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Old 10-20-2019, 01:38 PM   #1
cremationritual
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Default An honest review of the Ferrofish Pulse 16 AD/DA converter

So I have had the Ferrofish Pulse 16 for a few weeks now and I wanted to let you guys in on what I thought.

For those who dont know Ferrofish is a German company that makes mid to high end AD/DA converters. The Pulse 16 I would consider a "mid grade" converter. It has the latest converters from Cirrus Logic which in all honesty are not bad at all these days. Can the Pulse 16 go up against a Lynx or Orion 32? Maybe, maybe not BUT.... The Pulse 16 also does not cost $4000 either. "Apples and oranges". While they do have a MADI/DANTE version called the A32 Dante for $3400 but the Pulse 16 will only set you back $1000. The Pulse 16 is also MADI up-gradable with a plugin MADI SFP module sold separately. But stock, the Pulse 16 comes with 16 1/4' TPS I/O and 32 ADAT I/O. With the MADI upgrade you get another 64 channels. This converter is perfect for a mid size professional or home hybrid setup like mine. I like hardware compressors and EQ's and it works PERFECT with my MOTU 828es. The Pulse has a really good clock in it with an additional low jitter circuit. The clock is temp controlled as well. Im using the Pulse 16 as my main clock and running the motu off that. I keep my Pultecs on the 2 bus through the MOTU I/O and I run my Kemper into the MOTU as well. All the rest of my gear goes in and out of the 16. Im using Distrssors, IGS Rubberbands, Neve Pre's and Neve 551 EQ's. Also some Radial Q4 and some SSL compressors as well. All sounds great and runs flawless with Reaper and realinsert. RTL is showing 35-50 samples depending on the hardware which is REALLY low. Sound quality is killer. No pops, clicks or crackles whatsoever. The Ferrofish has its own menu and jog dial to go through the menu. The routing matrix is aslo in the menu as well. The ONLY thing I dont like about the unit is the LED input and output indicators are PRE fader. So if you want to see the levels move you must adjust that in the insert plugin send or on the gain/output of the hardware itself. Which is no biggy. SUPER easy to get used to. The unit is also made in Germany. $1000 for a converter made in Germany is a killer deal. Ill leave a link below if you guys want to check it out.
https://ferrofish-usa.com/pulse_16_a...dat_converter/
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Old 10-20-2019, 01:41 PM   #2
EvilDragon
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I absolutely love my Ferrofish A32. It's a very nice friend to my UFX+, through MADI.
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Old 10-20-2019, 01:50 PM   #3
cremationritual
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EvilDragon View Post
I absolutely love my Ferrofish A32. It's a very nice friend to my UFX+, through MADI.
Yes, the Ferrofish converters and RME interfaces play very well together.
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Old 10-20-2019, 02:37 PM   #4
vanceen
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Do either of you consider the Ferrofish converters to be superior to the UFX converters?
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Old 10-21-2019, 03:20 AM   #5
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They're about the same. SNR is 114dB on A32 (they don't say if it's unweighted or not, probably isn't weighted or it'd say dBA), while on UFX+ it's 113 dB on rear line ins, and 115 dB on front Neutrik combo ins.

Last edited by EvilDragon; 10-21-2019 at 03:25 AM.
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Old 10-21-2019, 02:05 PM   #6
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the Ferrofish A32 Dante is rediculously versatile. It's the most beloved audio device I ever owned and calling it a swiss army knife is a rude understatement. What you are getting from this 1U machine is incredible: 32 analog i/o, 32 ADAT i/o, 64 MADI i/o and 64 Dante i/o (= 384 audio channels in total simultaneously!!) all in one slim, beautiful box which doesn't even need a cooling fan! An absolute no-brainer and a super-reliable workhorse.

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