Zoom UAC-2 First Look/Impressions

I take a look at the absolutely fantastic Zoom UAC2 - USB 3.0 Audio Interface.

[KRISNAMUSIK]

this interface is very very good, its has ADC 4202 TI same on the tascam da3000 and have nice DAC AKM 4396 sama on the MOTU 828mk3 and RME FIREFACE 800


AWESOME INTERFACE .... thanks ZOOM

[savanaviolenta]

I have it im very impressed by the sound quality and ultra low latency.Definetely recommending this.

[waytothewill]

Thank you for telling us the specifications simply!

[Humanresponsible]

I bought this Interface after my on road Mackie satellite firewire interface failed after 11 years of service. I ordered on Amazon UK for a lower price and free postage to Ireland.
I have a Liquid safire 56, Apogee ensemble, MAudio, Yamaha preamps and also FIVE FISH AUDIO dedicated DIY preamps etc, why I am saying all this here is because to let you know I know my stuff and well experienced in this subject.

I use a Bowers and Wilkins monitor so i get a great imagery of what i am listening through them. The imagery of this system is crystal clear and comparable to Apogee systems or better, remember.. apogee is mac only !!! the sound from this unit is clean and precise.

The preamps in this is very good too, the get a better signal to noise performance do not crank preamp gain more than 40 db on the MIx software comes along with this.

In Logic this device out puts sysex messages but this can be filtered easily by going to midi environment page in logic pro x and cabling midi out from the physical midi output device to a midi monitor device and letting the midi sequencer to get midi from the sum.

Verdict : This interface has the fastest latency in USB 2 mode or USB 3 mode. You will feel all your software instruments behave like hardware everything becomes instantly snappy the moment you plug this device into your computer. No drop outs nothing just solid uninterrupted performance at even lowest latency sample modes.

Sounds good, performs good, low or no latency. Simply buy this device if you have Intel based MOBO doesn't matter usb 2 or usb 3 ...this will outperform any interface out there.

Cheers

[jland]

Thanks for this review. One question: Most interfaces have a mix knob to control input/playback levels when you're recording and want to bypass the "round trip" of the input signal going into the computer. I don't see this knob on the Zoom interface. How do you control the headphone mix of the input level if you select direct monitoring on the Zoom?

[kankantandikaigorotan]

nice video how good is the latency of this unit compared to usb2.0

[ZakSounds]

On paper the zoom uac2 is on par with focusrite clarett 2pre usb but the focusrite is double the price which one is better ?

[matthewjames]

It's a great little interface, solid build overall. However, I could not get it to work with my USB 3.0 ports on my ASUS PC build. Product support wasn't very helpful and claims that as of now, driver V 1.0.0 only seems to click with Intel chipsets. Huge bummer.

[yakamotoeurur]

hey mate, can you show this interface in action?

[mshioty]

The following faults are observed in Logic software when connected with TAC/UAC series interfaces.
1.Step Input does not work properly.
2.Controller Assignments is not responding correctly
3.The knob moves unintentionally when using Smart Controls.
is recorded on MIDI track.
5.The character "x 1 0 0" blinks on LCD.

the TAC-2(R) sends always SysEx Messages thru the OS X. The reason is horrible simple. The Audiosoftware MixEfx needs the SysEx Data to communicate between Hard and Software. You don't have any chance to stop this problem. You will receive the SysEx Data.

The next step/problem is when you record midi notes with you master keyboard then you record the SysEx data too. It sucks. The only way to eliminate the SysEx Horror is to set the SysEx Filter in the Projectsettings and disable the midi monitor in the transport window.

[austinharmse]

Have you used it to record yet? I'm curious about the quality of the preamps as well as the physical build quality of the actual inputs.

[joecamel]

is usb 3.0 comparable to thunderbolt/firewire? or better?

[majnu]

how do the components compare to the focusrite scarlett 2i2?

[vripiatbuzoi]

Did you record this video on this unit because I hear several pops and cracks?

[almur]

I bought this yesterday. latency is amazingly low, three times lower compared to usb 2.0 interface. for example, in Kontakt player if you set buffer size 128 by 44100 khz sampling rate, total latency is 7 ms, compared to 18-21 ms on usb 2.0 interface. no pops and cracks. rock solid and stable. but I recommend to switch to ssd completely for faster loading and operation, and 16 Gb RAM

[ElectroMac]

hi, and thanks, is the big knob = Master knob === > will affect volume of the headphone output?

[d_kaida]

Hi! Help me please)
Is somebody try connect it to iPad, to GarageBand or JamUp?
I hear the sound from iPad (music, video) in my headfones, but there is no signal from my guitar((

[slammah]

Does not work well with AMD devices... intel only

[MadDogE]

sounds good but from the video... the knobs wobble (spongy) when you turn them which is a big turn off and are a potential hazard. maybe that is why they put the 'brush guards' on the front of it. lol A BIG NO THANKS

[zatoichiable]

hows the latency compared to the thunderbolt version?