• Registered: 2021-04-17
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Topic: (MADI to AES) vs (MADI to Dante to AES)

Has anyone had opportunity to compare (MADI to AES) vs (MADI to Dante to AES)? If yes, which sounds better?

2 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2021-05-03 14:17:14)

  • ramses
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Re: (MADI to AES) vs (MADI to Dante to AES)

Don't know how you come to the idea that it should not sound identical. It should sound absolutely the same, because MADI, AES, Dante all use lossless digital transfer of audio data...
When performing A/B tests, blind tests, please ensure to have exactly the same volume level, as louder sounds better for our ears (pschoacoustic  which led to "loudness war" in music industrie).

If you have an ADI-2 DAC or Pro FS then you can make an experiment and perform the Bit test, ch. 34.22:
https://www.rme-audio.de/download/adi2profsr_d.pdf
https://www.rme-audio.de/download/adi2profsr_e.pdf

By this you can validate bit perfect transfer of audio data in an "end-to-end" facion ... from the audio player playing the prepared .wav file (using the RME ASIO driver) to the device where the final D/A conversion takes place (ADI-2 DAC/Pro).
In all cases you should see bit perfect transfer which means "no change of audio data" = "same sound".

For a test with Dante you find maybe a Dante device with digital output, so that you can connect an ADI-2 DAC/Pro for performing such a test.

I could validate this already for these different types of setups which I had in use:
- UFX+ --- AES  --- ADI-2 Pro
- UFX+ --- ADAT --- ADI-2 Pro
- UFX+ --- ADAT --- TOSLINK Switcher 4:1 --- ADI-2 Pro / ADI-2 DAC
- UFX+ --- MADI ---- Octamic XTC              --- AES         ---- ADI-2 Pro
- UFX+ --- MADI ---- Octamic XTC              --- ADAT        --- ADI-2 Pro

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14
  • Registered: 2021-04-17
  • Posts: 38

Re: (MADI to AES) vs (MADI to Dante to AES)

Thank you, sir.

The reason why I asked because I had a setup as shown below.

Win10 > USB to Dante > Dante to AES

When I changed this setup to to what I show below, I heard the difference.

Win10 > USB to MADI > MADI to Dante > Dante to AES

So, I was wondering as to what would I hear if I replace 'MADI to Dante > Dante to AES' by 'MADI to AES'.

4 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2021-05-03 15:30:49)

  • ramses
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Re: (MADI to AES) vs (MADI to Dante to AES)

How many time was in between, when comparing the two setups ?
Its easy to make a mistake when comparing.
If there is really a difference then you need to find out why, there should be no difference.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14
  • Registered: 2021-04-17
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Re: (MADI to AES) vs (MADI to Dante to AES)

Ramses,

I am looking for an answer to decide if I should spend on ADI-642. Looks like I will have to buy and try smile.

Thanks

6 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2021-05-03 15:38:04)

  • ramses
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Re: (MADI to AES) vs (MADI to Dante to AES)

hifimckinney wrote:

Ramses,

I am looking for an answer to decide if I should spend on ADI-642. Looks like I will have to buy and try smile.

Thanks

Why not  ;-)

BTW in terms of channel allocation (not sure what needs to be connected): 8x AES = 8x 2 channel = 16ch.
At single  speed you need 16,
at double speed   "    "      32 of the 64 channels of one MADI bus and
at quad   speed all 64 channels of a MADI bus.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14