Auroura
With a knack of developing high performance devices at a reasonable price, Lynx turned the industry on its ear in 2006 with the introduction of the classic Aurora converters. The Aurora provided both high profile audio pros and home studios eight and sixteen channels of precision, high-quality audio conversion at an affordable price. While this level of performance was not new, its affordability was. The classic Aurora was the first of its kind to offer this level of performance in this price range.
Hello Hilo
It is pronounced “Hee-Low” after the Hawaiian city. After the continued success of the classic Auroras, the Lynx founders once again challenged themselves to create something unique and powerful. They set out to produce a no-holds-barred, throw-down-the gauntlet, most transparent, and best sounding converter possible. Precise power regulation for the analog circuitry, AD/DA, and FPGA squeezes every last dB of channel separation, signal to noise ratio, and dynamic range from Hilo. Something very special was in development. This device also had to have added utility. It needed to be more than just a top quality 2-channel AD/DA converter. So the founders packed it with the utmost flexibility for routing, monitoring and sample rate conversion while designing open ended architecture allowing for many new features to continually be added via simple and free firmware updates. Because of its uncompromising performance and flexibility Hilo quickly became the standard for mastering engineers, archivists and voice over studios. It has also achieved a firm spot as the golden channels in recording facilities.
The Aurora(n) is born
After raising the performance bar with the Hilo it became obvious that Lynx needed to take what was developed for the Hilo project and design a higher channel count device. Once again the Lynx founders set their sights on creating not only a more precise and better-sounding Aurora, but actually go beyond the new utility, flexibility, and upgradability that the Hilo had become famous for. Taking several pages from the Hilo playbook, the founders developed a new FPGA design and analog section then coupled that with interchangeable LSlot computer connectivity cards used in the classic Aurora. To add even greater flexibility, they added additional modularity which created two huge advantages. The Aurora(n)can now be configured to fit any particular workflow. You can select channel count (8, 16, 24 or 32), add mic pres and/or AES/EBU I/O. In fact, Aurora(n) can be configured with any of these options from the start and these modules can be added later AFTER you purchase the Aurora as your needs change. Lynx tells us that there are several new modules under development like an analog summing module and more. What’s more is that every Aurora(n) includes a 32-channel microSD recorder. Not only does this allow the Aurora(n) to be a stand-alone recording device, but it becomes the audio security camera of your studio. Even if your DAW should crash during that magic take, the Aurora(n) keeps recording saving that performance. Or if that little piece of magic happens between takes while the DAW isn’t recording – the Aurora(n) captures it for you. While the AD/DA converter is arguable the most important component in your audio chain, the Aurora(n) will make every other piece of audio gear you invest in now and in the future sound better.
