(the following is my reply to a post regarding usb audio in the g4 forum, but it belongs in this category as well...)
you heathens who dis 96k have got to scrub the tin out of your ears!!!!! 44.1/48k is absolutely horrible. the cd revolution was a mistake-- imagine hollywood making every movie with mini-dv instead of film, and you've got the idea... 24/96 is comparable to HD-video (which the next star wars film will be made on), and even that is not good enough, compared to film anyway-- film (good analog) is still better. the same with music. good analog is better than 24/96. but 96k is still a hell of a lot better than 44.1k... worlds better. galaxies better. why? because all the subsonic digital garbage (which causes that tinnitus-like cd harshness and ringing) inherent in the pcm (pulse code modulation) audio to digital (A to D) conversion is still imbedded just a little too close for comfort in 44.1k, whereas in 96k it is more removed (although still not completely), but at least to not being able to hear it so much.
if only dsd and the sacd would become the standard, but that is a different battle (dsd is the best of analog plus the best of digital)...
regarding the motu box-- sure, it may be cheaper than the metric halo box, but it is still only 44.1/48k. which is unprofessional and musically unacceptable at this point in time. plus, sample rate aside, the A to D and D to A coverters in the metric halo box are going to be much better than those in the motu box. this counts a great deal!!! kind of like a $300 boom box with radio/cd/tape/speakers, versus a component system that costs $2000... you will hear the difference!!!
(or, an iMac versus a g4 tower)
i just pre-ordered my metric halo box (the mobile I/O) and am very excited about it, because i found out when i called metric halo that if you pre-order before april 15 with a $500 *refundable* deposit, they'll give you the dsp version ($2200) for the same price as the non-dsp version ($1500). the dsp version has an additional processor to handle plug-ins and other future software on the box itself, instead of in the host computer, making it a very powerful and independent little device. and you can return the mobile i/o after you get it, if you want, and get your $1500 back-- you can't lose!
what else?
metric halo has partnered with vst, so you will be able to record from the mobile i/o, directly to vst's external firewire hard drives
the mobile i/o is firmware upgradable, and 24/96 will be around for a while, so it will *not* become obsolete anytime soon
the mobile i/o will be osx compliant!!!
the mobile i/o will be mlan compliant!!!
the mobile i/o just damn well looks sexy!!!
metric halo just posted a buch of new info on their web site, so check it out...
http://www.mhlabs.com/index2.html
oh, and no, i don't work for metric halo!
i'm going to use the dsp version with a cube for a virtually silent and relatively cheap ($3000) professional audio workstation
peace
Top
