Bayview Pro Audio

Reviewed by DANIEL KELLER MIX

The first thing I noticed while unpacking the card is its solid construction, with high-quality surface-mount components: Analog Devices op amps and AKM AK5394 and Crystal CS4396 converters, plus ground planes, power supply filtering and precision resistors.

Breakout cables are similarly well made. The analog audio cable is a sturdy 25-pin D-sub with four XLR I/Os. The sync cable, a 15-pin D-sub, carries sync in and clock out on BNC connectors, as well as digital I/O (software-configurable as AES/EBU or S/PDIF) on XLRs. An AES-to-S/PDIF adapter is also included.

The sonic quality and dynamic range of this card are nothing short of striking. Background noise is almost nonexistent: Listening to masters I'm intimately familiar with, I was able to pick out inflections and nuances I'd long ago forgotten. Audio performance in Cubase SX and Nuendo was stellar, and even with buffer sizes as small as 128 samples, playback of 20-plus tracks was glitch-free, with minimal CPU load and latency reporting 2.6 ms. Performance in Cakewalk's Sonar and Syntrillium's Cool Edit Pro was equally impressive — even with MME drivers. (WDM and GSIF drivers should be available soon; Mac OS X support is planned for early 2003.) With 16 dB of headroom, the L22's output is quite hot; make sure that your equipment can handle the output level without damage.

Manufacturer details

The Lynx L22 is a professional audio interface card intended for use in the most demanding audio recording, post-production, broadcast, and measurement applications. Based on LynxTWO technology, the Lynx L22 can capture or generate signals beyond the audio bandwidth up to 100 kHz with extreme accuracy.

Using proprietary circuit topologies and custom components in the analog stages coupled with the latest converter technology, the Lynx L22 achieves a 117 dB dynamic range. Most importantly, advanced noise-rejection design techniques are incorporated to maintain this performance in real world use from computer to computer.

Glitch-free recording and playback is assured due to the Lynx L22's large on-board buffers and extremely efficient zero-wait state DMA engine. These features provide tolerance to system latencies and significantly reduce load on the host CPU.

The onboard digital mixer is extremely flexible allowing the Lynx L22 to adapt to any studio or workstation configuration. Each of the mixer's 16 outputs is capable of mixing signals from 16 physical inputs or 16 playback tracks with 32-bit precision. A choice of dither algorithms is available on each input to mask low-level artifacts while reducing word widths to 8, 16, or 20 bits.

The Lynx L22 provides I/O expansion via its two LStream™ ports. Combined, these ports allow 16 channels of additional I/O from external ADAT or AES/EBU devices. The ports can also be used to route data and synchronize to other Lynx L22's or LynxTWO's to create high channel-count systems.

As with other Lynx products, the Lynx L22 provides unprecedented compatibility with a wide range of platforms and operating systems. Lynx device drivers are developed in-house to insure quality and robustness.

Lynx L22 Features

200kHz sample rate / 100kHz analog bandwidth (Supported with all drivers)
Two 24-bit balanced analog inputs and outputs
+4dBu or -10dBV line levels selectable per channel pair
24-bit AES3 or S/PDIF I/O with full status and subcode support
Sample rate conversion on digital input
Non-audio digital I/O support for Dolby Digital® and HDCD
32-channel / 32-bit digital mixer with 16 sub outputs
Multiple dither algorithms per channel
Word, 256 Word, 13.5MHz or 27MHz clock sync
Extremely low-jitter tunable sample clock generator
Dedicated clock frequency diagnostic hardware
Multiple-board audio data routing and sync
Two LStream™ ports support 8 additional I/O channels each
Compatible with LStream modules for ADAT and AES/EBU standards
Zero-wait state, 16-channel, scatter-gather DMA engine
Windows 98 / ME / NT / 2000 / XP Drivers
Macintosh ASIO 2.0 Drivers

Optional LStream Expansion Modules

LS-ADAT: Provides sixteen-channel 24-bit ADAT optical I/O
LS-AES: Provides eight-channel 24-bit/96kHz AES/EBU or S/PDIF digital I/O

Included

XLR Male to RCA Male S/PDIF Adapter Cable
XLR Female to RCA Male S/PDIF Adapter Cable
Lynx L22 Installation and Users Guide
Warranty Registration Card
Lynx L22 Setup Disk for Windows
Lynx L22 Audio Cable
Lynx L22 Sync Cable
Lynx L22 24-bit/192kHz Digital Audio Card

Lynx Studio Technology, Inc. designs and manufactures professional audio products for applications such as audio production, delivery, and testing for recording studios, project studios, post production studios, home studios, and live concert settings. Utilizing cutting-edge technology to create the highest quality products at a good value to the customer, Lynx is focused on "linking" the professional audio world with computers by utilizing their many years of experience in both hardware design and device driver coding. This complementary expertise is borne out in reliable products that not only have great specifications, but are also shipped with extremely stable and well-tested drivers. Support for Windows and Macintosh platforms are standard for all products.

Lynx L22 Specifactions

Analog I/O
Number	Two inputs / Two outputs
Type	Electronically balanced or unbalanced, XLR connectors on L2Audio Cable
Level	+4 dBu nominal /+20dBu max. or -10dBV nominal / +6dBV max., software selectable in channel pairs
Bandwidth	< 10Hz - 92 kHz @ 200 kHz sample rate < 10Hz - 46 kHz @ 96 kHz sample rate < 10Hz - 23 kHz @ 48 kHz sample rate (analog input to analog output)
Input Impedance	Balanced mode: 24 kW , Unbalanced mode: 12 kW
Output Impedance	Balanced mode: 100 W, Unbalanced mode: 50 W
Output Drive Capability	600 W impedance, 0.2 µF capacitance
A/D and D/A Type	24-bit, multi-level, delta-sigma
Sample Rates	8 kHz to 200 kHz, including all standard rates with variable adjustment
Bit Depth	8, 16, 24 or 32 bit file types
On-board Buffer Size	16 Kbytes per input and output stream (mono or stereo)

Analog In Performance	(Analog performance specs measured at 44.1 kHz sample rate, 24-bit, card installed in computer)
Frequency Response	20 - 20 kHz, ± 0.05 dB at 44.1 kHz sample rate
Dynamic Range	117 dB, A-wtd.
Signal-to-Noise	116 dB, A-wtd.
Channel Crosstalk	<-120 dB, 1 kHz signal @ -1dBFS
THD+N	-108 dB (0.0004%) @ -1 dBFS -104 dB (0.0006%) @ -8 dBFS 1 kHz signal, 22Hz - 22kHz BW

Analog Out Performance	(Analog performance specs measured at 44.1 kHz sample rate, 24-bit, card installed in computer)
Frequency Response	20 - 20 kHz, ± 0.05 dB at 44.1 kHz sample rate
Dynamic Range	117 dB, A-wtd.
Signal-to-Noise	117 dB, A-wtd.
Channel Crosstalk	<-120 dB, 1 kHz signal @ -1dBFS
THD+N	-97 dB (0.0014%) @ -1 dBFS -104 dB (0.0006%) @ -8 dBFS 1kHz signal, 22Hz - 22kHz BW

Digital I/O	.
Number / Type	One input and one output AES/EBU or S/P DIF format, transformer coupled, XLR connectors on L2Sync Cable
Sample Rates	32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz
Sample Rate Conversion	Supports conversion ratios up to 3:1 on digital input, 128 dB dynamic range
Bit Depth	8, 16, 24 or 32 bit file types
Control / Status	Complete subcode and channel status support
On-board Buffer Size	16 Kbytes per input and output stream (mono or stereo)

LStream Expansion Ports	.
Number	One external and one internal
Compatibility	Supports Lynx ADAT, AES/EBU, and other multi-channel expansion modules
Type	High-speed serial, eight channel input and output (each port) or sixteen channel input and output (single port), 24-bit data, 96kHz rate

Clock I/O	.
Number	External: one input and output, BNC connectors on L2Sync Cable Internal: one input and output on board-mounted headers
Level / Impedance	TTL / 75W
Type	Input: word clock, 256X word clock, 13.5 and 27 MHz clocks; Output: word clock

On-board Digital Mixer
Channel Capacity	32 input channels, 16 sub outputs
Resolution / Dither	32-bit / TPDF, Shaped TPDF, or RPDF
Monitor Mixing	Any input to multiple outputs
Metering	Peak levels to -114 dB on all inputs and outputs

Connections
Audio Port	Bracket-mounted 25-pin female D-sub connector for analog audio input and output
Sync Port	Bracket-mounted 15-pin high-density female D-sub connector for digital input and output, sync in and out

Cables (Included)	.
L22Audio Cable	25-pin male D-sub to male and female XLR connectors on six-foot shielded twisted pair cabling
L22Sync Cable	15-pin high-density male D-sub to (1) male and (1) female XLR on six-foot shielded twisted pair cabling and (4) female BNC connectors on two-foot 75W coaxial cabling

Software
Windows Drivers	Windows 98 / ME / NT/ 2000 / XP: MME, ASIO 2.0, and DirectSound
Macintosh Drivers	ASIO 2.0 for OS 9
L22 Mixer Application	Provides complete control of digital mixer and all hardware settings.

General	.
PCI Bus	Version 2.2 compliant
Data Transfers	Up to 132 Mbytes/sec using custom 16-channel, zero-wait state, scatter-gather DMA engine; bus mastering
Size	5.0" H X 7.4" W X 0.75" D (half-size PCI card)
Shipping Weight	2.75 lbs. with cables
Certifications	CE and FCC Class B

LStream Expansion Modules	(Optional, for LStream ports)
LS-ADAT	Provides 16-channel/48kHz, 8-channel/96kHz or 4-channel/192kHz 24-bit ADAT optical I/O and ADAT Sync
LS-AES	Provides 8-channel/96kHz or 4-channel/192kHz 24-bit/96kHz AES-3 digital I/O

Lynx Studio Technology Lynx L22

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