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I made something of an impulse (no pun intended) purchase this morning.
I've decided that since I've more or less started my offline upsampling
project all over, I might as well spring for Weiss Saracon sample-rate
conversion software ($850 for the PCM-only [no DSD] version, from
Vintage King Audio).
http://vintageking.com/Weiss-Saracon-PCM-Only
I had not yet spent money on Adobe Audition 3 (I was using the
30-day trial version), and one logistical advantage of the Weiss
software is that it uses a USB dongle rather than activation,
so I can install it on multiple PCs and take the dongle wherever
I happen to be running it. And it's a stand-alone SRC converter;
I don't have to worry about the idiosyncracies of yet another
DAW. Supports WAV64 files, too, a definite advantage with
24/96 and 24/192 single-file albums (with Audition, to go
from 24/96 to 24/192 for example, I'd either have to split
the file or read and write to WavPack using a third-party
filter plugin).
It is interesting, though, that the SRC comparison charts at
http://src.infinitewave.ca/
show the characteristics of Saracon to be very very similar to
those of the Audition SRC (except that Saracon is cleaner
on the 1kHz tone and Sweep tests).
Follow Ups:
Isn't this a risky way to spend $850 w/o trying first?
I bought my Dynaudio's without having listened to them, in fact i never even saw them in person until they arrived at my front door. Same thing for my Hafler amps and the silver IC's, the Havana DAC, and my Anthem Pre2L preamp.
Totally happy with all of them....
Music is the Bridge between Heaven and Earth - 音楽は天国と地球のかけ橋
Hardware is fine, but $850 for software src? From what I have heard, I'd want to try Weiss stuff before buying.
> Isn't this a risky way to spend $850 w/o trying first?
Yes, it is.
But all audio purchases (at least in my experience) come
down to that sort of risk.
"Trying" requires relaxed, extended listening sessions,
over a period of days or weeks, in a familiar system
with familiar source material. Anything else, and you're
just fooling yourself (and also putting yourself under
pressure to buy now that you've "wasted" so much of
the dealer's time, in my experience).
In any case, almost impossible to arrange in the case of hardware
(unless you happen to be in the business, or a magazine
reviewer -- and the tendency to corruption inherent for
the latter has been well documented).
Nope, you **guess**. Based on very, very circumstancial
evidence. Sometimes you get burned. (Sometimes you get
burned not because of sound quality as such, but for
other reasons -- reliability, or compatibility with
other equipment.)
The Weiss software is not available in a trial version,
as such. **They** will convert a short (a minute and
a half max, not larger than 28 MB) for you "within
48 hours", to "test" the SRC.
http://www.audistro.ch/index.php?article_id=30
> From what I have heard, I'd want to try Weiss stuff before buying.
Now that sounds like a subtle slam against the brand
itself. What can you have possibly heard about Weiss that would
make you say that? Surely they're up there with Prism
and Lavry in terms of reputation, at least in studio
circles. That's no **guarantee** of anything, of course,
but it's one of those pieces of circumstantial evidence
I mentioned.
Other bits of circumstantial evidence:
1. Weiss Saracon and iZotope 64-bit SRC are widely regarded
as the two contenders for the title of "best" SRC software.
2. The numerical accuracy of these two are the same, at
least 64 bits internally. Tony Lauck would approve.
3. The Weiss's filter characteristics are "slow rolloff" --
an approach that has gotten a reputation over the years
as sounding good. Going back to Wadia Digimaster, Pioneer
Legato Link, Burr-Brown DF-1704 in slow mode, Secret
Rabbit Code for Foobar 0.8.3 in slow mode, right up to
the Adobe Audition SRC that **you** like.
My own ears (I've had a Pioneer PD-65 with Legato, I've
had a Bel Canto DAC with a DF-1704 in slow mode, and
I've used Foobar 0.8.3 SRC and most recently Audition's
SRC) have corroborated the good things I've heard
about this approach. (Other people, as always,
have other opinions, and pooh-pooh the approach on
technical or sonic grounds, or both. You pays your
money and. . . Yes, I know that the current buzz
is all about Minimum Phase and "apodizing" filters.
Plus ca change. . .)
Tell us what you think of Saracon.
I don't like Legato at all; for me it screw up transients.
I have been told that there were loads of problems with getting the Weiss (ATF/Q4?) boards they used to sell to work.
I have nothing aginst them.
. . .managed to pique the man himself, once. ;->
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/DCS-Delius-or-Elgar-Plus-and-upsampling#comment-8761
---------------------------
dCs and Upsampling
Tue, 12/02/2008 - fmak
. . .
I have used a large no of upsamplers, and many of them
are not much good. PC software upsamplers are second rate
compared to hardware ones, regardless of what is said. I too
have tried a handful and Audition reamins my favourite
although it is 'off line'.
---------------------------
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/DCS-Delius-or-Elgar-Plus-and-upsampling#comment-8816
---------------------------
upsamplers
Wed, 12/03/2008 — weiss2496
> PC software upsamplers are second rate compared to hardware ones,
> regardless of what is said.
We do both hardware and software sampling rate converters. And our
software version (the Saracon) is at least as good as the hardware
version (the SFC2). In technical terms it is even better because of
the 64bit floating point processing. The SFC2 uses 32 bit floating point
processing. Both variants are excellent.
Daniel
www.weiss.ch
---------------------------
Yeah you have a point there, also usually before buying software they can give you a sample copy.
Also hardware is much easier to resale if you don't like it.
Music is the Bridge between Heaven and Earth - 音楽は天国と地球のかけ橋
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