Does DIGITAL hardware sound the same as a PLUGIN? Lexicon 480L Plugin vs Hardware

“A” sounded the best to my ears. Very impressive plug-in

Basically identical. So happy with my 480L uad plugin lol, at the doubler preset I was sure A was the hardware but I was wrong! Great

Hardware sounds warmer to my ears. SO I can see how they both have their place in the mix. On Lexicon plugins I usually find myself reducing the treble, which leads it to sound more like the hardware. Thanks for doing this comparison

Lexicon still had the original source code that UAD worked with, so apart from the analogue components sound, it’s identical. They lost the 224x code, which is my favourite as it’s so much warmer than the 480. The 224x/l was the bridge between the 224 and the 480 and sounded amazing

I heard just a slight difference in the low mid around 200hzish. I was referencing on studio monitors. However in the grand scheme of a full mix I'm sure it would all blend well

Listening thru my Neve desk and Genelec monitors I could really hear/feel the weight and picked B as the better sounding and feeling. On my iPad the difference was much smaller but………hardware is sooooo much more fun than software any day. The people who don’t believe that I’ve never played with Real hardware and have grown up mixing in the box. I urge everyone to go, try and get some experience mixing with real external processors and hardware. It is so much more rewarding as an engineer. Thank you Thomas for doing this. I can’t imagine how much work it was.

I was 100% that the hardware was A. Much clearer, more separation and transients, less artefacts. Wow. So glad I own this plugin. Better use it more. Just hate the interface compared to Valhalla.

So I could tell the difference, the “A” sample is clear and defined. The “B” sample is bigger and has more weight to it. I have a Lexicon 300 it does the same thing. Anything I run through it just sounds big, kinda like you’re in the reverb. I get why people use the plugin, it has the flavour of the lexicon but it still missing that 20% that the hardware has.

I really couldn’t tell the difference

Great comparison! I really like the plug in, I don't think you are missing much by using it.

The drum one I thought B was the hardware as B sounded ever so slightly less bright, yet on vocals I consistently felt A sounded slightly more lush with just a tiny bit more tail. Man I'm so happy with the plugin!

The hardware LX480 is immediately audible. more volume, more details. But the plugin is also very great, will there be a difference in the mix? I think so. but is it so critical, I think not.

Both sound like a 480! I would be great to have a USB-LARC to dial in the UAD plugin though.

B sounds much more dense, lush, full

A sounded cleaner on the low-mids and wider/more open on the highs B sounded better on the vocal doubler (last exemple), because of that low-mid bump (something you could emulate with eq I guess)

I guessed correctly, but honestly if I didn’t have a visual reference on the screen of the switching I’m not sure I would have noticed.. also while I heard a difference, I wouldn’t say one was better or worse. Why I thought B was hardware, was because it sounded a bit darker and more blended with the source which I would put down to age of the unit, and the additional ADDA processing through the units converters. Nicely done thanks!

A sounded a little clearer. Not sure which is which. B sounded a little muddier. I was listening on a TV not monitors. I am guess B has more harmonic distortion that may not work without filters/passes / eq setup properly on the verb may result in more frequency smearing if it broad audio.

My guesses were the reverse. Both sounded good to my ears. Thanks for doing this comparison.

There is no way to recognize, maybe after hundreds of hours working with both hardware and plugin. but if someone like me has never experience with hardware unit, there is no difference. No way to recognize any changes. It is soo cool that in 2023 we have that good plugins!

I hear the difference. but its a 5% difference in quality and a price difference of a $174 vs roughly $7,000 . The question is it worth getting the hardware for $6,284 more... Not for me.