Just a question: how would these trafo's compare to the ones in, let's say: the universally praised input stage of an 80's Neve console? Would they have better, worse, or just other characteristics? Can coupling trafo's for audio ever be what we now consider perfectly transparant, or will there always be a compromise? Just general interest on my part. And a short story to explain...
In the late 90's, when I did my stint at an infamously underfunded and archaic filmschool as a soundengineer, the use of opamps in professional audio gear was generally frowned upon by my "teachers" (air-quotes because, you know,
filmschool...
Grammy winning records had been digitally recorded, mixed, mastered for more than a decade, but since all we had were some handed down digidesign888 interfaces that functioned as the front end for the AMPEX 2" multitrack, it was easy to ignore that there was a big world where things were changing fast. Digital cinemacameras admittedly were still somewhat in their infancy, and our sound dapartment was to be kneecapped until digital camera's had caught up. We might just not have had ANY money, but one does not speak of such trivial matters among artists.
Magnetic tape, negative film, coupling trafo's and hard liquor (for cleaning and desinfectant purposes only!) had always done the job, and would go on doing so. It should. It was a case of late stage denial and open doubt about all things digital. General consencus before the last round: it would remain a prosumer thing.
I dropped a NAGRA IV in a cold lake four feet deep. Let it dry out overnight, and with some basic tools and tweaks I was good to go again the next day. Even the recording was salvaged. Could you do that with a portaDAT? Nope, knobs still ruled over buttons. Such lessons can be hard to unlearn.
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