Which ADAT expander to buy?

Mentioned in passing in another thread, but I thought I'd try to get more info.

I have an Apollo interface with ADAT input, and want to hook up 8 more analogue inputs, the choices seem to range between Audient ASP800/880 at the not-too-high-end and Behringer ADA8200 at the budget end. With a confusing range of Focusrite Octopre in the middle. I'll be buying used, most likely.

My sources are all line levels (synths, speaker sims, ext processors, etc), so I don't actually need 8 wonderful mic preamps.

Suggestions?
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Comments

  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    edited May 2018
    Find a used Apogee Rosetta 800 192k.
    You can pick them up for about £500 and they are a total no compromise box.
    I paid about £2k for mine when they were new.

    They are miles better than any of the other devices you've mentioned.
    I also own an Audient ASP800- the main issue is it doesn't have a power button which is irritating.
    It sounds better than either the Octopre or the Behringer though.

    The Rosetta 800 sounds better than all of them and by a significant margin.

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  • goldtopgoldtop Frets: 6101
    Hmm... just had a look and the Rosetta 800 seems to lack 1/4in inputs - relying on those multiway D-connectors. (Which fill me with dread.)
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    edited May 2018
    goldtop said:
    Hmm... just had a look and the Rosetta 800 seems to lack 1/4in inputs - relying on those multiway D-connectors. (Which fill me with dread.)
    DB25's are far superior to jacks imho, in terms of having flexibility.
    You can easily put them onto a DB35 patch bay half normalled with your usual routings that you can then change as required.
    Or get a DB25 to jack loom (Studiocare make them up for you for not much money).

    I've gone right around the houses with this and tried all the other options.
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  • goldtopgoldtop Frets: 6101
    I bet you are right about DB25 setups being the ultimate method. It just feels like a never-ending series of teardown and rebuild at the moment. :( I've not long replaced all of my hotchpotch of TS jacks with XLR/TRS looms, so I'd prefer to stay with 1/4in for the moment.

    Just seen the RME ADI-8 is about £400. Let me see if SoS has done a review...

    I do appreciate the info though - let me know if you want to swap that irritating Audient for £££s! :)
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    goldtop said:
    I bet you are right about DB25 setups being the ultimate method. It just feels like a never-ending series of teardown and rebuild at the moment. :( I've not long replaced all of my hotchpotch of TS jacks with XLR/TRS looms, so I'd prefer to stay with 1/4in for the moment.

    Just seen the RME ADI-8 is about £400. Let me see if SoS has done a review...

    I do appreciate the info though - let me know if you want to swap that irritating Audient for £££s! :)

    No worries.
    In that case the RME is a good shout.
    The Clarett or Scarlet Focusrite boxes are good but the conversion is not stellar.
    Personally I think the Behringer is junk ( I owned one briefly).

    I have a couple of things in my racks without power switches so I put in one of these:



    It is a DJ/lighting power switch thing.
    Works great but Audient could have spent an extra £3 and put a power button in.
    Mind you so could have SSL with their £3k G Bus compressor that I also own.

    I'm heavily invested in bantam patch bays so it is easy for me to forget that not everyone likes them or wants to go down that route.

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  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    I have the beringer ADA8000 which is an earlier version of the 8200. Its fine but the preamps are what you'd expect fromt he price point. They are noticeably noisier than my focusrite saffire pro 40 and scarlett 18i20.

    But then I picked mine up for £50 so you cant really argue with that, I tend to put non critical stuff on it like hi-hats that might only be used for editing, maybe toms which will liekly be replaced anyway etc.
    ဈǝᴉʇsɐoʇǝsǝǝɥɔဪቌ
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  • goldtopgoldtop Frets: 6101
    Thanks folks. Just reporting back to say that I did go for an Octopre in the end. I was about to pull the trigger on the Audient, and then did a reality check, realised I never do more than 44.1kHz, wouldn't be using the analogue outputs at all, and then scaled the requirements/budget back. Paid £120 used, thinking I would flip it if I don't get on with it.

    It is functioning just fine, and I'll do some tests on recorded quality this coming week.

    One very obvious downside - it gets f***ing hot and definitely needs an empty rack space above. IIRC, SoS said this heat was because of the Class A preamps, but I really don't think they require that much power. The heat seems to be coming from the power supply area - even with an external transformer (another downside).

    Time will tell.
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