As a pro audio guy... hands down get the Lavry. I just never really got into apogee even though I started to like their new stuff. The AD16X, DA16X and Big Ben are very good for the money.... thank goodness they changed their soft limit feature. The Lavry is a step and beyond Apogee. HUGE soundstage, and very detailed. Eye opening would be an understatement. You might want to check out the Cranesong HEDD as well. GOOD LUCK!
Apogee Rosetta 200 vs LavryBlue LE4496
I’d appreciate your sharing of your opinion if you have compared digital-analogue performance between Apogee Rosetta 200 to LavryBlue LE4496.
It may help to share with you some of my previous DAC evaluations I completed. I compared Apogee Rosetta 200, Apogee Mini-DAC and Benchmark DAC1 with my home systems and liked the Rosetta 200 best. The Rosetta is detailed, open and yet musical with good transient attack and well rounded musical decay. Its high and mid frequencies are articulate, clear, sweet and warm. It seems to project a wide sound stage with good depth. The low frequency is tight and never boomy.
The Mini-DAC sounds very close to Rosetta but it is not as resolving and the decay is a bit terse.
The DAC1 was very detailed but sounded a bit thin. It may be great for recording engineers monitoring their mixes with extreme details but to my ears it just didn’t seem musical when the sum of all the detailed parts put together for audio enjoyment for me as an audiophile.
Having shared my personal evaluations, you get an idea my audio preferences. Now, I’ve read some nice reviews of LavryBlue and wondered how well it compares side-by-side with the Rosetta.
Also, I believe the Blue only has only AES/EBU digital interfaces to connect with digital source(s). All my digital sources have Coax and Optical SPDIF interfaces. What SPDIF-to-AES/EBU converter would you recommend? Does digital interface conversion degrade performance?
Thanks,
John
My System Configs
System1: Scientific Atlanta 8300HD Cable Box, Sony DVP-NVP775, Apogee Rosetta 200, McIntosh 200 preamp, dbx iEQ-31 digital EQ, McIntosh MC501 monoblock amps, B&W N802’s
System2: Scientific Atlanta 3250HD Cable Box, JVC DVD player, Apogee Mini-DAC (preamp/dac), dbx iEQ-31 digital EQ, Mackie Onyx 1220 (Mixer/Preamp), Denon 5803 7.1 receiver, B&W DM220i speakers.
It may help to share with you some of my previous DAC evaluations I completed. I compared Apogee Rosetta 200, Apogee Mini-DAC and Benchmark DAC1 with my home systems and liked the Rosetta 200 best. The Rosetta is detailed, open and yet musical with good transient attack and well rounded musical decay. Its high and mid frequencies are articulate, clear, sweet and warm. It seems to project a wide sound stage with good depth. The low frequency is tight and never boomy.
The Mini-DAC sounds very close to Rosetta but it is not as resolving and the decay is a bit terse.
The DAC1 was very detailed but sounded a bit thin. It may be great for recording engineers monitoring their mixes with extreme details but to my ears it just didn’t seem musical when the sum of all the detailed parts put together for audio enjoyment for me as an audiophile.
Having shared my personal evaluations, you get an idea my audio preferences. Now, I’ve read some nice reviews of LavryBlue and wondered how well it compares side-by-side with the Rosetta.
Also, I believe the Blue only has only AES/EBU digital interfaces to connect with digital source(s). All my digital sources have Coax and Optical SPDIF interfaces. What SPDIF-to-AES/EBU converter would you recommend? Does digital interface conversion degrade performance?
Thanks,
John
My System Configs
System1: Scientific Atlanta 8300HD Cable Box, Sony DVP-NVP775, Apogee Rosetta 200, McIntosh 200 preamp, dbx iEQ-31 digital EQ, McIntosh MC501 monoblock amps, B&W N802’s
System2: Scientific Atlanta 3250HD Cable Box, JVC DVD player, Apogee Mini-DAC (preamp/dac), dbx iEQ-31 digital EQ, Mackie Onyx 1220 (Mixer/Preamp), Denon 5803 7.1 receiver, B&W DM220i speakers.
1 response Add your response