The Only Converter You’ll Ever Need (or Want)!

[@siriusfun]

BURL Mothership here along with a B2 Bomber ADC for summed stereo mix capture. Perfection. There's a myth that they're too coloured. Sure, they can get 'tape-y' and saturated when driven hard (which is what we all want anyway, or distortion, tape emulation and saturation plug ins wouldn't be top sellers! ) but there's headroom for days which actually allows for some of the cleanest, most open signal capture I've experienced over my career where I've used RME, Apollo, Antelope, Lynx etc. Specifically, the Bomber has an attenuation knob AFTER the transformer allowing for even greater flexibility: whisper your way in and gain up just before conversion or splat! right on the tranny and then trim before the signal hits the converter. Two very different and very awesome approaches! Cheers from Toronto - great channel!

[@rb727]

A nice, upfront channel with no BS....I like this a lot!

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@rb727 thank you very much! I’m a no BS kinda guy 🙏 welcome to the channel!!

[@BlackGritsDoesIt]

I got my Hilo a decade ago. ITS A WINNER!

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@BlackGritsDoesIt 🔥🔥🔥

[@thevisualizer305]

Lynx Aurora n has been nothing short of outstanding… mastering grade Hilo 1 conversion + expansion cards + top tier drivers all for the same price as Apollo X racks. Imo the transparency is preferable for tracking with outboard gear.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@thevisualizer305 Lynx Aurora is great! Hilo is also pristine, great investments all round 🙏

[@preciseaudioblog]

Do you recommend it?

[@PanoOpticum]

The RME is stellar! if you record regularly or want to monitor in the highest quality (speakers and headphones), I'd say you need one. This AD/DA conversion is way better than what you get with interfaces. And I mean in comparison with high level interfaces, not the cheaper ones!

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@PanoOpticum I’m glad you’ve had a similar experience with the RME as well! I really love the unit and am never disappointed or second guessing it. The more I used it, the more I love it! Thanks for tuning in 🙏

[@PanoOpticum]

@RAYNETHESAVIOUR great channel you have, young padawan

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@ thank you for calling me young 😂 🙏

[@FabvL]

Because I have an outboard chain for my vocals and recently went back into the box for all things post, I use a Hilo2 as my main interface and it’s amazing!

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@FabvL Your stuff comes out really good, if your recent stuff is ITB, definitely very impressed with your ITB mixing man. I’ve always preached to record analog and figure the rest out later! Haha

[@LashonEvans216]

I love my Burl ADC. Gets the job done every time.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@LashonEvans216 yes! The burl is sound almost like tape to me, great sound on it!

[@DragiJanev]

hey there, have you tried clipping it? I am on the edge of buying one.

[@LashonEvans216]

@@DragiJanev Yes it does an excellent job. And once you figure out the right input levels for your workflow it's perfect. I record vocals through it pretty clean and not too hot and get a great sound. And i push it heavy coming out of my mastering chain.

[@bendigiave]

Wow , I literally had just closed the page on my browser with this converter seconds ago, thanks for posting this. I've seen a few guys clipping the Burl converters also.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@bendigiave yes definitely, burls are great clipping converters! Be sure to demo any units you’re interested in before buying to make sure it’s the right one for you!

[@Mike-vr7mb]

I remember I was shopping for interfaces and the lady highly recommended RME - we’re talking more than a decade ago. I had never used RME before and even though I returned it due lack of sufficient I/Os and whatnot, I’ll never forget how I felt when I heard the difference in sound quality. I now have Lynx Aurora N, I upgraded my lynx Hilo to the 2 and I also have a Prism Titan for my synths and vocal chain. Even though I’ll never go back to other interfaces like the Antelope Audio, Burl, Apogee or Motu, RME is definitely something I wouldn’t mind considering.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@Mike-vr7mb you’ve got a really dope set up gear there bro! I wouldn’t necessarily worry to leave the incredible selection you have there but I’m definitely a big supporter of RME! Thanks for tuning in and let me know how it goes if you ever get around to trying the ADI! 🙏

[@siriusfun]

It's funny, because while I agree about RME, after using many of the others, it was all BURL for me.

[@jerrellbattle8980]

I have Cranborne Audio R8 and it has excellent converters. The icing on the cake is the Camden Pre amp with the Mojo circuit

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@jerrellbattle8980 Cranborn definitely does good work, congrats on the dope investments bro 🙏

[@tiekumark]

The ADI is elite. I’ve had every converter from 5 k lavreys to cranesongs. The ADI blew me away when I first tried it. Plus the headphone amp is out of this world

[@richertz]

Check out the Topping range - these are a steal!

[@BlackGritsDoesIt]

You can place overkillers on the Hilo.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@BlackGritsDoesIt I totally missed this when I hooked it up! I gotta check back, thanks for the look 🙏

[@Jafithagreat]

The adi headphone amp is crazy

[@sekritskworl-sekrit_studios]

Could you demonstrate mastering with the ADI-2 Pro?

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

I certainly can! Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for something like this 🙏

[@sekritskworl-sekrit_studios]

@@RAYNETHESAVIOUR Thank you SO very much! Also, any recommendations for room correction? I tried sonarworks, but it doesn't sound right to my ears.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@ make sure the room is really well treated! Also be sure your monitors are placed correctly! At that point, room correction shouldn’t be necessary but the only one worth buying is the trinnov nova system! Hard to advise you without having some understanding of your overall setup and room! I’m gonna have a page up soon where I can consult people properly soon! Hope this helps 🙏

[@sekritskworl-sekrit_studios]

@@RAYNETHESAVIOUR I appreciate you, Brother!

[@AgapeSignal]

Do you like RME Adi Pro s converter better than the Apogee symphony Mkii SE?

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

I love apogee for recording but overall I prefer the RME, especially for mixing and mastering. Hard to choose between them though because they both have AES and the Symphony is an interface while the RME is just a converter. Hope this helps! 🙏

[@AgapeSignal]

@@RAYNETHESAVIOUR thx

[@triplebeam23]

You ever use acustica ash? You can get a ton of flavors with it

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@triplebeam23 yes! Acustica Ash, El Rey, Rust and Purple Pultecs are my favorite Acustica Audio plugins, thanks for pointing it out 🙏

[@bpmproductions5946]

When you mentioned the clipping converter specifically for folk, which one were you talking about?

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@bpmproductions5946 my apologies! I forgot to include that the Burl is a great option for folk because of its tape qualities and even the prism sound lineup would do a great job if clipping would add to the folk work you’re doing 🙏

[@bpmproductions5946]

@RAYNETHESAVIOUR ah yes the magic burl. Love the sound but wouldn't want to commit to it as my only dedicated adc. Speaking of converters, if you're using aes for your pmcs, do you even go thru your dac for monitoring or do you go straight to the pmcs and use the speaker conversion?

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@ I agree, I would only buy a Burl if I’ve got more transparent options as well! And good catch, I actually just use the AES out on the RME to connect to the PMCs and the conversion indeed happens inside the speaker!

[@Cerandon]

Hey man love your content. What are your thoughts on the Antelope zen go? Also I feel like my studio one productions sound horrible. It’s like the audio engine isn’t portraying truly and I’m fighting to get a decent mix

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@Cerandon thank you 🙏! May I ask if you do any recording or just mixing and production? If you record as well, what genres are you focused on and what monitors do you use to mix? Hopefully I can lend some insight on how to maximize your current setup with the right Interface advice 🙏 I used studio one for a couple years and it’s definitely possible to get great work out of the program, the solution probably lays elsewhere!

[@MellowXBrew]

Ima S1 user with an Orion. I definitely wouldn’t consider it being the converters and definitely not the software.

[@Cerandon]

@@RAYNETHESAVIOURhey man I currently produce and mix RnB and soulful songs for my artist catalogue. I use beyerdynamic 770 80ohms with soundid. I master through aria for that final analogue sound. Would love to hear a good mixbus chain you use. I have godparticle, master plan, mix room and bass room. I also use ozone 10 as well.

[@Dane_Riazer]

I have an RME, BLA, and a Apollo. I'm surprise you don't have any thoughts on Black Line Audio Interface.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@Dane_Riazer i actually haven’t used the Black Lion Audio interfaces at my studio before, what’s your opinion on them?

[@Dane_Riazer]

@@RAYNETHESAVIOURI like them. They started as a small company modifying converters for Digidesign. A friend of mine, who works with high-end speakers, often tested equipment with BLA converters and was always impressed-even when compared to RME. I wasn’t sure if you used them, but I use BLA with Wavelab Pro and RME for Studio One and Ableton on my other computer.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@ that’s dope that you like the converter for mastering, definitely Gonna try to demo a unit!

[@Dane_Riazer]

@@RAYNETHESAVIOUR I'm curious to see your thoughts for sure! 🙌🏾

[@preciseaudioblog]

Is the Aurora N good?

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@preciseaudioblog yeah it’s pretty solid! I’d take a metric halo over the UFX to be honest, but still a good choice. Try to demo them to be certain! 🙏

[@Rhuggins]

Analog speakers? Are there any other kinds of speakers?

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@Rhuggins there are indeed! There are AES speakers like my PMC’s which can receive and AES signal from an interface, converter, or monitor controller and will do the conversion to analog inside of the speaker so that you can utilize the DSP EQ options as well. These speakers are great because the quality of the playback is generally incredible and you don’t need to buy a crazy good interface to hear pristine playback from them as well! Hope this helps explain 🙏

[@pjshaw7927]

I’ve heard the babyface pro fs has conversion on par with the adi-2 - curious what your thoughts are and if you see the Hilo as a significant upgrade. Also considering babyface pro fs and burl b2 for adc / master printing.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@pjshaw7927 I can absolutely guarantee you the baby face converter isn’t in the same ball park as the ADI converter. Personally, I am partial to the ADI 2/4 over the Lynx Hilo but both are amazing converters. Burl is super dope but definitely slightly over-stylized so will definitely be taste/style dependent! Has a tape-esk quality to it. Hope this helps and thanks for tuning in! 🙏

[@pjshaw7927]

Any idea how some of the upper-end RME interfaces fare vs the ADI in terms of pure conversion quality (unique features and flexibility aside)? Love the straightforward, quality vids btw

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@pjshaw7927 thank you!🙏 and the new UFX and the UCX both have some solid conversion. I have my buddy’s old 802 and that unit lack quite a bit of detail but I’d very easy to mix and produce on! The only unit I actually didn’t love for conversion was the baby face. For those who just make beats or cut demos, the baby face is cool for sure! That said, no interface in the RME line up is really as good as the ADI. It’s really a price thing and generally speaking regarding RME, Lynx, and Antelope (companies that make interfaces AND dedicated AD/DA), you get what you pay for. Hope this helps 🙏

[@pjshaw7927]

@ amazing, thank you so much for the insight 🙏

[@__Stelios]

Kinda unrelated to the video but how do you feel after changing from ATC to PMC now?

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@__Stelios I actually made a video on this! It’s called “I sold my ATC…”! I also made 2 PMC 6-2 reviews where I go over it. It’s a lot of info to explain in one comment so feel free to check those out 🙏

[@__Stelios]

@RAYNETHESAVIOUR Will check!

[@Studio-Xhoni]

Dangerous AD+ ⚡️⚡️⚡️🔥🔥🔥

[@TrapBoiFuse561]

Best 🎉

[@jason.martin]

yes I was just going to say that with its features.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@Studio-Xhoni definitely a very feature heavy and very cool option!

[@Benprogfuse]

How do you think the Apogee Quartet’s DAC still stacks up? Considering it has 6 analog outputs using ESS Sabre at 123 db dynamic range.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@Benprogfuse honestly, I haven’t heard an Apogee Dac I like for playback to analog speakers as far as detail and depth goes! But production and recording, the apogee quartet is really great and anything can work if it works for you! Hope this helps 🙏

[@PanoOpticum]

@@Benprogfuse no chance. I haven't heard the apogee, but I own an interface with the same ESS Sabre converters. look, there is a reason why the RME costs 1/3 more and has less features than your interface. and people can argue that we are talking about nuances, small little details. but it's not. for me it was like a new dimension opening up. my speakers translated very differently with the RME, much wider, more open and the Sound Stage was suddenly huge. I could write much more, but only hearing is believing.

[@Benprogfuse]

@ Everything I’ve ever heard about RME is that it doesn’t sound as great as Apogee, but the appeal is in the stability of the Drivers. The DAC in the Quartet is superior to the ADC. The Quartet essentially uses the DAC from the Symphony Mki and provides 6 analog sends at 123db dynamic range. While it’s ADC still used the same Cirrus Logic converters as the Apogee Rosetta 800 at 114 db dynamic range.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@Benprogfuse it’s more nuances than comparing the overall units, RME has dedicated converter options that outperform almost everything out there while Apogee’s interface A/D is crazy and has so much magic that really compliments protools as well! It’s just a tough complicated answer that also changes based on which line of each company we are comparing!

[@unc1589]

It’s impossible to know what you’re missing if you never heard your music coming through an RME. I have the black edition. When I first played commercial music through I was like “this thing sounds horrible!” Come to find out that it was the audio itself. They will pull the covers on a bad mix. They’re that good. Listening to your own older music is like “what was I doing?”😂 There is no better converter on the market. I haven’t even dug deep into the massive tweakability of this thing. I could never go back to a non DAC setup.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@unc1589 one hundred percent support this! I didn’t know until I got into RME as well and everything disappeared, I could just mix!

[@LaidbackSounds]

i had the babyface 2, hated the converters on that. Apogee duet 3 destroyed it soundwise

[@brokerabbit94]

I saw your video the other day about the RME ADI-2 Pro SE , now i can’t choose between this and the Antelope Orion 32+ Gen 4 . What do you think ? Ps: I have several analog synths

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@brokerabbit94 if you have several analog synths, maybe look into an Apogee Symphony instead because you need the I/O and you need a converter that will make your synths sound musical and mix ready! The Orion is good, but it really lacks details in my opinion. I sold my Orion after a year and a half with it but it’s an insane value for the money it costs. That said, a lot of great companies don’t carry Antelope anymore and so it can be though to get repairs for them if anything happens. Another good synth option could be a Burl mothership or better yet, a metric halo! A UFX would also be a good option as I hear the new converters are fantastic but I haven’t heard the update myself. The RME ADI is good but it’s not enough I/O for you if you haven’t many synths! Be sure to demo anything before buying to be sure it’s right for you and hope this helps! 🙏

[@brokerabbit94]

@@RAYNETHESAVIOURthank you so much for your response, what Apogee symphony are you talking about ? 🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@ I bought the Apogee Symphony I/O Mk2 2x6 Special Edition model! I didn’t use the expansion slot for extra I/O but a friend of mine did and he also loves it!

[@brokerabbit94]

@@RAYNETHESAVIOUR I think that one is over my budget, last question. What would you recommend in a 2500 $ budget that would be the best option to capture the essence of the analog synths ? Also I’m planning on using a patch bay so that’s ok if that’s not enough I/O Thank you for your time

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@ There’s actually a bunch of ways to do this but I would need to know more about your genre, sound, focus, and goals! To give proper advice, I’m gonna start a Patreon page where I can help more in depth on a case by case basis. It’s all expensive purchases so I want to make sure you’re investing in the right gear the first time so you don’t loose a bunch of money long term. If this is something you’d be interested in, keep an eye out for updates on this in coming videos!

[@gwsound]

Use Dante as your middle layer between computer and your converter and you are flexible for the future. You can even combine different converters together without any change in de computer (Windows users dream).

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@gwsound Dante is great for the console studio build these days, definitely a good option! For the type of work I do, I just create aggregate devices on my Mac and clock drift everything to my RME! Simple solution only because I don’t run outboard for mixing beyond my mix bus and master bus. Dante is definitely the future! Thanks for the advice 🙏

[@lj9732]

What has better quality headphone amp detail for mixing/mastering..rme or hilo ?

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@lj9732 you know what, I actually haven’t compared the headphone amps. I didn’t have them in the studio at the same time but I’m bring a Hilo back in for a full review this month. I’ll cover this question there for sure 👌

[@PanoOpticum]

don't know about the hilo, but the RME has brilliant hp amps! and you can save eq curves for multiple hp!

[@amendippanesar]

Solid bang for your buck

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@amendippanesar agreed! Great value 🙏

[@jeremyontheconsole]

LYNX family!!! I own the Hilo and Aurora

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@jeremyontheconsole that’s a dope combo!! Congrats on acquiring some studio gems 🔥

[@preciseaudioblog]

Is the Aurora Good?

[@tytansoundlab]

Dangerous AD+… Dual Inputs and has Clip Guard.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@tytansoundlab dangerous definitely has a lot of great features!

[@gwsound]

Clipping? Use a Bettermaker master limiter

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@gwsound better maker is a great piece, I think I mentioned it in the video but I actually just prefer clipping in the box with plugins. Just wanted to give great options for those who want to clip converters for that style of sound!

[@TBURNATV]

i love RME ADI-2

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@TBURNATV it is magic🪄💯🙏

[@DragiJanev]

is the burl really capable of clipping? the transformer adds life in the lowmids and it smooths out the high, great compression effect. if someone tells me they are capable of clipping without artifacts (lets say 2-3 db over 0) I would purchase it. couldnt find any info about the clipping capabilities so pleeaaase someone let me know 😂😂😂

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@DragiJanev yeah dude that’s what it’s known for! Try and get a demo unit to try out to make sure you’re happy with it 🙏

[@steppbrooEFT]

I made this comment on another video but if you have the chance, do get a demo unit of the Neumann MT48 in for testing. In a side to side shootout with the newest RME ADI-2 DAC FS, along with others, the MT48 sounds better by a good amount, universally agreed on every time. More expansive sound, better top and bottom end extension, dynamics, depth, imaging, you name it. Seems impossible on paper especially when it comes to the chipset specs, but implementation is where it matters most. Disclaimer being I've not tried the AD section, since I've only tried the DAC FS version, and RME claims no difference between units tho in documented measurements the DAC only unit is actually slightly better for some reason. The other disclaimer being the MT48 have stellar conversion in both ADC and DAC, but I'm not the biggest fan of it combines in a loopback, tho it does have a good sound. It shifts things toward a higher, tighter and punchier sound which I tend to prefer the opposite characteristics of a more extended and deeper sound, highly useable for certain punchier more in-your-face genres tho. Also playing with the physical buttons during loopback rendering can cause pops and clicks probably due to the more DSP nature of the unit. But man, you've gotta check it out! Not hearing the sound of that is surely a loss.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@steppbrooEFT I think I replied to that other comment already but in case I didn’t, I don’t find Merging to really compete against RME personally but I know they make amazing units with great quality! All about taste and how you use it 🙏

[@steppbrooEFT]

@@RAYNETHESAVIOUR I've got some tests and audio samples coming, would love to hear your thoughts!

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@steppbrooEFT would definitely love to hear it, that’s said I’ve gotten a few comments at the Neumann MT48 now so I’m gonna have one in the studio by the end of this month and will do all the tests followed by an depth review of the sound of the unit! Thanks for bringing it more to my attention 🙏

[@steppbrooEFT]

@@RAYNETHESAVIOUR sent it to your YT email! :D

[@DanBires]

Nothing I mean nothing beats topping.

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

What have you compared it to?

[@Rhuggins]

RME baby

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@Rhuggins 💯💯💯

[@gaboonschoolofmusic9848]

burl all day no other......B80 mothership

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@gaboonschoolofmusic9848 That’s a beautiful piece of I/O to have bro, I’m jealous!

[@ThisGuyDude]

Only one converter? I guess you only work in mono. If you ever decide to do stereo you might need a second :-)

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@ThisGuyDude 😂 thankfully all my converters are stereo!

[@alancalvitti]

-1 all talk , just play the fing thing

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@alancalvitti I wish I could! I’ve been purchasing them in succession because I difficult to afford 45k in converters mentioned in this video at the same time. I’ve been lucky to use them all at length in different facilities but the Lynx and the ADI I did have at the same time. I wasn’t on youtube while I had the Hilo and it’s gone now. Feel free to buy them all yourself if you don’t wanna take my word for it. You should absolutely be demoing anything you buy either way! Oh also, -1 for cursing 😂

[@risingphoenix1484]

RME ADI-2 FS is half the price

[@RAYNETHESAVIOUR]

@@risingphoenix1484 if you don’t record music, then sure, half the price for digital to analog conversion only with only 2 analog outputs. Technically not an AD/DA option though