Volt 2 Reviews

I have the Volt 2 and use it with Ableton Live for a travel setup. The mic preamps sound nice and clean and I don't have any of the "crackles and pops at buffer sizes above 512" reported by some other folks.

Vintage mode puzzles me a little bit. It's basically a slight "smile" EQ curve with a 0.5dB bump at 50-70Hz and a +2dB shelf at about 8-10kHz or so. A bit more hype is present in the "air" frequencies, it seems to me (another +0.5dB maybe?). There might also be a tiny cut at around 500-600hZ, IIRC. The "warmth" is simply evenly-distributed harmonic distortion once the signal approaches -10 to -8dBFS. And it gets dirty quick up there.

The puzzling bit is that I generally aim for signal peaks of -12dBFS hitting the converters. This means I don't get any harmonic distortion with the Volt Vintage mode when following conventional wisdom around signal levels; just the EQ curve. I have better analogue means to add harmonic distortion at standard tracking levels instead of pounding the converters. Minus 1 star.

All-in-all, it sounds good and works well with Live and the e906, SM57, and K87-based mics I typically use. The Hi-Z input is bog standard and I don't find the Vintage mode to be useful there. Other than the somewhat disappointing Vintage mode, I like it for what it is: a good-sounding, solidly-built interface with a decent form factor for travel rigs. Oh, and a reasonable price for UA kit is rare!

I've been using a Zoom H-6 as a USB interface. While it certainly has its features, being an interface is not one of its shining roles.

I started searching for a simple but powerful USB interface whose sole job would be simply being an excellent interface. The more I researched, the clearer it was that the Volt series was what I needed. I received my Volt 2 a couple of weeks ago. Upon connecting it to my laptop and plugging my Shure headphones into the unit, I experienced for the first time what the signal from my Rode NT-1 microphone sounded like.

Whew! Trying to record my classical guitar or simply take part in a Zoom meeting finally sounded as it should. I was beginning to wonder if I needed new microphones or headphones or anything to clear up the boomy, bassy sounds I was getting before through the other interface. I find the Volt 2 to produce an exceptionally clean sound signal that, to my ears, is extremely accurate. I didn't need a huge unit or a lot of extra features. This Volt 2 delivers everything I need and more. I am extremely pleased!