supanorton wrote:dominicperry wrote:Anthony, take it easy, enjoy the meds, don't stress!
I bought an iTrack Dock but I sent it back, didn't think much of the headphone or monitor outs. Probably good for the money, but not good enough for my uses. Didn't try the mic pres or the USB midi port.
Dominic
Dominic,
I'd like to know a little more about your reasoning. Was it sound quality, volume, a combination, or something else? I'll be in the market for another iPad in a few months and was looking at the iTrack Dock to replace my 2i2. Not completely satisfied with the headphone output on the 2i2. I was hoping the iTrack Dock would have a bit more output.
Despite my complaints about past Focusrite products, and despite the lack of a monitor blend control (direct & computer blend), I really wanted to like the iTrack, because it's physically very neat and has most of the features I would like - separate headphone and monitor volumes, USB midi port, charges the iPad when in use, no extra breakout cables, full size headphone socket, TRS balanced outs etc). It could do with more metal, especially on the connectors, but for the price, it's a physically reasonably well engineered bit of kit. The mic gain was always likely to be limiting (46dB IIRC) but I didn't get that far. The headphone output is loud, but nasty at volume. At lower volumes it's got a strange upper mid harshness, but relatively bearable. I'm using an Apogee One with Genelec 8020's for monitoring at the moment, so I'm not comparing it to consumer systems, which tend to be mid-scooped, I'm comparing it to a moderately mid-forward system. I was hoping the problem was limited to the headphone output, and that the main outs would be better, but they were the same throughout the range. There was just no way I could enjoy listening to music or make mixing judgements based on what I heard. For years now I've listened to commercial music (for pleasure) almost exclusively through studio monitor speakers, and I know what stuff sounds like through them. I've had Genelec 8040's and 8020's, Yamaha HS-7's and Unity The Rock's. I've used interfaces from Sound Devices (USBPre), Lexicon (Alpha) - very good for the money, Apogee (older One, new One, Quartet) and RME (Digiface, Multiface, Babyface). I'm not after perfection, and I can hear the differences between the interfaces and the speakers, but I get used to them. I've also rejected interfaces from M-Audio (Fast Track Ultra) although the M-Audio Transit was good. Also rejected - ESI U24XL, Allen and Heath Zed10FX, everything by Tascam, Zoom when connected by USB (H4N and H6) etc etc. The list goes on. Some cheap things are good - Lexicon Alpha, M-Audio Transit, (and one of my favourite bits of kit is the Art My Monitor - not an interface but just listed to demonstrate, I'm not a gear snob). Some stuff gets rejected because the physical controls are rubbish - all the mic gain up one end, some because they are noisy on USB power, some because the headphone outputs are weak. Some stuff is rejected because the drivers are rubbish - everything by Mackie. Focusrite drivers were rubbish 7 or 8 years ago, they might be great now. Mackie has continued to stiff their customers with terrible driver support and I won't go near them, even though their kit sounds good. There's lots of good gear out there which functionally does 80% of what you need. It's the last 20% which is hard to find, but in all cases, if it's makes a whining noise on USB or keeps crashing or just sounds nasty, it's no good. The iTrack Dock, is, in my opinion, no good, because it sounds nasty. Sorry. I wish it wasn't so.
Dominic