Universal Audio VOLT 2 - USB Audio Interface Review (Vintage Mode Audio Samples)
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- Опубликовано: 3 авг 2024
- In this video I test the Volt 2 from Universal Audio and check out the Vintage Mode.
Sweetwater US | Universal Audio Volt 2: sweetwater.sjv.io/vN1oBj *
Thomann EU | Universal Audio Volt 2: www.thomann.de/intl/universal... *
Support the channel on Patreon: / juliankrause **
Follow me on Twitter: / thejuliankrause
00:00 Intro
00:31 Hardware Overview
02:40 Software
03:14 Round Trip Latency
04:15 Design and Build
04:36 Internals
05:08 Mic Input Performance
06:31 Mic Preamp Performance
07:34 Vintage Mode Demonstration
07:43 Vintage Mode Explained
11:56 Line Input Performance
12:35 Main Output Performance
13:29 HP Output Performance
15:20 Verdict
* Affiliate links from which I receive a commission for sales. This doesn't generate any additional cost for you. As an Amazon and Thomann Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
** Patreon is a platform where you can voluntarily choose to support the channel by purchasing a monthly subscription. 
Хобби
Don’t be fooled by the graph at 12:47. It snuck into the video at the wrong time. What I say about the dynamic range of the output is correct.
Waiting for the comparison as you mentioned. I would be highly thankful, if you could analyse Apogee one & duet 3 the same way please 🙏🏻. Especially “Apogee One “…. Please, Please, Please. Request from your regular viewer.
M about to buy audio interface, m following your videos, there's a lot of interface m interested but, from the graph i think audiant id4 mkii and ssl2 looks good to me...m still confusing...which one do you mostly preferred or recommended if you are gona chose,....please help..as i dont want want to waste my saving..
Thank you.
@@gangtegte8775 audient id4 mk 2 should not disappoint you..
@@gaganbakana thanks
Can you do your top 5 or 10 interface?
"This is generally regarded as a dick move" made me legit laugh out loud. Perfect delivery.
And also, incredibly useful and thorough review.
It was the total deadpan delivery that made me laugh.
Uhm...I think he just insulted Universal Audio??? I'm not sure. LOL
the phrasing was great too...."generally regarded". love it.
When I read this comment I thought his guy has to be 40+ yrs old. Then I read your username 😆
haha i was about to comment the same thing. I like how he clearly pronounces the K in the word "Dick". It makes me want to hear him tell someone to F*ck Off 😄
J...
Another super thorough review. Makes decision-making so much more informed.
Best review of an audio interface I've ever seen, great job!
Your delivery is so stoic. Subscribed.
no emotion, classic German style, yet with underlying humor, factual information, measurements. A living database of interface boxes and analytics! Sehr gut sehr gut! Messtechnikmeister....!
hahahhaa I like your name Devon is the best!
Haha 🤣👍
😂😂😂
@@LDdrums20 thanks bud ...Devon is legend indeed!
We in Eastern Europe don't see it as without emotion. We see the style of the States full of acting. It's like this is how normal people talk about technical stuff.
I’ve been waiting for this eagerly ,thank you so much ! Can’t wait for the other review of the Ua interface ! Gotta say I kinda expected a little more from ua
Brilliant video. Straight to the point. Great delivery. Thank you!
As always Julian is totally the best guy to go to to check out the comprehensive specifications of studio gear in comparison to other brands & models out there, all information you may need to know is covered to make your decision.
Thanks Julian for all your work and helping me make the correct decision for me.
By leaps this was the most useful review I have ever seen. I appreciate the work you put in to supply the good data. This Makes me know rather than guess that I made a good decision to buy for someone else who is getting ready to launch a career. It won't be the last interface - we will step it up. But for now, it is perfect. Thank you!
Been waiting for this one. Great job as always. Subscribed!
UA requiring registration is a dick move indeed! Another reason I prefer RME in general.
Pretty lame indeed. But it doesn’t take much for someone to post it somewhere for people to download or just use fake information
RME colours the sound. Otherwise also it stand last in industry level interfaces.
I'm quite happy with my Quantum 2626 paired with an SMSL M200 DAC and a tube preamp for the output.
@@HarvinderSingh-yy8th Since flatness of sound is subjective wouldn't that mean that sound coloring is also subjective? I'm genuinely asking since I'm not really sure whether the two things go hand in hand. As far as I'm concerned, NOTHING can be absolutely flat and therefore different ears will hear different flatness and levels of sound coloring. I would leave it to personal preference in regards to the sound one is accustomed to.
@@natevirtual well youre right to a degree, however once you get to a certain level of clean pres - where the distortion caused, especially IMD and signal/noise ratio - lives just soooo far down below the noise and distortion floors of the mics, that you can call it "uncoloured"
Im not sure about how the rme stacks up against the apollo, but uncoloured is certainly not subjective
You and Podcastage are the Dynamic Duo! 💪 👏
Great review as usual. You are blessing to the music production world especially home studio owners.
Still looking forward to a test of the Universal Audio Apollo Twin ii
Julian usually reviews more budget friendly interfaces.
Julian your reviews are most valuable.
Thanks for taking the effort making this review. :)
You sir, are a proper sound engineer.. 👏👏👏
As always a perfectly done video 🔥
Best review brother, all the data we need 👏👏👏
I greatly appreciated this review, very on point and evidence-based. Most reviews I saw about soundcards are full of bla-bla, with scarce data about real differences between brands and models in terms of objective performance. Congrats to you!
Great review as always Julian! I can't wait to watch your review on the VOLT 276! I'm really looking forward to hearing that one.
Will see on the 276, for me is the only salvation that this interfaces will have, otherwise is another on the list.
will it be more of the same
Forcing the user to register just to get the driver for an audio interface is, in fact, a dick move. That would be a hard no for me. If you ever want me to be a customer, UA, you should fix that garbage.
So true but does this one come with an incldued power cord unlike the Apollo range LOL!
Their customer service is trash too! I messaged them to see when the official release is on this and they said “ask your dealer”
In my initial message I stated that they all said “around thanksgiving “ and that’s it. Which is why I bothered to message them in the first place
Yeeees! I’ve been waiting a month for this. Thanks! Now time to watch :-)
Oh bummer, didn’t read the title. I was hoping to see one of the 76 series. Hopefully they have a newer dac in it as part of the higher price.
I don't think they would put a different DAC in 276. End of the day UA thinks their compressor worth more than the price difference.
They are the exact same unit. The 76 series has a compressor and vintage preamp mode that frankly to my ears makes no difference at all except to your bank account.
The one we've all been waiting for!
Another informative video, Julian, thanks! PS - 3:04 - hilarious!
Bro you always look like you're holding in laughter 😂
Love your videos. Keep them coming.
Another really nice video. Thank you.
I really liked that vintage button. It reminds me that some things never get old (including snake oil).
Nice!!!!
I have been waiting for this video for sooooooo long. How does it show up on my feed 2 days after !!!!
Danke Julian, hab ein Motu M2 an meinem Mac Mini, will aber etwas kleines für unterwegs zum aufzeichnen. Das Video war echt informativ um mir mal Volt 1 & 2 anzuschauen :D
I just needed to add to this as I was so frustrated with my Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. I tried everything to get the static out of my audio. And I gave up and decided to return it and looked for a better budget interface when I found also your video. Its is insane once you installed the driver the sound is so good it is day and night. Thanks for the review really! Danke dir Julian!
There it is. Everyone was waiting for it! 😉
Thank you bro, this video was so helpful. Bro you have no idea. Thank you so much.
Great review, nice sweater.
finally an actual review. Thanks
this is a crazy amount of effort put in the stats
Props for using the HitchHiker's Guide To The Galaxy monologue at 8:16. Love it.
finalyyyyyyy .. this the most wanted youtube video for me in 2021
I just like channels in which there are lots of info. Thanks a lot. Keep up the good work! Audient id4 mkII looks better stat vs price wise.
Thanks for amazing videos! They are very helpful and well done! You rock! 😎🤟 P.S. I would love if you include round trip latency at 96kHz also since people use it a lot more than 192 because of technological limitations. 96 is a really good step up from 48 but still not demanding as 192.
Julian 🙌 the goat of the audio community 🐐 great work as always man 👍
i told you ty we should've waited for julian.
Nice, specs look good and quite stable/consistent. Pertinent point about the price, people might choose to stretch a little to get those gear in the next tier
My M-audio m-track 2x2 died on me yesterday, so I took a VOLT 1 to replace it as I had some noise problems with the old one, will see, will see, thank you for your awesome work! :)
Awesome, thank you so much for this detailed informative analysis! Can you please do the UAD Apollo solo next? :)
Thank you for the headphone specs! This made my choice between the Motu M2 and the Volt 2 easier. I purchased the Volt 2 with more confidence :)
Great review as usual @Julian Krause. Now, after reviewing all these new interfaces, which one would you recommend? Thanks!
Thanks a lot! Ich habe das Volt 1 und nehme an, dass es die exakt gleichen Messwerte hat als das Volt 2. in meinem Homestudio verwende ich zwar das ZenQ TB von Antelope, aber für mobile Angelegenheiten macht dieses einen guten Job!
Great review
Excellent as always. In your tradition of excellent interface reviews, I would love to have you look at the Tascam Model 12/16/24, focusing only on the USB interface functionality to start. I recently got the Model 12. It boasts a 12in/10out interface and its preamps certainly are superior to my trusty older Behringers and I think just as good as Focusrite. Not at the level of Antelope, but not bad... Wondering if your tests would bear that out.
Looking forward to the next video."276" 👍
So much info in just a few minutes. Thanks!
This seems to be among the very best-performing CS4272 implementations out there, with dynamic range overtaking even the Arturia MiniFuse 2 on the input and only being second to the Tascam US-2X2HR on the output side, as well as consistently very low distortion with no nasty surprises. The headphone output is solid (not the highest max voltage but a very good load driver), microphone EIN is good but not exceptional (but still beats its spec).
Clearly a well thought-out piece of kit overall, including the power options. In these times of chip shortages, wringing a maximum of performance out of what we can get is appreciated. Beating 110 dB(A) in and out would have been midrange terrain a decade ago. This is getting close to EMU 0404 USB terrain. A good one for measurements, and it's class compliant so will work in Linux out of the box.
As it stands, the CS4272 datasheet DR specs of 114 dB(A) seem to be unattainable in practice (not unusual in consumer-grade chips) and about 112 dB(A) in and 111 dB(A) out would be more realistic. It's interesting how things seem to be the other way round for the CS4270 if we look at the UR22C (chip spec 105 dB(A) - in 103, out 106, so the DAC even beats the datasheet, which makes sense if you consider that it was likely based on the CS4391 design spec'd at 108 dB).
I agree, the Volt 2 has one of the best implementations of the CS4272 which I have measured so far. In most aspects the interface achieves nearly the fully specified performance of the converter.
Thank Julian, another great review! What's with RME, did you test any? Are you going to? Looking forward :)
Hi Julian , I'm a recent susbcriptor and I'm loving your videos, they are very detailed and specific. I don't know if you already did a video of the top 5 under 200$ interfaces in 2022 but it would be amazing. I'm looking forward to buy a nice interface in that price range but I can't decide yet. I would like to know what would you buy for recording at home and live gigs. thank you very much!
Yes the 276 is definitely what I'm looking right now!
Vintage mode de-cloaked. We love to see it, thanks Julian!
After watching this I'm so glad I didn't bought into the UAD hype and went with the ID4 MK2. Big thanks to you!
i´m proud also too of my SSL +2
same here but id14
@@cheveyo2403 Awesome! In my case I didn't need the extra IO
iD4 MKII would be perfect if only it had an on/off switch
@@SoumitraChakravarti only downside is that after long periods of sleep it loses connection an need to restart
Julian, Thanks for the fish!
Julian, please tell us about them monitors of yours! Great review, as always! ✊
Thank you Julian.
Best explanation ❤
Hi! first time here... there are really exciting those graphs. I assume you use an oscilloscope or some kind of measurement device. It´s great to compare without "subjectiveness"... very courious to see other content from you whit this format. Greetings from Argentina
your english is great and the video is detailed👋
Julian's first UAD review... Can't wait for Apollo X8 review (or any Apollo from the Apollo series).
Also do you have future plans to review Steinberg AXR4, Avid Carbon?
Good video!
I remember oldschool Telefunken gear that looked like the Volt. Nice vintage look.
Hey Julian, I love your reviews. As someone who has owned 100+ soundcards, this is everything I wish I had previous to jumping into yet another interface. If I had more time, I'd love to do a bunch of reviews on all of the old stuff I own, because there are so many decent, even great interfaces from the past 10 years. I know it wouldn't have the relevance of what you do, but just from an audio geek perspective it could be a lot of fun. What's your favorite old interface? Do you have one?
Best best best in the game!
Mr J Money, Julian Kreezy my neezy!
Respect man these reviews are highly appreciated.
You are the king.
Great review, can you review the Sterling Audio Harmony H224 at some point, thanks...
Forcing someone to register in order to utilize a simple product such as an audio interface is generally regarded as a "dick move"..... Keep up the good work and godspeed @Julian Krause
I would LOVE to see rewiew of some prosumer recorders, like Zoom F8n, F6, or Sounddevises MixPre-II series!
Thank you
Hi Julian, I appreciate your content.
have you ever considered reviewing any RME interfaces? like the fireface ucx2 or babyface pro fs?
im curious how they compare against some of the higher end stuff you reviewed. Supposedly many pros consider RME to be entry level but a true contender against highest end interfaces but it would be interesting to see how the actual measurements stack up
I just got a babyface pro fs. Loving it much more than my apogee element 24. Really would love if Julian could do a break down for us!
Great Review! Have you ever worked with the Motu Stage B16? It's like a swiss knive. It's build for recording but you can also use it for a Studio. I would love to see a reciew of that!
The community needs your review of Antelope Discrete 4 Synergy Core
I second that 💯
OMG it was a tease I thought it was the 276 !!!!! omg But grea tjob thanks for the video.
Nice theory :)
Exelent video ♥
Can you review the UA 276?
Is coming on the next video.l, stay tuned.
thanks for sharing us all the specs & the measurement... but i'm more interested in uad volt 276...
The *Vintage* mode kicking in only at high input levels is totally inline with vintage (i.e. tube) preamps such as the 610 and 1073. Universal's plugin versions of these preamps faithfully duplicate this behavior. However, UA adds a digital/linear turn-down control on the _output_ side of the plugin. This allows you to crank up the input side to the high levels required to induce the tube harmonics, while simultaneously (digitally) reducing output side, all the while maintaining those harmonics. I suspect the idea here is to crank up the VOLT''s gain to the same necessarily high levels, while turning it down to a more normal level inside your recording app.
I'm totally happy with my MOTU M2
Same here, I love my M4!
Need to "create an account" is a reason not to buy it. UAD is a marketing company rather than technology. Great video from JK !
There is so much truth to this statement ^
I've been waiting for this review. The vintage mode gives the distorted guitar a fizzy, and unpleasant top end IMO, but I bet it's great on vox.
Hey Julian ! First of all I really appreciate your reviews and can't believe how in depth they are.
My question is how compatible are the MiniFuse1 with pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro (64 Ω). If not what would you recommend around same price ($100).
Everything has a ten-ohm output impedance on the HP out (a few are worse like the Audient stuff) according to one of his graphs in another video, not ideal but you will be fine. HD280 has very good sensitivity (SPL) and will get loud enough with any interface. You can potentially crank it up to harmful audio levels, so you will have headroom during normal use.
I like how interconnected the power supply and headphone power consumption is
I spat out my coffee when you said it was a dick move on UA's part to force users to register/create an account just to get ASIO driver support. Well done!
Been liking your reviews. I am checking audio interfaces under $100. Can you also review the XTUGA E22 2i2 and the Donner Audio Interface Livejack? Thanks.
Guauuu. Vintage Mode is REAL.
Great job, as usual! Can you do a review of the Presonus Quantum series?
03:01
Didn't see that coming. I was just thinking that right before you said it. It's such a simple device to pull that shit.
Vintage has some nice side information !
Where the Volt 276 !
Excellent job! So, for Volts interfaces, what would be the reference between:
analog 0 Vu (+4 dBu) = -?? dBFS (for the DAW when tracking)? to calibrate the vu meter in my DAW? Thanks, regards.
glad to see my 3 year old clarett thunderbolt at the top of that list
It would be nice to see a review of the universal audio 6176 or other 'high end' mic pre's. perhaps the apollo range of audio interfaces would be good choice for the next to review.
i also think there is more cross talk introduced when vintage mode is engaged (stereo field narrows from what i heard in my monitors )
Thank you for the great review. Right now I'm considering the Volt 2 or Motu M2 (or the Volt4 vs Motu M4) - UAD or MOTU, what do you think? Was reading some Audio Science Reviews & looks like the MOTU stuff has some IMD quirks but I can't find anything on the Volt.
Came for the review, stayed for the Steinberg input noise.
Haha. So true…I’m always waiting for it, too
But the winner is the Presonus Audiovox!
I just dont really get the vintage sound feature, i would have thought impercievable in the mix. I just find this stuff a bit of gimic to sell product. What would be better would be a lower priced DSP interface, which they could achieve just look at what Steinberg offers at the budget end.
+
Yeah, this vintage button is just some marketing crap.
Thanks for the review Julian! One question I have is, does the interface support loopback mode?
Wasn't mentioned anywhere, so maybe not.
No
Any chance you will do a review on Roland Rubix44? Not finding any useful reviews.
Btw you sir are one of a kind. Noone comes close to this level of professionalism and detail.
Ooopsy, up the dead :lol: I just bought one of these. My "what used to be trusty" iD4 was giving me all kinds of grief. Weird driver issues with it constantly reverting to an output latency of 17.5 (basically if I had set the buffer to 512) So far so good, and now that I figured out the "instrument" needs to be on for bass/guitar, it's ace.