I have just taken receipt of two of these devices. I have barely had more than 10 minutes with them and my first instinct is to post here and let you know.

I'm upgrading my home studio big time and decided to go mac pro. That meant my Lynx 2 pci cards have to go as it's PCI - E in the mac. Anyway - I digress.

After asking KMR Audio for some advice as to wether I should get the Apogee Symphony system based around the AD16X converters or the Orpheus I was advised to at least try the orpheus.

THEY'RE NOT GOING BACK!!!

Through my Genelec 8050A's these things sound so quiet and when I played a track my jaw just hit the ****ing floor!! The realism, depth and stereo imaging - oh the stereo imaging is scary. This is the real deal guys!

I honestly thought the difference would be subtle over my Lynx 2 and it is but it's also not. Damn I need a poet as I cannot put into words this sound. It's just real!!!

Also I'm using this a monitor controller as well, not got to grips with the manual yet so still unaware of what it can do but it sounds ****ing superb.

I have not tried the AD yet but will try to this weekend and report back.

Jeez - I'm elated!

Paul

Wooo... My Orpheus is on its way...in the meanwhile, this post is very lovely to read.

I'm happy for you!

Also, I have Genelec 8040A's...and an Edition 9 hooked up to a RPX-33...hmmm can't wait!

You're gonna be one happy little puppy when it arrives!

Paul

How does the Orpheus differ from a Prism 8XR?

Congrats, btw

-andrews

I have not tried it but a post I read somewhere here on slutz by a Prism guy says the Orpheus is their best yet (not sure if those where the words)

Incidentally, as I am playing with this thing, the software for the Orpheus is a little buggy.

Will post more as I find out more.

Paul

Hi Paul

First, thanks for your complementary comments about the sound quality of Orpheus.

If you are experiencing any software problems, please send us a mail with details to [email protected] and we'll get busy. Please include details of your computer hardware, OS type and version, what software you are using and what other peripherals are connected and how etc etc.

We don't promise weekend support, but at least if you mail us we have a chance to look at it.

As I already have your email address, I'll follow up to you directly.

-Graham

Not to knock the Orpheus in any way, but this comparison does not really say much about its quality. All you're really reporting is that your expectations -- that a $5000 external interface wouldn't sound much better than a $1000 sound card -- were a little nutty.

The Lynx Two is a PCI soundcard released seven years ago, and it does its AD and DA work on the actual PCI card, inside a computer, relying on the computer's power supply through the PCI bus, in an environment laced with interference. And it sells for under $1000.

I would expect that any mid-level or high-end converters, functioning in a dedicated box with its own power supply, would be a significant step up from the Lynx TWO, even assuming the Lynx TWO is a pretty good product. I would expect the RME Fireface to sound better; I would expect Lynx's own Aurora 8, connected by AES/EBU to a very similar Lynx PCI card, would sound significantly better.

The Orpheus costs five times more and sounds a lot better. This is news?

JSL

now thats the type of proactive customer service one hopes to receive with highend purchases like these

I guess what I'd like to know, how do the Orpheus converters stand up to the 8ADA XR converters?

Thanks

-andrews

Some Orpheus questions:

1) It's set up like a 003R, but you can't use Pro Tools with it directly. Can it operate in standalone mode, taking the analog ins/outs and routing them to/from the ADAT i/o? What is the latency performance in standalone mode if so?

2) No SMUX? Limited to 48K max on ADAT i/o?

3) Can inputs 1-4 be used as line ins fully bypassing the preamp gain stage? Or is that gain stage always in the circuit?

Seems like it's almost all the glories and miseries of the 003R but no Pro Tools, 1U and with the prism converters & pres.

The question is, are the converters the same quality as the ADA XR?

(Ok, there are nother questions tooheh)

I'd be curious.

-a

If Prism said that they were starting to make cars and i'd buy one, if they opend a chain restaurant, I'd eat there, and if they opened a church, well.....

That said, having had the 3 of the Dream ADA's for years (sn#00055) and having them upgraded to xr, I can not see any way that this product would not be the bee's knee's.
thumbsup

Is the ADA8XR worth the price tag?
and how does it compare to apogee and other converters?

That gives me no confidence as an answer to the prior question. The question was worded in a very specific way, I didn't add those qualifiers because I enjoy typing.

On most of these systems, the line in is merely padded or the mic in is given a 20db boost...but the main preamp gain stage remains in the circuit for line ins, allowing smooth gain adjustment and contributing THD+N.

Here's another question: are the THD+N specs identical for line level signals going into analog inputs 1-4 vs. 5-8? That will be harder to fudge an answer for. (Although they can squirm saying things like "ALL the inputs sound GREAT darling!" )

OK they provide enough info to make your own judgments:

Orpheus technical Specifications

You can have SMUX, but only 4 channels @ 88/96.

Standlone is possible, although they don't make it clear that it can do 8 in 8 out:

You have to leave the manual and refer to the marketing sheet to get assurance:

No block diagram is provided. It's not clear whether attenuation is digital or analog. And I still can't be certain there is no gain stage in the line in mode of inputs 1-4. If there wasn't one, no for real, then I could chastize all the other manufacturers for not following this completely obvious design benefit.

The ADA XR converters actually have higher specs and are nicer, but also much more expensive. They also lack modules for 1/4" ins and outs which would be my main reason for getting an orpoeus. You can look this information on their web site and on the forums here, they are better.

Message deleted by Bonne

Graham - many thanks. I have sent you an email.

Cheers

Paul

a nice post as i have to upgrade a lynx 2 sometime and one of my thoughts was - will an rme fireface sound better and do the trick or do i need to go higher to get better quality.This post answers a few questions.I would have expected a £3000 interface like this to sound better though




So no - it's not apples for apples I merely was shocked at how my beloved Lynx 2 AD/DA just got knocked out the ball park by something I was just not expecting it to! By the way - here in the UK, the Orpheus is about 3 times the value of a Lynx 2 card!
I honestly thought the Prism would be good - but not this good.

Incidentally - I've used the RME Fireface and it does not sound better than the Lynx 2 for me nor, after had a demo unit, did I find the Aurora 8 with a AES16 card sound significantly better than my Lynx 2 either.

Truth is the Orpheus, at it's price point, is staggering value for money and one serious piece of kit. I'm just hoping the firewire technology does not let me down.

Paul

p.s. I know it's hard to tell on boards the feeling behind the words people type - but your post comes across a little sarcastic and pedantic. Not nice really when all I'm doing, especially whilst in the throws of genuine amazement, is post a little bit of information that a lot of people would like to read.

If this was not your intentions then my apologies - it just comes across like that!

Paul[/quote]

Me too - but was not prepared for the difference I witnessed last night.

Don't hesitate Jachin - at very least get a demo unit off your pro audio dealer.

Paul

This thread was not started as a Lynx TWO vrs Orpheus thread.

Blenn is simply sharing his experience, which I might add is pretty much dead on with my experience.

We can debate costs until we are blue in the face, where does it get us?
We can compare them, and we cannot compare them. Lets just share experience, shall we?

When a engineer, or a studio sacrifices quality components because of the "ever so important cost factor" and still offers up the testicular fortitude to charge, at the minimum $50 bucks an hour, well lets just say,

That money is MUCH better spent, elsewhere.

Some people believe in their music and DON'T take shortcuts to achieve a quality product in the end.

I would also offer that just because a piece of gear costs a certain amount, says nothing about what it offers the end user. Everyone's experience is different. We all have to look strongly at the pro's and cons, to critically analyze, with all the information that's in front of us, if a piece of gear is right, or intensely wrong.

Assume nothing until the proof is staring you in the face.

Blenn,

Congrats on the upgrade!

Paul ... I can tell you're a nice guy ... but WTF ... telling me to read your post, when I obviously read your post, obviously responded to it quite directly ... and you absolutely wrote about your expectations in that post ...

Was that not an expectation? Was it not actually in your post? Am I insane?

Have you actually read your post?

In the U.S., those two Lynx items are $2800 and the Orpheus is $5000 (MAP), so it's a pretty big price difference. I guess that's not the case in England?

You make a great point about the preamps, though. Neither Lynx, Prism nor Apogee's top converter systems include high-end preamps. But unlike the Orpheus, Apogee's integrated interface product (Ensemble) is not purported to include their top-class converters. Prism has basically said, despite being an integrated interface, Orpheus basically includes the best of everything sonically.

Okay ... you just said you weren't "expecting" something ... so it that an expectation, or the lack of an expectation ... my head hurts and it's late ...

See, that is noteworthy and very interesting. Just don't go telling the Fireface people, those people are crazy. They'll kill you. Have you seen that insane listening test thread?

I appreciate the generous style of your reproach, Paul, so let me be honest and just admit it -- my post came off as "a little sarcastic and pedantic" because it was in fact sarcastic and pedantic.

We may simply disagree about what's appropriate in that regard -- I don't think being nice and enthused excuses someone from having their claims or arguments questioned. If the goal is to provide useful information for people, then I'd think you would agree with the basic idea.

I genuinely think it's a problem for things to get overpraised based on the reviewer not really knowing the playing field well. Some other folks will go nuts over the Lynx when all they've ever used before was a 96 i/o -- that's equally egregious. And I've read and heard constant Big Ben recommendations from people who previously were using Digi 888's as their master clocks. These people think they've discovered a great product, when all they've really discovered is the joy of not using garbage for conversion -- something many of us had already discovered 7-8 years ago.

So your post kind of set off that alarm with me ... replacing the $1000 system with the $5000 system, and loving the upgrade ... that just doesn't tell us much about the Orpheus. What people really need to know is, how dramatic is the difference with the Ensemble, how does it compare to other Prism systems that are well established, how does it compare with high-end Apogee and Mytek and Lavry systems. How it compares with a LynxTwo just doesn't tell potential buyers much, unless they're just looking for any good news at all.

You eventually mentioned, in your last post, that you did eventually get to compare Orpheus to the Lynx Aurora, but that wasn't part of your original post. To me, that detail would have made the original post a lot more valuable. I am seriously considering Orpheus as a future purchase, and while eventually I will listen for myself, I would love to see some useful comparisons.

JSL

Can you expand on this yet ?

Hello John. The device is rock solid as a single device. The problems occurs when cascading two devices together.

I have sent a detailed email to their tech support who got back to me within the hour and they're letting me know that they're checking this out and will get back to me very soon.

Will keep you all posted.

Paul

Thanks for the info on the multiple device problem. For clarification, is this using multiple orpheus/orpheii (what the hell is plural for orpheus anyway?) or is it an issue with other devices on the firewire buss in addition to the orpheus? I expect prism will sort it out given their history, but....

firewire driver issues really screwed up the tc konnekt series of boxes to where i don't trust them. Conversely, the rme firewire implementation is very stable. I've been following the orpheus saga while waiting to see if mytek can get their firewire hardware/software together. Yours is one of the first valid data points since the orpheus was released, thanks for the reporting and keep us updated please.

I hate computers almost as much as being an unwitting beta tester at list price.

Haha. I too have been trying to work this out myself.

As for the firewire / Orpheus issue. I have absolutely no other firewire device other than the Orphues / Orpheii themselves.

The problems I have are the following: (should note this is on a mac pro with leopard) May not be the case in Windows.

The Orpheus can be used as a monitor controller but you have to ensure in the software panel the VOL buttons for those output channels connected to your speakers is on. If it is not then your speakers are not being attenuated - in other words they'll blast out at full volume potentially killing your speakers. It should be that NOT engaging the VOL will just mute those output channels. This would also give you the option to be able to control multiple monitor set ups. (this may not be a bug but by design - I think this needs looking at myself though)

When two units are cascaded together changing the sample rate to 192khz causes a software crash. The Orpheus themselves then crash causing an internal clicking / relay noises that wont cease. Only removing the power cable resolves this. This does not happen with a single Orpheus only when cascading two of them (may be OK with 3 but I'm not that wealthy!)
When you have rebooted them they wont remember your preset for monitoring - thus, see first point, will have no attenuation of your speakers which will now come at you full throttle!

Not sure how to slave the second device to the first, even though the manual is fairly easy on how to do this, there is actual no indication it has slaved and the software panel defaults to the slaved device as opposed the primary.

Cant seem to monitor the second device through the first device software (essential if your have all 16 channels recording and need to hear them all in the single monitor / headphone feed). This maybe because I don't know what I'm doing yet and / or cannot seem to get the second device to slave to the master.

Cannot rename the devices as per manual (very minor bug but wether you use two or just one Orpheus the problems is the same)

Thats about it really. The DA is absolutely stellar though. If all of the above is User error then I'm sure Prism will help me right double quick and if not I'm sure Prism will put it right double quick. After all - they are the Rolls Royce of the converter world.

Paul

liking the unit here, does sound amazing (moving from rosetta 800 clocked by a ben). i have not however been able to enable the adat snd/rtns without major crashes (10.4.11 mac pro ableton live.) as soon as i engage it the system freezes, then on restart live works incredbily slow no sound, beach ball etc until i disable adat snd/rtn. has anyone been able to successfully route a 3rd party card into an orpheus via the adats?

Actually, much of the original post dealt with being amazed at the difference between Orpheus compared to the Lynx TWO. Your complaint is semantic at best.

I understand that you and the OP both really like the Orpheus -- hell, I'm pretty sure that I will, too, once I hear it. That does not mean that everyone should refrain from any critical comment.

Those of us in the real world need to discuss value as well as how much we like something. Of course there is genuine interest in how one product compares to others of similar price.

These comments are unbelievably thoughtless, ignorant and ill-advised. (Gee, could it be that you're selling something?)

There are plenty of studios where the owners have written some big checks but don't know the first thing about helping an artist make a great record. We face "competition" from places like that literally every day. We charge double their rates and are worth every penny and more -- with or without Prism.

Here in Philly, in the handful of studios that have our highest respect, you'll find converters that aren't as good (or expensive) as ours. That does not make us better than those studios, except perhaps in this one small area. If you really knew about making a "quality product," I wouldn't have to tell you that.

Of course having quality gear makes a difference, but at the same time, writing big checks for gear is the ultimate shortcut. The things that "achieve a quality product in the end" require a lot more effort than that. You can't buy your way into knowing how to make great records.

I think you've been hanging out in a well-stocked, dealer-owned studio too long. If you'd ever had to make tough decisions about what to buy, where to spend money to have the most impact on the quality of records you're making ... then you would never say things like this.

JSL

I believe one of the differences is that instead of using a PC board for each channel (as in the 8ADA XR), the Orpheus uses one board for the whole thing.

This is an old link, but for those that haven't seen it:

http://www.gearwire.com/media/prisms...aes-vienna.mov

OK, I have a question. In AES NY07 I spoke to the Prism booth and I was told that the ADAT out was not active. So one couldn't, for example, go ADAT out into a 003 just because this lightpipe digital output didn't spit out anything.

Is this true?

Peace

Not got round to that yet as my studio is still in bits for a bit. As soon as I can I'll give it a try and let you know.

Paul