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Reply With QuoteNice write-up, John. Thanks for making me want to try it out.
I've owned this piece now for a few weeks and have been pretty tight lipped on the sonics publicly. After a few weeks of use in my system damn if this isn't the best dac I've owned. Higher resolution than any of the dacs I've had in the house, greater frequency extension, no top end glare, great tone and just reports the new and does not seem to editorialize.
In the house now are 4 dacs and the Sonic Studio 302 takes top honors. I've got an esoteric here on loan, my modded TranDac and the Apogee Duet. I was first turned on to the Metric Halo unit by Ironbut right around the time of the VSAC event. I researched the living crap out of pro audio dacs for a while and it kept coming back to this one (at least in my budget of sub $2k). I looked at the apogee rosetta 200, weiss dac 2 , lavry DA11 and the RME Fireface 800. Well after reading I eliminated the apogee as the reviews were pretty evenly split between both the Metric Halo and the Apogee and the Metric Halo has mic pre amps which could come in handy acting as a gain stage for direct to ADC needle drops, once I pick up the RIAA eq plug in for my unit. The RME unit held promise until I tried a fireface 400 and could not get it work with my mac after several attempts. When I brought it back to Guitar Center the guy there told me I was the second person to bring in the RME for not working out of the box that week. I quickly nixed the RME from my list and that left the Weiss and Lavy. I really like the Lavry and several people I know own either the DA10 or DA11 but after doing the math the Metric Halo was still tops with its ADC section. I still lust after the Weiss but can't get over the fact that I need to buy a separate ADC unit to perform needle drops.
Well I set off to buy the Metric Halo used and kept missing them used both on Ebay and Craigslist but lucked out and found the Sonic Studio branded UNL-2 locally.
I am listening to the unit right now and I swear it has made my digital section come close to my analog section, something I thought would take a few years and much more $$$$ to do.
The unit has a built in headphone amp that works very well with the Grado HF-2s and surprisingly the JH13s but I think might suck with Senn 650s, 800s or AKG 702s. Through both my headphones and my speaker rig it has brought the level of transparency up several notches. There is a presence that I have not heard yet from digital that spooky was that the record or was that sound in real life thing happens much more with this dac.
The big bonus for me are the inputs as there are mic preamps with 70db of gain as well as passive inputs with trim pots in case the signal is too hot you can take a few db off. This is really killer for me as I love to digitize my records. I may end up using this as a digital phono preamp in the future once I get some plugs to load the cart.
Any way if you are in the market for a dac that works great as a computer interface you should really check one of these out. There are also coax and optical inputs if you want to come from a cd transport.
I would gladly throw this in the ring with other dacs in it's price class up to 3-4 thousand. Now I recently heard the Amarra model 4 (metric halo unl-8 without mic pre amps) and that was really special and highly recommended if you have $6-8K. The UNL-2 is $1700 new from MH and can go to $2400 with optional DSP.
Nice write-up, John. Thanks for making me want to try it out.
Headphones: SR-007BL, HF2, n_maher woodied 225s, JH13, PX100
Amps: SP Extreme Platinum/PSU, Headamp KGBH SE, LaRocco PRI
Sources: Exemplar Denon 2900, APL Phillips SACD 1000, ipod classic, Denon DCP-100
Speakers: Cain & Cain Abbys with Bailey sub
X2. Thanks for your impressions and I'm curious on trying it out now too.Originally Posted by boomana
Nice write-up, John. Thanks for making me want to try it out.
"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality." - John Lennon
anyone that either buys or tries one and needs help doing the initial set up, lmk if I can help.
How are you doing analog out, JP, TRS to RCA?
I saw you standing all alone in the electrostatic rain/I thought at last I'd found a situation you can't explain/With GPS you know it's all just a matter of degrees/Your happiness won't find you underneath that canopy of trees
right now it's ultra getto with rca to 1/4 adapters but I have some 1/4 mono jacks on the way from Nate to re-term my cables. sorry I was wrong in my write up about optical (didn't flip it around to to do the writing.
Great firewire dac and maybe an even better adc section for needle dropping and the occasional delusions of guitar recording.
Oh and the Amarra 4 (unl-is a serious step up from this but at 3-4 times the price it's something for me to aspire to someday rather than think about owning today.
Last edited by jp11801; 07-05-2009 at 03:15 PM.
Looks like the Metric version has toslink but the Sonic Studio doesn't.
I saw you standing all alone in the electrostatic rain/I thought at last I'd found a situation you can't explain/With GPS you know it's all just a matter of degrees/Your happiness won't find you underneath that canopy of trees
BHphoto has the metric halo version for $1495 right now.
an autocrat, racist bastard pushing people around and then acts like a child when pushed back
Ive got to check mine to see about optical. It is just a unl2 with a new faceplate and a sticker on the rear for the new serial number. Once I hooked up the FireWire, analog outs and analog inputs for vinyl transfers I haven't looked at it.
It is a stupid good deal at $1700 at $1500 it's criminally good.
I wonder how this would stack up against the Ayre. Oh well, out of funds for either anyway.
I am really curious about a comp with the ayre qb9, my local shop has the ayre and a MacBook pro so maybe I should stop over and put them head to head.
You are a god amongst men.
Dew eet.
I saw you standing all alone in the electrostatic rain/I thought at last I'd found a situation you can't explain/With GPS you know it's all just a matter of degrees/Your happiness won't find you underneath that canopy of trees
Damn, all these different names are making my head spin. Which of these Sonic Studio or Metric Halo things would I want if I only want a DAC?
Edit: wait, this isn't Mac only, is it?
Looks like it can be Mac or PC. The unique part is that it can take Firewire input?
Nice writeup JP#s
I'm glad to see that more people are looking towards commercial DACs. In my opinion they absolutely destroy Audiophile DACs for value and performance (and usually add ADC as well).
"If ignorance is bliss, wipe the smile off my face"- Rage Against The Machine
oddly enough the stumbling block for many audiophiles with pro audio is the set up. For example the Metric Halo units need 1/4 inch jacks to rca converters or a reterm of your existing cables and then you need to learn a pro interface that was designed for multi channel recording not 2 channel playback. These are not huge obstacles but create frustration in the critical few days just after purchase that I would venture cause audio folks to throw in the towel.
It is totally worth the minor learning curve for the price to sound ratio.
it's amazing how many great toys are out there still undiscovered
Nice writeup jp
Sexy custom titles are cool.
Wow, what a find nums!
I've spent good time looking at high quality firewire DACs, and this never crossed my path. You are a hero.
mine has optical as do all the new units when MH upgraded to the + version that included an additional board.
