 | | March 31, 2015 | | New Products | | | Read the November/December 2014 Issue of PAR Now!
Click Here For The Digital Edition | | Today's Review | Sunburst Gear MM Series All-In-One Monitor
By Strother Bullins
Elite Acoustics Designs' Sunburst Gear M3BR8 could be the most useful multipurpose monitoring tool I've ever used. Is it a studio monitor, instrument monitor, sound reinforcement speaker, Bluetooth-ready portable DJ/KJ rig, remote-location battery powered portable PA, or a three-channel mixer with limited EQ? Actually, it's all of those and more. More » |
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| | Today's Blog | Why I Bought It: Apogee Symphony I/O
By Rob Tavaglione for ProSoundNetwork.com
I've spent the better part of the last two years listening to many different converter systems. Frankly, my limited budget hasn't enabled raising my entire rig up to what I’d consider “top shelf.” I first focused on transducers—microphones and monitors—as my top priority and did so for many years. As much as I like and use plug-ins, I felt that outboard processing was of greater importance as I loaded up on my favorite hardware compressors and effects.
I soon began reviewing some impressive converter sets for Pro Audio Review and managed to bring clients in for test recordings and evaluations with their input from critical listening sessions. Even as I found myself impressed with offerings from Focusrite, Prism, Lavry, iZ, Benchmark Media, SPL, Mytek, SSL and others, my clients weren't at all wowed by any of the audio we recorded for evaluation at sample rates over 96 kHz. I stuck with my older MOTU rig but began researching a much-buzzed-about new chip—the ESS Sabre32 32-bit DAC—found in the Duet 2, Duet for iPad and Mac, Ensemble, Quartet and Symphony I/O. It’s actually found in numerous product lines including those by Lynx and even MOTU. These converters promised improvements in distortion, noise floor, imaging, jitter and overall clarity. Although I'm really not a disciple of specs, I have found that THD+N (total harmonic distortion plus noise) is truly indicative of audible differences between different components, even when other specs aren’t (e.g., frequency response linearity, where an array of converters sport similarly “flat” full ranges on paper). I finally brought a number of Sabre32-equipped models into my studio for evaluations after reading trustworthy endorsements from those pros who can use anything they want—guys like Bob Ludwig and Chris Lord-Alge—and noting their significant spec-based improvements over older converters (as well as some rather noisy modern ones, too).
I finally settled on an Apogee Symphony system, thus spending a substantial amount on one of the costlier converter systems available. I had three main reasons ... More »
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| | Today's Video | Students Invent Sound Wave Fire Extinguisher
By Clive Young
“All About That Bass” may have been a hit song last summer, but it’s also the basic concept behind a prototypical fire extinguisher that uses sound waves to put out flames. Created by Viet Tran and Seth Robertson, engineering seniors at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, the invention uses sound waves in the 30 to 60 Hertz range to separate oxygen from an object on fire, extinguishing flames without using water or chemicals. More » |
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