Audient ASP800 4-stars Reviews

Great but...

It is a fantastic unit. The sound is amazing. Versatile!!! The sound range goes from neutral to strong vintage character. It is possible to completely control 2 channels; great. The other 6 channel are crystal clear. The price is interesting compared to the other unit of this brand range. Minus: I would like the phase control on all the channels, but only 2 have it. I am not satisfied by the heat the unit generate. It became really hot after one hour. I installed it in a rack position to facilitate the ventilation, but it is a constrain that it is hard for me to accept. This is the "hottest" unit I have ever had. It is over a distressor (that is absolutely cold all the time) and a free slot, but still very hot. There is no power switch, so I decided to install a switch in the free slot to power off the unit if I do not use the it (while I mix or use other pre.s) I consider this a big minus. Heat shorter the life of capacitors and other electronics components. Now days it is so easy to design a power module that do not dissipate like an heater! I know that the class A dissipate more than some other classes, but I think the majority of the heat is generated by the power unit and it is eccessive anyway. It is a pity that such a great unit is penalized by this problem. I rated 4 stars for the amazing sound and versatility, but I was tempted to lower it because of the heat problem.

Ciao

I needed 8 more preamp channels and choose the asp800 mainly because of the "Iron" and "HMX" options on 1 and 2 channels.

This unit sounds great and the "Iron" and "HMX" makes it even better by allowing some tone control, I've been using it a lot on overheads with great results. I'm using it along with my Clarett 8PreX as a slave connected by ADAT optical cable.

Both the preamps and the A/D converter sound very clean and balanced with a very fast transient response.

The only thing I don't like about this unit is the lack of an on/off switch and the gain knobs feel a bit cheap which I don't understand as the "Mosfet Drive" and "Magnetic Drive" on channels 1 and 2 feel way better.

Overall this unit is a great deal and well worth the price.