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Sonic Studio 302 (aka Metric Halo ULN-2)


jp11801

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

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

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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?

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  • 1 month later...

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)?

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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.

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  • 1 month later...
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.

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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?

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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?

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