TECHNOLOGY REVIEW Prism Sound Titan and Lyra 2 USB AUDIO INTERFACES W
Simon Allen tests two of Prism Sound’s latest releases and finds them powerful, clean, and futureproof. DEVELOPMENTS
henever Prism Sound releases a new product
it’s taken very seriously and recently, the company has launched a trio of interfaces to expand the well-known Orpheus family. I was given the opportunity
to try out two of these new interfaces – Lyra 2 and Titan – and having used an Orpheus before, I was keen to see how these units compared.
OVERVIEW
Lyra is the smallest unit Prism offers and has exactly the same look and feel as the Orpheus. Like Orpheus, it is 1U in height, but is only just over half a rack-slot in width. Even though it has optional ears for rack mounting it is clearly intended for desktop use in smaller facilities. Using the same front panel controls, alongside the colourful metering display and nameplate, Lyra looks like a shrunken Orpheus. Tere are actually two
versions of Lyra available, imaginatively named Lyra 1 and Lyra 2. Both use exactly the same converters, preamps, and clocking as their well- respected big brother, Orpheus. Te primary goal with Lyra’s release is to provide the same high level of A-D/D-A conversion and clean Prism mic preamps in a more affordable and accessible unit. Te most significant change, opening up new markets for Lyra, is the USB interface. Tis can be connected to either a USB 2.0 socket, or USB 3.0. Neither Lyra 1 nor 2 can be bus powered however, and both contain their own power supply. Te differences between
Lyra 1 and Lyra 2 are simply 38 May 2014
their I/O capabilities and consequently their pricing points. Lyra 1 appropriately offers one electronically controlled mic preamp with XLR phantom mic connectivity or jack instrument input, one stereo pair line inputs and one stereo pair line outputs. Lyra 2, however, gives you two mic preamps with two instrument inputs, a stereo pair of line inputs and two stereo pairs of line outputs. Both versions also have digital connectivity with an optical TOSLINK stereo connection. Lyra 2 takes this one step further with the optical port also capable of ADAT. Additionally there are SPDIF connections, which give you AES connectivity via a supplied XLR converter. Lyra 2 also comes equipped
done away with the combined XLR and TRS connections so that you are able to have multiple devices connected permanently to your interface, which then just electronically switch, rather than always messing around with cables. Titan, which is in many
respects an updated Orpheus, is the first interface to receive a facelift. Still retaining the classic format and layout of Orpheus, the new lacquer finish on Titan is simply stunning. You get an instant impression that this is a refinement of Orpheus the moment you look at it with its sparkly champagne finish. Titan is also the same size as Orpheus taking up just 1U in a 19in rack. Titan’s I/O is very similar
to Orpheus, offering eight analogue line inputs and
So I’ve mentioned that Lyra units have USB connectivity, but this is the new selling point for Titan too, as it is now also hooked-up via USB. It has been possible for Prism to move away from the security of FireWire as used on Orpheus thanks to its new ARM processor core. Tis is a huge development, as the market is now much wider with USB being both more readily available and hopefully futureproof. Couple this with the control software able to run on both Windows and Mac across a huge range of operating systems and not many of us will find it hard to get set-up. I certainly didn’t, in fact I can’t report any running or set-up issues, provided I was using a computer with the correct specification. Te next most significant
development with Titan is its new MDIO expansion slot.
offer only a Pro Tools HDX expansion card or eight-way AES card. Tis is a really neat way for Pro Tools users to incorporate the Prism interface on the host side, within the DAW. Prism has also responded to feedback regarding the Orpheus product on a few notable points, which apply to both Lyra and Titan. Firstly, there is now a -20dB pad on the mic preamps, as users of Orpheus found the mic pres to be very sensitive and therefore it was difficult when working with loud sources. Te headphone output amplifiers have been given some more power to boost performance. Te main volume encoder knob, which can be programmed to control any of the outputs, now supports the push switch movement to activate the relative output mute. Te control software, which accesses its own internal digital low-latency mixer, now
with an AVB Ethernet port, which is unavailable via the current version of software but clearly Prism has developments in progress. Te only other connections, found only on Lyra 2, are wordclock BNC connections for external syncing and making best usage of the famous CleverClox DPLL clock, lifted straight from Orpheus. A slight change to the
physical layout of the inputs on Lyra compared to Orpheus however, is that they have
outputs with four of
the inputs doubling up with Prism’s excellent mic pres. Two of the inputs also offer separate instrument inputs accessed from the front panel. Full digital I/O is available as found on Lyra 2 including that interesting AVB port for future firmware developments.
Here, users can optionally
specify an expansion card, of which, I believe, we could see many more variants available, but currently they
www.audiomedia.com
Te Lyra is the smallest unit offered by Prism Sound
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