I own a Saffire 56 and based on that there's no way I'd even consider investing any more money in Liquid Preamps. Those Liquid Pre's in the 56 are inferior to the stock saffire preamps by a large margin- huge disappointment. I'm surprised you seem so upbeat about them. Even Focusrite has abandoned the tech - it isn't showing up on any of their new interfaces.

The reviews were very misleading. I've given up on trusting magazine reviews, they are simply advertisements disguised as reviews.

To each his own, but personally I'm done with these gimmicks - and I consider that tech a gimmick.

What mic pres and interface do you have now?

Blue Sky

Basically, I got it to try out. If I don't like it, I got such a good deal I can flip it and make some $$$!

Another thing is you can't completely compare it to the LS 56. That unit did not have the same analogue circuitry (it was a strip down version) PLUS... the LS 56 had mid-grade converters, 8 pres, and was a ADC/DAC! Like Focusrite is gunna give you 8 of their best and ADDA converters for $900. It was targeted for more of the hobbyist, not pro studio owners.

On top of that, I know pro studio owners who say the LC is great for what it does. My own Sweetwater rep wishes he kept one of his (he had 2 LC) after he sold his studio (and he had some very high-end gear.)

Also... you can't come to the conclusion that Focusrite just "abandon" the technology. There are many reasons why manufacturers discontinue good products all the time! It's like... you have a favorite TV show and they cancel it JUST because there's not enough people watching it. It's Not the fault of the show, the cast, the writers, or the producers. Just didn't make business sense.

Same thing can be said about great pieces of gear! Some of the best pianos ever made, never made it as a business for one reason of another. And... how many pieces of gear or great products didn't make it or were discontinued simply because the demand wasn't there? I mean... there can be many reasons why a company discontinues the line. Some time the parts went up and it just wasn't cost effective to make any more.

For instance. I had 2 Switch guitars that would sustain for days, however it used a non wood material (better than wood and heat and cold resistant) and for whatever reason the company couldn't sell enough of them to keep them in business.

But like you said "To each their own!" If something works for you it works! If it doesn't it doesn't.

What other "high end" pres do you own?

"No truer words ever spoken!"

I have 2 Liquid Channels and they are kept off 99% of the time. I turn them on only when tracking vocals or acoustic instruments which is rare since I use high-end samples and then track vocals after the project is complete.

SEA

Has anyone A-B the digital AES out to the analog out? If so which do you prefer?

Thanks

I had a Liquid Channel here for a while. I bought it because I was looking for tonal variation. I was quite disappointed that the difference between the various emulations wasn't as contrasting as I had hoped. I'm not commenting on how accurate the emulations are just the fact that there wasn't as big a variety as I was expecting. However, the Liquid Channel is a very good preamp in its own right but for my needs I found the Audient Mico had equally good preamps but there is two of them! Also, the Mico has a function called HMX which gave me more tonal variation than I was getting from the Liquid Channel and built in digital I/O. Another preamp which has more tonal variations is the WARM TB12 which also offers excellent value for money.

Does it sound as good as the oodles ofodeled plugins that we all have access to now?

They sure seem to hold their value.

Weird… I can really hear the variations on my iPhone speakers in this vid.

https://youtu.be/6uKiiAigFWA