I got a new iMac a while back and decided I couldn't stand to hear another computer speaker. So, I searched around and saw good reviews for the Vanatoo Transparent One. It had a USB audio interface, so that caught my attention that maybe it would have a better DAC than the computers have.
Got the Transparent One .. and it sounded really good to me. I mix on JBL LSR6328P's and they're a full throated monitor. The Transparent One was just not that big and you can hear that in the mids to lower mids.
The highs are very clear and the spatials are distinct. If you're on a desktop, they have to be raised at least 4 inches to get a full projection of the woofer.
The USB audio does sound very good. The analog in is a clean path and the internal amplifier is very clean across most of it's volume. The last 10% starts to distort.
My mixing path is Protools HD OMNI out analog to the Vanatoo. That sounds better to me than the USB.
Some of us got schooled that the Yamaha NS10 was the reference monitor of choice. Not because it sounded great,
but it was a surrogate for the crappy stuff (like Walkmans and
cassette tapes) of the time. The Wisdom went that if you could
make your stuff sound good on the NS10, it would sound good on mostly everything else.
And weirdly enough, it worked. If you checked your mix on a pair on NS10's and dialed it in for that thing .. it translated.
IMHO, that stopped working when the majority of what we're hearing never sees an analog form until it is transmitted to our device (probably portable) through a compromised but improving DAC/Amplifier.
If you delivered a "NS10" mix .. it didn't cover enough spectrum .. digital has big highs and big lows.
This may not make the folks at Vanatoo very happy .. but after living with these things for over six months...
The Transparent One is the digital era equivalent of the NS10. If you can make your mix sound good on these, any mediocre phone with a sucky DAC and bad earbuds will sound pretty good.
I think a lot has to do with form factor. But the quality of the analog path is really good .. so you can't smudge what your mixing expecting a forgiving analog path. The digital hears it all.
The other thing that Vantoos do really well is keep transients really clean. Which is another effect of earbuds is that they can make much sharper air waves since they don't have to move as much air.
If you sharpen transients, you do so at your peril as the Vantoos will call you out.
Like I said, I mix on the 6328P's .. but I absolutely double-check on the Vanatoos .. dial in to them. They translate really well.
I stlll have my NS10's .. just in case :-)
Got the Transparent One .. and it sounded really good to me. I mix on JBL LSR6328P's and they're a full throated monitor. The Transparent One was just not that big and you can hear that in the mids to lower mids.
The highs are very clear and the spatials are distinct. If you're on a desktop, they have to be raised at least 4 inches to get a full projection of the woofer.
The USB audio does sound very good. The analog in is a clean path and the internal amplifier is very clean across most of it's volume. The last 10% starts to distort.
My mixing path is Protools HD OMNI out analog to the Vanatoo. That sounds better to me than the USB.
Some of us got schooled that the Yamaha NS10 was the reference monitor of choice. Not because it sounded great,
but it was a surrogate for the crappy stuff (like Walkmans and
cassette tapes) of the time. The Wisdom went that if you could
make your stuff sound good on the NS10, it would sound good on mostly everything else.
And weirdly enough, it worked. If you checked your mix on a pair on NS10's and dialed it in for that thing .. it translated.
IMHO, that stopped working when the majority of what we're hearing never sees an analog form until it is transmitted to our device (probably portable) through a compromised but improving DAC/Amplifier.
If you delivered a "NS10" mix .. it didn't cover enough spectrum .. digital has big highs and big lows.
This may not make the folks at Vanatoo very happy .. but after living with these things for over six months...
The Transparent One is the digital era equivalent of the NS10. If you can make your mix sound good on these, any mediocre phone with a sucky DAC and bad earbuds will sound pretty good.
I think a lot has to do with form factor. But the quality of the analog path is really good .. so you can't smudge what your mixing expecting a forgiving analog path. The digital hears it all.
The other thing that Vantoos do really well is keep transients really clean. Which is another effect of earbuds is that they can make much sharper air waves since they don't have to move as much air.
If you sharpen transients, you do so at your peril as the Vantoos will call you out.
Like I said, I mix on the 6328P's .. but I absolutely double-check on the Vanatoos .. dial in to them. They translate really well.
I stlll have my NS10's .. just in case :-)
Vanatoo Transparent One
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire