Differences between Creamware A16 Ultra and later versions?

[petal]

I have an option to buy a second hand Creamware A16 Ultra.

I want an ad/da with z-link because my experience with adat is somewhat "unstable".

So the question is, is the older Creamware A16 Ultra "as good" soundwise, as the newer ferrofish option.

Also, I don't believe there is a fan in the Creamware A16 Ultra, but I want to be sure, so, is there a fan in the unit?

Cheers,
Thomas

[garyb]

no, the A16 Ultra is not as "good" as the newer A16 mk2.
the A16 Ultra is an excellent AD/DA, however. i would use one happily.

[petal]

OK - thanks!

[jksuperstar]

I have the sonic-core a16 ultra...just a different paint job from the creamware one. It's solid, sounds great, and z-link makes a great difference to me over adat, all channels and great clock over one or two cables at all available sample rates (including 96khz). Word clock is not needed and can't be used with z-link in the a16 ultra, but is still usable with other adat gear in scope cards/cute.

[petal]

Great - thanks!

[yayajohn]

I've had an A16U for a few months now. I don't think it has a fan and it does run fairly hot compared to my other ADA (Presonus Digimax) Big vents on both sides but the first thing I thought of was if you had it racked the vents on the sides would not be sufficient. Just a thought though, the Xite-1 also runs hot and I do believe that's normal for the Sonic Core(Creamware) devices. I have not heard of one unit malfunctioning on account of overheating. Personally, just to be safe and peace of mind, I went and bought 2 small external "very quiet" fans for the A16 and Xite and plugged them into my power switch distribution. Within arms reach so i can flip them off for live recording. My room gets quite hot though, too much gear haha.

[petal]

OK - thanks! Good to know about the heat. I've also noticed how my Xite runs very hot, and my room tend to get very hot too, but I think I'm gonna get the A16U anyways, even though I don't need it that much.

Thanks for the good input guys, it is much appreciated

[astroman]

the XITE gets hot for it's large amounts of DSPs, which are designed for fanless operation
in the A16U it's the power regulation unit that produces heat as a side effect
those parts are able operate at high temperature, too

cheers, Tom

[petal]

Once again - Many thanks for the great info!

I'm in the process of getting it

[krizrox]

I actually have one of each. One of the original Creamware grey-face A16 Ultras (circa 2002 or 2003) and one of the later black-face Sonic Core A16s (purchased used on eBay a few years ago).

Cosmetically they are different (obviously) but functionally they are identical. No fans in either unit. My units differ inside though. The Creamware A16 used older "thru-hole" components but the newer Sonic Core version had redesigned printed circuit boards using mostly SMD components. If there was an improvement in specs as a result of that redesign, I couldn't verify that. They might have simply went to a different company to get them built and had the PCB redesigned to take advantage of faster machine build.

I considered one of the newer Ferrofish models but stopped short when I found out it didn't support the old Z-Link protocol which I really like. I don't have any problems with the sound quality of the older A16. It's "good enough" for my needs.

Re the ADAT/Z-Link connectors: when I got my original creamware A16 I remember trying both versions and came away thinking that the Z-Link protocol sounded better. Somehow "tighter" sounding. To me the difference was more than obvious. I remember asking about that here on PZ (or it might have been the original Creamware user forum) and never got a solid explanation as to why I was preferring the Z-Link. Just recently, when I got my Xite-1 unit, I tried this again and had a similar experience but I had a bigger problem with the ADAT cables - I was getting drop-outs on some channels using ADAT. I should go back and check that again. Gary though maybe there was dirt or something in the toslink connectors. I ended up breaking one the little plastic doors on one of the toslink connector and now the cable doesn't snap in properly. Frankly I didn't feel like shipping the darn thing back to germany for 2 months of down time.

[Marco]

Well guys I have the Oldtimer A16 by creamware in great blue, and what the hell should make me unhappy? I love this device. No need for someting New.

[Marco]

I like my audiobahn