by ricard » 31 Mar 2018, 02:08
My $0.02 worth: A then-long-time NL2 owner, I was asked to service a NL1 (it was a simple replacement of one of the output connectors which had been wrecked at some point), and was intrigued to check if there was any substance to the rumors floating about that the NL1 sounded vastly different (and better) than the NL2. (The NL1 was equipped with version 2.x firmware - are there even any 1.x NL1's floating around nowadays)? So I connected both up to my DAW and played a few things with identical patches, and sure enough, there was a difference, the NL1 did sound fatter especially on bass sounds ... until I by mistake flipped the phase on the playback, and then suddenly the NL2 started sounding the fatter of the two. So what was going on here?
Well, I took a closer look at the waveforms in a waveform editor, and it turns out that the phase of the NL2 is inverted compared to the NL1. In other words, an upward going sawtooth on one will be a downward going sawtooth on the other. After some research on the internet I found that this can make a difference especially when it comes to bass sounds, as the different motions of the loudspeaker cone actually affect the air differently (when the cone is pushing the air the pressure gradients are different from when sucking the air). The effect is more noticeable in headphones. So I made a couple of new recordings, this time flipping the phase on one of the two Leads. And this time I couldn't hear any difference. Went through the whole range of factory patches in bank 0, and the only sounds that sounded different were the ones where the parameters between the 1 and 2 don't match completely; for instance, the 1 only has keyboard filter tracking on/off whereas the 2 has it settable in thirds.
So having debunked that myth (although a former Clavia tech told me that the NL1 requires adjustments to the DAC, and if these are off the output will contain distorsion, which some may find pleasing; in contrast, the NL2 has no adjustments as it has different (better) DACs), I later went on to compare the NL2 and NL2X. I tried various configurations, even playing one from the other to get the same keyboard feel. Again I couldn't hear any difference whatsoever, to my ears they sounded identical. Myth #2 debunked.
Then again, my ears are certainly not perfect, but with some folks claiming there's a world of difference between the 1, 2 and 2X I was bound to hear some difference I figured.
Now, I don't really want to dispute what someone has been told by a Clavia tech, but I do find it very odd that the NL2 and NL1 would have different sound engines due to licensing reasons. When you work for a company, the work you do during that time is owned by the company, it would be a very unusual arrangement (and potential suicide (for the company)) if that were not the case. After all, both the NL2 and NL1 contain 'Pelles mode', which surely would have gone out the window had the 2 had a different sound engine from the 1. In fact, the fact that 'Pelles mode' is still in the 2 strongly points to that the firmware is virtually identical to the 1, save for a couple of minimal changes. The 2X I would expect would have larger differences, considering that it doesn't have 'Pelles mode' - personally I think the people at Clavia didn't realize it was in the 2 and it wasn't until the 2X that they actually found it and removed it.
Then again ... one shouldn't dispute what apparently comes from the horses mouth ... on the other hand, I've been assured by a Clavia tech in another forum that the 2X firmware is identical to the 2, which it very obviously is not - the 2X has no PCMCIA slot and larger patch memory - the whole discussion ended up in a heated debate of what constitutes a 'difference' when it comes to software, i.e. that the apparent differences did not constitute a 'different' firmware, in the same way that two computers can be running 'Windows 7' even though they are actually different versions. I could imagine that Clavia rather than admit that they'd mistakingly flipped the phase on the 2 decided to go with an official explanation that the sound engine was different for reasons beyond their control, which would put an end to the debate.
At any rate, anyone who can analyze the waveform from the 1 and the 2 can verify the phase inversion, and it should be fairly obvious when listening especially to bass sound and in headphones. If there are more differences to the sound than that then my ears can't detect them anyway, but your mileage might vary.
Last edited by
ricard on 31 Mar 2018, 02:08, edited 1 time in total.
- The author ricard was thanked by 4 members, including:
- andyandyandy • stiiiiiiive • CountFosco • Mr_-G-
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