8 channel multi DAC with ADC

[Badbruno]

Can you folks recommend an 8 channel DAC with ADC so that I can continue to use my turntable with Roon.


I’m changing hardware configurations and upgrading technologies.
I was using DEQX HDP-5 with fully active 3-way open baffle speakers. The current work with Audiolense and computer audio is terrific. But I can’t forgo analog!

Can you folks recommend some hardware To take on the Task ?

Thank you

 

[Blumlein 88]

Probably makes more sense to get a basic 2 channel ADC and feed the digital signal to whatever DAC you end up using. This would work fine for the turntable.

 

[Maxicut]

Personally I use a "RME UFX II". Although it probably does more than what you're looking for, the sound is about as good as it gets as far as pro stuff goes.

 

[Badbruno]

Thank you I’ll study it can it host FIR filters

 

[Maxicut]

Thank you I’ll study it can it host FIR filters

Any filter you can use for recording, can also be used for playback, which again is probably not a road you need to travel. The UFX II is a recording interface & I was just pointing out what I use.
BTW, it's always cheaper to get RME stuff direct from the RME Store.

 

[AudioJester]

Iam confused. The deqx has analogue inputs, why not connect your phono stage to it?

 

[Badbruno]

Yes you are correct, the DEQx has been great been using it for years !

I can’t replace the IIR filters used in the DEQX with new FIR filters for cross over and room equalization. There isn’t enough computing power to handle the 70k taps

 

[AudioJester]

Is there a practical/audible difference between the 2?

 

[Badbruno]

That’s a fair question
I can say that my experience with my first system it was significantly better well worth the investment

time alignment with frequency alignment is magical

freq alignment but phase errors is audible

 

[Blumlein 88]

I don't know which 8 channel DAC you have in mind. The Okto Research people have an 8 channel DAC. I believe it will work with Audiolense for your purposes. In addition it has AES/EBU digital inputs. It has different modes of operation. In one of them I believe you can do what you need, and as I suggested above feed a separate 2 channel ADC into one of those digital inputs for your turntable.

Otherwise you are probably looking at using a recording interface which is 8 channels of DAC and ADC. Getting those to work with Audiolense for your crossovers and such is a different proposition. I've not done it so don't know if it is difficult, generally not possible or not hard to do.

https://www.oktoresearch.com/dac8pro.htm

 

[Badbruno]

Yes you stated it correctly Mixing boxes and audiophile equipment!! Yes I’m now realizing that separation in the two industries and specifications. There is probably 3-4 lower dB performance gains in audiophile world equipment. That Prague DAC has some good specs.
Thanks for you multiple responses on this topic

 

[Neddy]

Yup. I'm currently (slowly) banging my head against a wall trying to get a nice inexpensive Motu 8PreUSB to work with JRiver.
Anybody else with actual experience getting a pro mixer to place nice with home audio?
I did find an ADC->AES product that looked pretty good; those are rarer, more expensive, but might work well with my OktoDAC.

 

[Badbruno]

Can you give your impressions on Okto 8 DAC?

 

[AudioJester]

I remember people talking about Merging Technology and Raveena interface having this capability, but dont know anyone actually doing it. I think you can run it with HQPlayer?

 

[Neddy]

Can you give your impressions on Okto 8 DAC?

"mmmmmmm"? :>
I wrote a bit about it in the OktoDAC review thread, but in short - and as others have said - it pretty much "Just DACs" - in other words, it doesn't 'add' anything, like color or whatever, to the sound. Just clean, very deep, & well imaged.
No hiss, no hum from it, runs cool (my rack is fan cooled; however you can look up it's temp from the menu), extremely well built/designed.
I upgraded from a fairly middle-lower end HDMI Pre/Pro, so the improvements across the board were very noticeable.
I'm still trying to better 'figure out' /characterize, the huge improvement in dynamic range vs. the old pre/pro.
I first noticed it on well recorded classical releases - I can set it to 100% and hear the quietest passages very clearly, but also get the Wham! when the full orchestra kicks in...yet (aside from really dramatic/loud pieces) the loudest parts are just, well Really Loud, not speaker killing.
For now, I'd say, Just A Lot Better.
The AES outs were a requirement for me, as I'm doing xovers/DSP for my mains downstream of the DAC.
However, the volume knob doesn't apply to AES levels (by definition), but Pavel did say he'd release an update that does apply the Mute function to it.
No regrets, well worth the wait, Very Happy with it.

 

[Burning Sounds]

I have three 8-channel DACs - two with ADC. A cheap and cheerful M-Audio M-Track 8 and a Mytek ADDA8x192, both of which I've had for a number of years.

The Mytek is very flexible with USB DIO, AES inputs, 8 analogue inputs, 8 analogue outputs plus 2 additional volume controlled analogue outputs that can be set to any of the 2 to 8 channels. All the analogue input and output levels can be changed in the analogue domain, useful to get the gainstaging right. I use its analogue inputs from my phono stage (unbalanced) and do all the x-overs etc in JRiver (FIR convolution or IIR). Works very well. It is an old design (14 years), but still a current model and still in the top ten on the Gearslutz loopback tests after all these years (last time I looked). Sound quality is excellent and it's very stable with good drivers, no clicking when changing sample rate (unlike the M-Audio). The downside - it's not cheap and it has a noisy fan which I replaced with a Noctua and that solved the problem. Mytek say it can be used without the fan in a domestic setting as long as there is some clearance above it.

I also have an Okto Dac8 which I like a lot. It's ASIO driver seems very good, again no clicking when changing sample rate. If I was wanting to add analogue inputs today I would go down the route suggested by @Blumlein 88 and get an ADC that can output AES (or SP/dif) and use the Okto Dac8's AES inputs. You could then do the x-overs etc in JRiver as I do with the Mytek. Not sure about this with Roon, though.

 

[Neddy]

Nice stuff!! I missed finding that M-Track8, darn google-foo! I'll consider that. Myteck is > 10x my budget,but looks fantastic.

WRT to analog to AES, the problem is finding (an affordable) one (8ch), as it's kind of an obsolete Pro interface nowadays.
(Stereo ones are all over the place, though.)
For now I've kind of landed on going ADC->USB rather than AES->Okto, as it's fewer cables to add to the rack snake
(ADC would be outboard of my rack.)
Thanks!

 

[dualazmak]

I am using OKTO's DAC8PRO in pure USB mode in my audio-only (not AV) multi-channel project.

 

[howard416]

It's not a plug & play solution, but the freeDSP Aurora module has 8 channels of both ADC and DAC.

 

[Neddy]

Gosh, I'd forgotten all about that one - looks like it 'survived' kickstarter and now is actually available. (?)
https://auverdion.de/
Huh. VERY interesting.
Many Thanks!!