Sonic Studio 302 (aka Metric Halo ULN-2)

[andrew.levine]

You might like this link from my blog:

blumlein records: Metric Halo (MH Labs) audio interfaces for high end consumer audio

Regards,

Andrew

[jp11801]

Andrew thanks for the link, the UNL-8 is really something special and as much as I love the UNL-2 the 8 better.

The primary issue for consumer audiophiles with these boxes are
1) the physical interface, the 2 requires either re-terminating your rca to TRS on one side or using rca to TRS adapters. I re-terminated my cables last night and ditched the adapters. The UNL-8 requires custom breakout cables to stereo use as there are a myriad of cable options from the breakout.

2) the computer interface either the metric console or sonic console ( just about the same thing) is daunting for a non-studio person to overcome at first. I wound up creating a template for myself for playback of computer files and recoding of LPs but it took some experimenting.
Those two somewhat minor issues aside I think they offer unparalleled performance at a more than fair price the UNL-2 is a screaming steal at $1695 new and $1100 or so used.
It is my hope that these become more available and with support from audio retailers who can help set you up.BTW both the Metric Halo and Sonic Studio folks are awesome to work with and offer great support.

[atothex]

Did a little research on this one. No Windows support at the moment, and the timeline for Windows drivers is unknown.

They use the AKM 4393, which I'm not familiar with. Same as Behringer and Little Dot supposedly. Thoughts?

[jp11801]

Funny that you mention the DAC chip as thus is a constant source of befuddlement to me. The DAC chip is just one ingrediant in the soup and potentially not the most critical. Design and implementation are far more critical, I would wager that the UNL-2 shares very little sonically with either of the above mentioned units. Yeah it's important but it's just one of many factors that can influence the sound.

[screaming oranges]

No Windows support? Dah! This killed it for me.

[Sherwood]

You have no Mac support, Scream? Feh! This killed you for me.

[Iron_Dreamer]

If it was going to be Mac-only, they should have painted it white, like the duet!

[grawk]

duet's not white

[jp11801]

If it was going to be Mac-only, they should have painted it white, like the duet!

the duet is silver and the Metric Halo has AES, SPIDF and AES so it is not so much a one trick pony. The one bummer is you will need a friend with a mac to set it up initially then you are good to go

[Iron_Dreamer]

Really, shoot, there goes my memory. At least I don't have to feel too silly, since I didn't own one! That would have been really bad.

[jp11801]

with all the DACs you have auditioned its a wonder how you keep them straight.

[Iron_Dreamer]

There's my excuse!

[atothex]

the duet is silver and the Metric Halo has AES, SPIDF and AES so it is not so much a one trick pony. The one bummer is you will need a friend with a mac to set it up initially then you are good to go

Could you explain that last part to me? I have no idea how these things work, but I was picturing the following setup in my head:

PC -> sound card with wordclock <-> ULN -> amp

How does the DAC interact with the sound card? I would only need the sound card's drivers to work with Windows? Does my imaginary setup even make sense?

[jp11801]

the UNL-2 is a computer based audio interface designed with multiple routing paths. There is a software based mixer and console that may require set up prior to play

[tyrion]

After a bit of frustration, my 302 is now playing music. At the moment it's directly connected to my amp and I'm using iphone remote to control the volume. I know I have some tweaking to do (with the help of JP), including setting it up as a phono pre.

[grawk]

dibs

[tyrion]

dibs

I was ready to throw it out the window an hour ago but all is good now. There was a ULN-2 on Craig's List in the Bay Area. I might be able to make it available for your mini meet.

[grawk]

[tyrion]

This thing is pretty slick. I got the tt running through it, thanks to JP.

[Augsburger]

This thing is pretty slick. I got the tt running through it, thanks to JP.

Do you/can you run your cdp digital signal through the ULN-2 to see if it is a step up there as well?