'Hi-fi' vs 'pro' audio kit (esp DACs)

I don't think the pro DACs can be seen as necessarily being better. They'll be more rugged to survive the pro environment and have different interfacing requirements (AES/EBU, Clock sync inputs) for studio use but the internal technology is very much the same. One of the DAC's I used to use was the Weiss DAC2 which came in two versions - the Pro rather industrial looking DAC2 or the nice cased domestic version, the Minerva.

The only difference, a fancy case and 2k extra for the domestic version...

Even if it was proved that pro audio is way better than hi-fi, it would not sell in the audiophile market because there is no prestige attached to this stuff. Modern hi-fi is more like noisy jewelry.

I agree. In the commercial or 'pro' world I guess some might be surprised how much consumer equipment is actually used - placed on its free form racking shelf - it can sometimes look quite odd but be terribly effective.

However I see some pro equipment costing more than the equivalent consumer variant - perhaps because it needs to be more robust and more easily serviceable (and survive regular earthing checks - that's not to say consumer equipment shouldn't be able to do this    )

Of course one should try and avoid the 'prosumer' trap. That is equipment marketed as 'professional' but aimed for the consumer really....

Simon

Also Pro-DACs do not always offer the features required for comfortable consumer use.

Esp. when intended for use in studio recording, e.g. RME doesn't offer automatic sample rate switching on its wasapi/ks/wdm drivers but only on the ASIO-driver. This does make it uncomfortable to use with Windows PC's as the main source. ASIO not being nearly as good as wasapi or ks/wdm on the best of software players.

Also I don't think the Pro-gear is as good as the best hifi-gear. IMO the Pro-developers are not nearly as focussed on sound quality as are hifi developers.

I have one of the pro-devices from RME but would rank it 'second rate' in sound quality compared to Naim's DAC and Chord Hugo. It is part of my office system and was bought for the recording features and not so much for the DAC-features.

My two pennies.

The big difference lies in the latency requirements–it is expected that the delay incurred between the analog inputs and outputs be as short as is possible, to minimize issues of synchronization when used in a multi-tracked studio environment.  This precludes many of the fancy RAM buffer / dejitter-ing accoutrements that one might find in consumer-oriented (hi-fi) gear.

Clock drift is also an issue for post-production, especially when you consider the spanner thrown into the running time of a long-form video production by drop-frames. 23 minutes of video must line up with 23 minutes of audio at the correct sample rate - no exceptions (and no real room for drift). This is much less of an issue for consumer audio gear (except when dealing with video sources).

Form personal experience, I can assure you that there is nothing worse than dealing with DAC latency when recording instrumental parts–and I would not be going out on a limb if I said that this might be one of the reasons why many musicians find an analogue recording path more amenable to their performance vibe, if not for the sound itself.

Simon, Aleg, David,

Three very interesting posts, each of which throws a spot light on specific practices in the recording industry.

Thanks for these.

Pro audio equipment is generally cheaper simply because of the  retail structure, generally manufacturer selling directly to retailer.

It t is generally  ruggedly  built to agreed specifications, output voltage for example, 

Connections are generally AES/SBU which may not be convenient for domestic audio provision for external wordclocks are often provided because it is  sometimesnecessary to daisy chain multipledevices I in a studio environment.

H

Not always, especially with regard to European gear sold here in the U.S.  The distributor model fails within the MI / pro audio space due to the much smaller margins*, hence the rise of the manufacturer direct-to-retailer or customer-direct models.

* - Bain Capital, anyone?

Whilst waiting for my DAC upgrade to arrive (Weiss Minerva to 202), I have been using my "pro" DAC (Edirol UA5 + Edirol external PSU) on my system. 

By "pro" I mean the one I use to digitize my own music.

The price tag difference is substantial as the Weiss costs 10x more than the Edirol. 

The SQ difference is pretty much at the same levels too.

So, I guess my conclusion is, you get what you pay for 

Do you mean sound the quality pretty much matches the price ?

Yes.

The Edirol (which is around 10yrs old), is pretty good in the way it portrays music. Soundstage is large and the entire spectrum is well rendered, but musically it sounds very clinical (harsh at times) compared to the Weiss, and that's pretty much constant regardless of the music played.

Of course it is hard to make a generalised case with 2 bits of kit, but it feels like they are designed to meet different goals.