I'm not seeing much chatter on the Egret which seem like an incredible box when you look at all the features it has crammed into it (I don't even want to attempt to list them all because there are so many).

It has been a couple years since the last Egret thread so I'm sure there has got to be more slutz with it now, right? One thing I found weird is that there are a lot of Crane Song dealers that don't even list it our their website. What gives?


I'm in the market for a DAC and I have been also looking at summing boxes so why not kill two birds with one big ass stone?

Opinions of Egret please!

I've used the Egret [ don't own one] but I can speak to how cool it is. Pretty beefy [solid, tight] but crystal clear, fluid. Firm in the ass. Real nice.

Seems like the Egret is very different from anything else, [except Dave's other exotic wildlife] and has been designed as the back end to the Spider [another ridiculously awesome piece of gear]. Both very boutique, very high end pieces.

The Egret does have some great features [as mentioned]!! You are meant to come into this box with your AES/EBU or Optical feed - and post Crane Song DAC - you can send the Analog Insert Send to Analog Gear, and back to the Mixer.

The Harmonic process knob [to my ear] sounds slightly different from the Spider and HEDD's processing. I did notice that it doesn't really start to affect the sound until the signal floats into higher levels. There is lots of headroom on this one. Tons...Amazing sweet spot as well.

Hope this helps!

peace
A.j.B

Do you know anything about the SRC feature that is supposed to reduce jitter? Is that anything special or different from what other convertors.

One of the possible selling points for me was that it uses the same high quality DA converters as Avocet so I was thinking I could also use it to power monitors using the L/R outputs until mix down in which I can monitor off the headphone out with the L/R outputs going to a two track.

I emailed cranesong and they said you can do this but the amplifier that powers the outputs of Egret is similar but different from the amplifier in Avocet, whatever that means.


The thing is I want a high end multichannel DA converter, and a summing mixer, and I also like a high end monitor controller (even if only simple). And this thing seems like the only thing on the market capable of doing that and more. I think when you consider all the features of this thing and what it would cost you buy different outboard gear to do the same thing, the Egret actually seems like a good deal

Oh, I thought you were referring to the Egrets (birds) that run around the Tampa St. Pete area. Fun to watch.

I never understood what a guy could use it for .
I own an avocet monitoring setup which has d/a converters and I can
See the use of that ,
but not the egret .

So what would you use it for ?

Yea, that is Dave Hill's custom clocking circuitry surrounding the DA amplifiers. I know he has continually improved it over the years with his Avocet. I believe both the Avocet and Egret share this "self clocking" topology in common, as you can change the Up-sampling Function as well as the Phase Filter Network with the Avocet internally. The SRC function is part of his custom reconstruction filters.

So compared to the Avocet, the Egret's SRC reconstruction filter function is simpler on the front panel. All the Avocet's AES/EBU and SPDIF "re-clock" the Digital Feed, and thus all are presented with Dave's extremely and Low Jitter PLL mechanism. Basically, in short, it doesn't matter how jittery a feed you send into the Avocet or Egret, it will always provide a super stable re-clocking with the lowest amount of jitter possible.

Sure, that would be awesome. You can also use a patch bay setup with a 1/2 Normal to Split the Outputs of the Main L/R Master Mix to both your monitors and your Master Recording Device. Of course the Attenuator is controlling levels to both the AD print and your monitors, so this is why an external volume attenuator and possibly a speaker switcher is helpful. Might also add a way to connect a 2-track return to the monitors as well. Not a deal breaker, but something to consider. I will say though the Master L/R Attenuator on the Egret tracks like a laser beam.

Its just built to accomodate different applications. The Amplifier circuitry of the Avocet is aimed at extremely transparent audio. The Analog input amplifiers, and its DA amplifiers are built and designed with accurate Monitoring as a main concern. The Analog portion and DA stage of the Egret are setup for back end mixing, so the performance and tonality is slightly different. I think there is more amplifier beef inside the Egret. It's circuitry has been designed for Mixing so the mix amplifiers are really adding some heft to the sound. As I said above I think the Egret has a firmer, more solid quality than the Avocet has, which always just sounds like input to me.

I certainly don't think you'd be dissatisfied with an Egret, it is a pretty rad piece of kit in my book.

I would use it for....

Multichannel high end DA conversion, jitter reduction, summing/mixing, summing with analog color controls, using the channel aux sends to send to possible tape emulators or distortion devices like the culture vulture for further coloration. Individual signal processing using the analog inputs. I can use it for monitoring & headphone monitoring. It can be used entirely analog for summing room mics and as a mixer for a 8 track tape machine. It can also be chained with multiple units and interface with spider so it has a lot of future expandability.

It seems like a Swiss army knife. What can't I use it for?

Omg !
That's a lot of uses .
But . My avocet which is a double unit can do some of that , and my spider can as well .
I don't do any tape processing .
I have a great headphone system already that's analog .
And flamingos , hedds , stc-8 , and ibis , if more processing is needed , not to mention , a bunch of other premo outboard gear and 32 channels of assorted high end converters on top of the avocet .

So , if I could use it for something useful I might get one , but if a guy
Has a great monitor system , a great summing box , and high end converters already , it sounds redundant to buy a egret .

the egret is worth it's price even just for the eight color fx knobs, loove iit!

I got a response from Crane Song on the difference of the amplifier section of the Egret vs Avocet.

"The basic topology of the circuits are the same, some resistors values are change to adjust biasing."

Yea , I agree , it looks cool .
And sounds good too .
But all their gear looks nice .
I wish inward connections would hire
Their decorator . That poop brown
Color they use is an eye sore .

Why do you think its called inward connections?
Punch isn't the only thing it packs.

True words .

I have one, and recommend it - if you need DA-converters, analog summing, some serial (inserts per channel) and parallel (through the AUX) processing in mixdown...
(I've hooked up a compressor to the AUX instead of the usual reverb, I recommend that too. :-)
The other functions are also great - "color", switches to bypass the inserts, output attenuator and metering.
Planning to get my second Egret for a 16 channel setup, in the beginning of next year.

I also think about an Egret.

I would use it for DA and summing.

What's that analog button for? Can you also use the Egret for analog summing? I thought you can directly feed the analog return on some tracks and use other with your digital ins?

As the Egret only has eight ins would you sum the signal in multiple steps?

Oops... sorry for late reply...

The Analog button is there to activate the send/return on each channel, so you can audition what the external hardware (eq/comp) are doing or take them out of the circuit.
Primarily I'll use it for the analog summing, and some hardware patched in to the 8 channels, and because I only have 8 channels I'll have to send it out through 8 busses from PT, so a little bit of compromising there...
Still haven't bought my second unit...

Also surprised there is not more talk about this unit. So many more options than many of the summing boxes out there like Dangerous, with more control and even color for each channel. Really nice