Question

I am wondering how the sound quality of Studio Live MKIII mixers compares to the Studio 192/Mobile devices. Do they share the same converters/Clock?

I became a little bit concerned when I noticed that the specs on the clock jitter and dynamic range where different between the two products on your website. The 20 ps RMS vs. 60 ps RMS and 118 db vs. 115 db. Obviously the audio interfaces have different sampling rates available I am not concerned about that, just quality of sound at 48k.

​Any info that could be shared would be appreciated.

Answer 1

The Series III mixers use high quality converters from AKM. The AK5558 for ADC and AK4458 for DAC.

The new converters for the Series III mixer were chosen after considerable listening tests and comparisons. While sonically similar to the converters in the AI series mixers and Studio 192, the dynamic range spec is slightly lower. However, in our tests we found the difference to be negligible and on par with the competition.

Answer 2

Why didn't you use the same converters as in the Quantum???

Answer 3

I was also wondering the same.

I recently bought the studiolive 32 iii.

I was very concerned about sound quality. I have been using a MOTU 16A for past few years. The sound quality of the 16A is STELLAR!!

I did considerable listening tests with different material, monitors and loudness in hopes of gauging where the SL fits in. In past, the motu won hands down vs focusrite interface.

Here is what I found...lol...ymmv.

Motu had slightly, again...slightly more Air and hi end definition. The SL had a slightly tighter and more pronounced bottom end. Since I was, at times, finding myself indecisive about which I liked better...I was VERY pleasantly surprised at the studiolive!! It made the cognitive dissonance phenomenon obsolete where the purchase of the studiolive is involved!

I am really impressed with and happy to have bought this amazing piece of gear.

If others have compared the SL with other hi end sound units, please share.

Peace!.....we all need it more than ever at this point.

Answer 4

Here I am updating my own post 6 years later apparently LOL! But just in case anyone is still interested in this topic I read this when looking into converters today in the Gear Space forum while nerding out. https://gearspace.com/board/showthread.php?p=14656624