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

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

duet's not white

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

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.

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

There's my excuse!

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?

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

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.

dibs

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.

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

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?

If I don't have a Mac

Is this thing plug-&-play as a DAC if I only use the SPDIF inputs coming from a CDP transport? Or is there some configuration required via a Mac first?

Also, is the value quotient still there if I don't need the preamp functionality (ie. using only the D/A side)?

From what they told me, if you buy it new, you have to set up a couple things before you can use it as a standalone DAC. You would need a Mac for that initial setup.

JImmy while you could use it without a mac yes set up or changes would need to be done on a mac. I would think though that straight throughput from a transport to either AES, optical or spidf would be relatively easy.

If only using the D/A side without needing any DSP then a used version prior to the additional card upgrade was standard would be the move. Check Craigslist for them and hunt a price south of $1000 for a non +2 card unit $800 is a good price.

Headphone amp in the unit is decent enough and better than entry level but is a bit bright, most likely for recording/mastering reasons.

Right now it is pulling double duty as a phono pre (ADC) and DAC for my mac mini running the amarra software.

Pretty thorough comparison of the ULN-8 and Berkeley Alpha here.

ULN-8 shootouts: Next! | Computer Audiophile

Barry seems to really love him some Metric Halo.

Any further reports from the (other) early adopters? And can you use the ULN-2 as a phono preamp OOTB or do you need additional software plugins? Just checking, you understand.

Edited October 25, 200916 yr by Hopstretch

Any further reports from the (other) early adopters? And can you use the ULN-2 as a phono preamp OOTB or do you need additional software plugins? Just checking, you understand.

You need the metric halo DSP liscense $700 to get the EQ. It raises the new price to about $2300 but to my experience it's the best $2300 DAC and or phono pre. Keep in mind the phono cable goes into the combo jacks that are 200 ohms for the TRS and 3.3k ohms for the XLR.

John, if I want to connect my phono preamp (Manley Steelhead) to this to digitize for needle drops, I do not need the RIAA curves, etc. correct.

I assume I can just run custom cables from the Manley to the ULN-2 then via firewire into the Mini. Am I oversimplifying this?

Jeff yes, do not use the multi jacks I think it is the input marked R that is the cleanest signal path but I'll need to check

Jeff yes, do not use the multi jacks I think it is the input marked R that is the cleanest signal path but I'll need to check

It's in the docs somewhere, I've seen it before too.

JImmy while you could use it without a mac yes set up or changes would need to be done on a mac. I would think though that straight throughput from a transport to either AES, optical or spidf would be relatively easy.

If only using the D/A side without needing any DSP then a used version prior to the additional card upgrade was standard would be the move. Check Craigslist for them and hunt a price south of $1000 for a non +2 card unit $800 is a good price.

Headphone amp in the unit is decent enough and better than entry level but is a bit bright, most likely for recording/mastering reasons.

Right now it is pulling double duty as a phono pre (ADC) and DAC for my mac mini running the amarra software.

Nums, is there anything included with the DSP license that is useful for the DAC or is it ONLY applicable for the ADC?