Hot rod your existing studio equipment with a modification by Black Lion Audio.

Black Lion Audio

These days we are all too easy to give into the best marketed product. I mean, it’s the way society is wired. They know what makes those impulses rage out of control until we have what we want. All to often it is all hype. So when Digidesign released their 003 line – I was feeling a little bit of a impulse to buy in.

I wanted to upgrade my studio. I wanted better sound quality mainly. I was happy with my number of channels, I was happy with Pro Tools LE, but I wanted the quality to be much better. I researched several different options which I found I could only afford if I won the lottery or sold everything I had including the kidos and wife – and then got a loan.

I had almost decided on a Pro Tools HD system, but was really disappointed in the wait it would take me to save up that much cash. I did not want to get a loan, or sale the family and house. I need them too. So I was leaning toward the 003R, but would the quality improve?

After doing some research on the 003′s I found that most people were claiming there was not that much, if any, improvement in sound quality. The one thing I did like was that Digidesign added the external clock BNC connections, which would allow me to buy a better clock and in turn improve the quality.

While doing the research, I came across Black Lion Audio. A small company out of Chicago that modifies the 002 Rack units, among several other manufactures. They also manufacture a few other pieces of equipment that is of their own brand and design. I was shocked. I never even thought of having my existing equipment modified to acquire better quality sound. This is something we’ve all done to our guitar amps, or other outboard equipment, and computers, why not the 002 or 003?

I focused my research toward BLA’s work and more especially the modifications they do on the 002 and 003 Rack. I found my share of negative reviews, but I know that bad news spreads faster than good news. I found that there was much more detail in the good reviews and most claimed that they were very pleased with the end results.

I decided I would email BLA with some questions and then make a final decision. I was still, at this time thinking of purchasing one of the 003 units and then having it modified.

Here is a sample of how some of the email correspondence transpired. By the way, I emailed them a lot of questions, since this is still serious money to me.

Hello,

I hope I am not becoming a bother. I plan on upgrading my current system to a 003 R or 003 R Plus with one of your signature mods.

However, I few months back I received and email about the 003 Rack Plus mod which stated:

Only the signature Mod was available which included:

• • Analog stage op-amp upgrade on A/D and D/A sides
• • Analog stage electrolytic capacitor upgrade on A/D and D/A sides
• • A/D and D/A converter decoupling
• • A/D converter upgrade
• • External Microclock Bundle

My concern with this is the power supply. After reading your site several times over this seems to be very important.

I am trying to determine what unit I should send to you. The 003 Rack or the 003 Rack Plus. Or if maybe the power supply is in fact included in the 003 Rack plus Signature Mod.

Sorry if this is a bother, but I do look forward to doing business with you soon.

Any details will be greatly appreciated.

And they replied…

Hi James,

The 003r + modification is a Signature series modification for $1750 and includes the following:

Analog stage op-amp upgrade on A/D and D/A sides

Analog stage electrolytic capacitor upgrade on A/D and D/A sides

A/D and D/A converter decoupling

A/D converter upgrade

External Microclock Bundle

The 003r + Signature modification does not include the 2nd linear power supply or internal Signature clock due to space limitations.  Instead, we upgrade the A/D converter chips to higher headroom chips, and bundle in the external Micro Clock Mk2.

To be honest, I would recommend going with a regular 003r Signature modification.  It’s more bang for your buck.

Then I sent another…

One more quick question before I make my call…feel free to tell me to stop spamming until I “pay up” if you need to. I currently have a 002R and would like to know if upgrading to the 003R would be worth it – or should I just send in the 002R for the signature mod? WHich would be better for sound quality in your opinion?

And they replied…

James,
002R!  While the Signature Series modification to the 003R outperforms the HD rigs and puts you on par with high end mastering grade gear, the 002R still is edging it out by more than just a hair.  I would strongly recommend the 002R.  If you would like a detailed explanation then it may be better to call us so someone can walk you through the differences between the two units.  But I would recommend a 002R if you are looking for the best option in terms of sound quality.  And don’t worry, we really don’t mind taking an extra minute out to make sure good questions get good answers!  Thanks man, we’ll talk to you soon.

So, you get the idea. I emailed them a lot of questions. I was glad to see that they did not mind taking time out to provide answers to potential customers. It seems trivial, but these days you have trouble getting that even at a Taco Bell drive through.

I took up the offer on the phone call and had a great talk with Luke. He gave me some insight into their company and more than answered several of my questions around the modification of the unit of my existing 002R.

When I mentioned advertising – and how it took me a long time to come across their site or anything about them – he replied they would rather do business by word of mouth and their website. It helps keep their costs down and allows us to focus on quality.

He spoke about  their packaging being simple, their designs are simple and well…he even admitted kind of ugly…but it keeps the cost down, keeps the focus on quality. They want to give their customers quality.

They hand drill their “bullet proof” RF noise prison of a shell for the micro clock – it’s not pretty, but it does the job of a clock costing 3 times as much or more. So, it is nice to hear that their focus is the customer being happy with a quality job completed.

So, after the phone conversation and some thought, I decided to go with getting my 002 Rack modified by BLA and give it  a new life. I decided on their Signature Series Modification, which includes the following:

• ANALOG STAGE AND PRE-AMP UPGRADE – Burr Brown’s OPA4134 used in the mic preamp and line inputs.

• 220/270SP MASTER CLOCK UPGRADE – it features their field tested and proven third order crystal oscillators, it has an astonishingly low 1 picosecond of intrinsic jitter measured using a delta sigma average!

• A/D AND D/A CONVERTER UPGRADE – properly decoupling the 002R’s converters

• Power Supply Upgrade – a low-emission toroid transformer to power the analog and digital stages separately.

I contacted BLA via email to see what process I needed to complete and when my scheduled date would be. They returned an email to me advising me that my scheduled date would be August 5th, as well as an email with the down payment invoice. It also stated the prefered ways of shipping the unit to avoid damage, and an interesting note about the 002 which follows:

“If your serial number ends in A – F, please contact Digidesign and order a new power harness and new power supply, then have it sent to you directly before shipping it to us, unless these have already been replaced. These have inherent problems on the early 002R units that were not addressed by Digidesign until after revision G. The part and shipping should be of no cost to you, and will help to avoid harness-related failures in the future.”

I checked the serial number of my unit and found that it ended with an F. I only wish I had known about this earlier. Maybe Digidesign released this information, maybe they didn’t. None the less, I never received it. I would recommend that BLA post this somewhere on their website. That way, if someone is thinking of modifying their 002, they can already have this part taken care of.

I paid the invoice via PayPal and got a confirmation soon after. I have emailed Digidesign about the power harness and powers supply, but due to it being a Saturday, I have only received a standard auto-response email back.

If I do not get a response back from Digidesign by noon Tuesday, I will follow up with a call to them. I will take note of the correspondence with Digidesign as well, and include it in the next post. I have never had to deal with Digidesign for support, so it will be interesting to see how well this goes.

This is where we are for now. The next time we visit this will be when I receive the response and the power supply, and power harness from Digidesign; package and ship the unit to BLA, wait, then receive the unit back from BLA. We’ll have a third segment on the actual testing of the unit.

In the mean time you can do your own research and check out Black Lion Audio for yourself.

BlackLionAudio.com
info@blacklionaudio.com

Black Lion Audio
1800 W Cuyler
Suite 2 East
Chicago IL 60613
773-549-1885

Hope you find this series useful – keep it real!

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