Enlighten me on the Lynx sound card please

[Staxxx]

Hi Bhagwan, as I mentioned, the DAC/preamp I have currently does not have a USB input and Behold does not make one. (However as an aside it does make a AES/EBU input module that can be inserted into the preamp). In the case of this system the DAC resides within the poweramp.

What that means is that one alternative is that I can buy this Lynx card and buy the AES/EBU input module from Behold OR I can use a converter (if there is one) to convert from AES/EBU to SPDIF or Toslink which is already available in the preamp as an input.

On the other hand the other alternative, if the Lynx card is not so great (either in implementation in my system or in being a good deal), is I can just forget about this card and buy a USB sound card and appropriate DAC later....no issue.

As the DACs are in the power amp I am not sure how the clocking works.

 

[jai1611]

Conversion from AES to SPDIF is reasonably straight forward - just needs an impedance transformer. I think Neutrik makes one.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

The Lynx and Behold might make a very, very nice combination. I think your wallet has to make the choice!

A stand-alone DAC can be chosen at just about any budget from $50 to $50,000.

 

[Staxxx]

The Lynx and Behold might make a very, very nice combination. I think your wallet has to make the choice!

A stand-alone DAC can be chosen at just about any budget from $50 to $50,000.

My wallet is quite empty, hence considering the $300 card as a bargain. I think I can then look at a converter as in the post above. And finally I should get the Memory Player guys to duplicate the player on my PC.

Thanks for all the help everyone....

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

My wallet is quite empty, hence considering the $300 card as a bargain

You might do well to buy a Juli@. I believe that even Bhagwan will sing its praises!

 

[Staxxx]

I notice that a lot of these cards (including the Juli@) come in a PCI and PCIe version. Since most motherboard nowadays offer both...can somone in layman's terms explain what the difference in performance (rather than convenience) is please.

 

[bhagwan]

You might do well to buy a Juli@. I believe that even Bhagwan will sing its praises!

Yes;
I use the ESI - Julie @ Office [Analogue]
&
RME - AES 32 @ Home
However, the 2 are very different cards & therefore cannot be compared.
The ESI is a super VFM Card - BTW I also use the M Audio Delta - LT 1010 @ my house - in a different room.
The RME is a Top End - as good as it gets kind of a card.
I will vote for the RME - Hands Down. :clapping::yahoo:
The ESI is a great VFM Card.
Better than a ASUS Xonar - imho.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

There are other sound cards/interfaces with the essential 2-in/2-out analogue/digital, as well as external units connected by USB or Firewire. What is difficult now, is to get what one needs, without having to buy (or have one's purchase value diluted by) heaps of stuff that one does not need. It is an entire specialist area. There is no current equivalent to my old RME card, or I would probably buy it (Linux compatibility permitting). I have always been a fan of sound "cards" (internal or external, making "interface" a better term) but now find it hard to remember when I last did any recording, and am even using a simple DAC (one way street!).

If i was to build, once again, the sort of interconnected PC/hifi system that I used to have, with both digital and analogue input and output, and regularly used for recording from different devices, and my wallet was "quite empty," (normally the case!) then I'd settle for the Juli@ on the basis of so many recommendations, including that of Bhagwan's office system. (IIRC, no problems with Linux, too )

There are still one or two high-end units that I lust after (I mentioned the Lynx Haylo: someone on another site described it as having the best DAC they had ever heard, and mentioned some big names that they had heard) but, as I have little use for recording, these days, my once considerable enthusiasm for sound cards has wilted away.

I notice that a lot of these cards (including the Juli@) come in a PCI and PCIe version. Since most motherboard nowadays offer both...

For now they do. I think that PCIe is the next generation, and the one to buy for being "future proof." The differences in the technologies I leave to someone else

 

[tanaka]

Its hard to imagine that some of these cards can cost $1000+!!!

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Not if you think that the analogue out is going to give you sound equivalent to a much more expensive stand-alone DAC. Then, you might think that they offer great value for money! (you are also paying for ADC as well as DAC, along with other features that you do not need for simple stereo playback)

But, sure, Lynx was always outside my budget.

Like the Lynx One before it, the Lynx Two proves that a soundcard with internal converters can provide superlative audio quality on a par with many stand-alone converter units if well designed with absolutely no compromises, and I suspect it might give world-renowned product ranges like those of Apogee a run for their money. It's certainly the best-sounding soundcard I've ever reviewed, but as you might expect, it doesn't come cheap at around 1000. With a milestone product like the Lynx Two, competition is understandably thin on the ground. I've yet to review another soundcard that can record at 192kHz, although I suspect that most users will stick with 96kHz or lower sample rates for most projects. If you need more simultaneous inputs or outputs, the various forthcoming LStream Expansion options will make the Lynx Two far more versatile, and may make it an alternative to the MOTU range, or to flagship models from M Audio and Echo. However, the real comparison should be with high-end stand-alone converter boxes, and by replacing the rack casing with two high-quality breakout cables, the Lynx Two provides audio performance on a par with rackmount gear costing considerably more. In short, I can't think of any other product that comes close!

... Sound on Sound, back in 2002

You can bet (well, I would) that Lynx products won't have got worse in ten years. You can also see how long (with a handful of other manufacturers) they have been at this game, and experience usually counts for a lot.