User manual APOGEE DA-2000

[. . . ] DA-2000 20-bit Stereo Reference Digital/Analog Converter - Switcher with UV22 Operating Manual Rev 1. 0 -- November 1998 DA-2000 Operating Manual Manual written by Julio Alvarez. Produced and edited by Richard Elen. UV22 is a Registered Trademark of Apogee Electronics Corporation. Technology within the DA-2000 including the Low Jitter Clock may be covered by one or more patents that are the property of Apogee Electronics Corporation. Registered User Customer Support: For customer support, please call (310) 915-1000 or email support@apogeedigital. com You can register your DA-2000 on the Internet: visit http://www. apogeedigital. com/register. html Features and specifications subject to change without notice. [. . . ] Feed the analog outputs to an analog meter that is referenced to 0VU = +4dBu. With the desired digital level fed to the digital inputs, turn the back panel indented trim pots clockwise for increase in output level and counter-clockwise for decrease in output level. Turn the trim pots in the appropriate direction until the meter reads "0VU". Page 14 DA-2000 Operating Manual What the Professionals Have to Say about Apogee Products "I have been listening to A/D and D/A converters since 1977. Each time a new converter came out, it sounded better than the one before it. Last week in Nashville, I compared three of the best converter packages available. The very best converter package should do absolutely nothing--the playback of the digitally stored data should sound no better and no worse than the original source. The clear winner of the Nashville test was the Apogee converter package. After the Nashville test, I had no more excuses. " --Roger Nichols, Recording Engineer and Producer "The DA-1000 lets me hear exactly what I'm putting on the CD Master. Each instrument is in its correct position without having its size changed or its edges blurred. Reverb and delays sound correct without drying up. " --Ted Jensen, Sterling Sound; New York, NY "In our tests, the Apogee AD-500 retained more of the ambience and definition than ever before and was discernable all the way to the end product, the CD disc. We feel that it is now possible to bring forth more of the information that was originally intended for the CD consumer. " --Bernie Grundman, Grundman Mastering; L. A. , CA "I have lots of conversion equipment, but with the DA-1000, it's as if I'm listening directly to the analog source. " --Stephen Marcussen, Precision Mastering; L. A. , CA. "How do I get the highest quality analog to digital conversion without having to lug DAT machines all over the planet, and still maintain some sort of consistency. . . ?The Apogees have made my life so much simpler. " -- Bob Clearmountain, Recording Engineer and Producer "After listening to virtually all of the currently available D/A converters, the Apogee is by far the most accurate!" -- Glenn Meadows, Mastering Engineer; Masterfonics, Nashville, TN. "As you know, we have been very pleased with the DA-1000. With the addition of the AD-500, we have added a new standard of musicality and sonic accuracy. When we compared the sound of the entire digital chain using the AD-500 and DA-1000, the end result was the closest to the original source we have ever heard!" --Steve Hall, Future Disc Systems; L. A. , CA. Page 15 DA-2000 Operating Manual A User's Guide to Understanding Digital Audio Interconnects Digital Audio without Making Your Eyes Glaze Over You've probably read, or at least started to read many articles on digital audio. Like me, you may be guilty of skipping the technical diagrams and jumping to the last page for the conclusions. Understanding how digital audio works is akin to getting into the details of how MIDI controls musical instruments -- it's handy information but not necessary for making music. Most digital audio users' eyes glaze over when discussing the technical aspects of the subject. On the other hand, discussing why one digital audio box won't talk to another can make the same eyes bug out and face turn red!Many of us have experienced the frustration of trying to make one piece of digital audio gear connect to another without success. Digital audio is not so new anymore, so its reasonable to assume that interconnects should be "no brainers". Because they aren't, requires some understanding of what makes them tick so we can get the most out of them. This section will give you insight to deal with the peculiarities of digital interconnects without the usual technical smoke screen. The Difference Between Good Old Analog and Digital Audio Sound is transmitted through air as movement of individual air molecules. [. . . ] Ultimately, you simply run out of bits, and when this happens, the signal just stops, and in a 16-bit system, this happens at an audible level. This behavior forms one of the several factors that gave early digital recordings a bad name, and led some pundits to claim that digital audio sounded fundamentally inferior to analog. At low levels, this effectively turns the last few bits on and off at random, smoothing out the sound and ensuring that everything does not simply disappear as the level falls. We call this noise "dither noise" or simply "dither". [. . . ]