstudios9516

Ай бұрын

What if I told you that with in a week it becomes Abe Lincoln Big Foot?

Mmmm interfaces

The symphony seems louder and noisier in every comparison. I’m going to guess there was something in the setup of the test that was adding noise and not the conversion. The louder part is just not volume matching.

@mechanizerstudios9516

Ай бұрын

Every channel sent back to the console for summing was measured to match the same output peak and RMS down to the decimal point and used the same cables in transmission of the signal. It was grueling. . Try downloading the stems and see if you hear the same thing with the lossless files 👍🏻.

@jefftum4177

Ай бұрын

@@mechanizerstudios9516I Did take a look at the individual tracks. I think you have noise sneaking in somewhere. Dirty Power, Bad grounding, something funky in the patch bay idk can't say for sure but youre getting a good amount of hum and hiss in everything. I've chased this stuff myself and its not fun.

DAD should be in the comparison. It handsomely beats the Symphony, but I am less sure about the Merging. I think it is maybe slightly better than the Merging.

See you’ve got a pair of Tesla EVs 🤘🏻respect!

@mechanizerstudios9516

3 ай бұрын

I’m a huge fan of the Tesla EVs. Got an amazing deal on them way back in the day from a guy who making lunch boxes from their old console. I found the EQs and Preamps were most useful recording folk, bluegrass, and Americana. Do you also have some EVs? Always interested to hear what other peoples experiences have been.

@andrewwhitehouse1878

2 ай бұрын

@@mechanizerstudios9516 we probably got them from the same source! I started with a 2 channel lunch box and now I’ve also got bank of 10 modules with faders cut down from the bigger console. They definitely sound great, huge on drums or just about anything really, as good as API or Neve in my opinion ✌️

Merging wins big time. No need more than 30 sec of sound demo. Why not to Rec in high sample rates like DXD or DSD and use way BETTER daw like Pyramix... I'm sure you'll learn a lot than this example.

No Prism :(

@mechanizerstudios9516

Ай бұрын

With the channel count I need a Prism set up would cost me as much as the console. Would love to do a video with Prism, Radar, DAD, and the rest. Some day.

Symphony sounds like it has some phase issues..

The Horus sucks compared to symphony, most of you don’t produce songs or bands. Horus actually great for actual symphony lol but not so much for practical production. If I had both my application would be Horus for sound design, one instrument one vocalist setup, and maybe give it some mastering trials because the extra information could be useful and not distracting. Symphony everything else probably. Great video by the way. Thanks.

@mechanizerstudios9516

Ай бұрын

Pretty spot on with the sound design call out. If we have a long session doing sound design for drum machines or Prophet 6 patches the Merging is 100% my go to because of the accuracy. Similarly, like you said, tracking classical sounds amazing with the Merging preamps. However 👀 bands are our bread and butter, which is why we track through the API console pres to the line in on the Merging - get the transient response of the API with the accuracy of Merging and it’s a knockout. That being said, I would prefer the Apogee for recording Indi and Alt Rock, and some hard rock bands. For old school classic rock, Americana, pop, funk, and death metal I’ll go Merging.

96 kHz is too low a sampling rate... switching power supply is a disgrace and digital disaster in both machines. maybe the opamps are different between the two machines... did they use the specific opam for maximum definition sampling developed by TI? the last stage in front of the balanced input of the ADC chip should be an opam with 180 MHz... had it been installed or not? did it cost too much? Both machines have exactly the same ADC chips (in this case too underused) for a more coherent impulse response you should record at 32 bit 384 kHz and multiples. Furthermore, the DAWs always have pre-listening playback quality. for a state-of-the-art analog master the DAW should be exported into a multi-channel file and converted to 1 bit native (DSD) with SRC/DSP settings that are extremely more severe than those performed in real time by the firmware inside the DAC chip. The machine performing the playback must be extremely low noise for minimal stream corruption. Minimal Operating System for liquid playback with Real Time Linux Kernel.

@hansianoberberg3365

Ай бұрын

And in the end 98% of the people hear it as MP3 on some shity Airpods 😮