This is a review and measurements of the discontinued Lynx Aurora 8 audio interface (DAC & ADC). I am told you can find them used for $700 although the price I see on ebay is $1000.
The owner wants to know if this can be competitive with modern 8-channel DACs so that is the functionality I focused on. Back panel has DB25 which means you have to also make or buy pigtails to XLR connectors:
These cables are quite thick although the ones the member send me are surprisingly supple. While you can add a USB input card to it, as you see this one doesn't have one so I tested using AES output of my analyzer. That output is stereo only so you are only going to see channels 1 & 2 in the measurements.
Lynx Aurora 8 Measurements
Full output level is a healthy 8 volts so I knocked the digital input by 6 dBFS to get our nominal 4 volt out:
While I am not happy with the shape of the noise floor, which varied up and down, overall sum of distortion+noise lands the Aurora 8 in competent category.
Letting the output go up to 8 volts doesn't get you much more:
Dynamic range does improve though:
IMD distortion is good:
Jitter is not:
Then again distortion is kept in check:
Dac filter is what we usually see as the default in DAC chips:
That produces competent THD+N vs frequency:
Linearity is near perfect:
Conclusions
Lynx had quite a brand in 1990s. It was revered by both professionals and audiophiles building PCs as the time. Their PCI cards were very much sought after. Good to see performance is competent sans whatever is going on with jitter.
For audio playback use, you won't be using the inputs yet paying for them. Add the cost of the USB interface and you don't really have a bargain here compared to likes to Okto 8 DAC.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The owner wants to know if this can be competitive with modern 8-channel DACs so that is the functionality I focused on. Back panel has DB25 which means you have to also make or buy pigtails to XLR connectors:
These cables are quite thick although the ones the member send me are surprisingly supple. While you can add a USB input card to it, as you see this one doesn't have one so I tested using AES output of my analyzer. That output is stereo only so you are only going to see channels 1 & 2 in the measurements.
Lynx Aurora 8 Measurements
Full output level is a healthy 8 volts so I knocked the digital input by 6 dBFS to get our nominal 4 volt out:
While I am not happy with the shape of the noise floor, which varied up and down, overall sum of distortion+noise lands the Aurora 8 in competent category.
Letting the output go up to 8 volts doesn't get you much more:
Dynamic range does improve though:
IMD distortion is good:
Jitter is not:
Then again distortion is kept in check:
Dac filter is what we usually see as the default in DAC chips:
That produces competent THD+N vs frequency:
Linearity is near perfect:
Conclusions
Lynx had quite a brand in 1990s. It was revered by both professionals and audiophiles building PCs as the time. Their PCI cards were very much sought after. Good to see performance is competent sans whatever is going on with jitter.
For audio playback use, you won't be using the inputs yet paying for them. Add the cost of the USB interface and you don't really have a bargain here compared to likes to Okto 8 DAC.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/