Sound Devices USBPre 2 Review
2x2 USB Audio Interface
- Field Mixers & Location Sound Recordists
- USB Type-A Connectivity
- 2 Mic Preamps, 2 Line In, Stereo Aux In
- Outs: 2 Headphone, 2 Mic/Line, 2 Aux
- 24-Bit / 192 kHz AD/DA Converters
- Bus Powered / Mac, Windows, Linux
- +48V, Pads, Limiters, High-Pass Filters
- Coaxial and Optical S/PDIF I/O
- Standalone Preamp/Converter Operation
- No Software-Only Features
Highlighted Customer Reviews
Showing 1 to 20 of 41 Reviews
Best Deal For Those Seeking Flexibility
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by Occulus on B&H Photo Video
Two big thumbs up so far. Quality sound. Take it anywhere. Connecting's not difficult, considering that you only have to glance at the standard options to set it up. I'm upgrading from a Line 6 KB37 on an older pentium based desktop to a newer laptop recording rig--so this is a giant leap. I can now use the Line 6 for sketching ideas, which is right where it belongs. I see the bpre2 as a perfect solution for myself and other people who want to rise up off a sonic plateau and aren't tied down to any particular, traditional notions of what and where a recording, listening, mixing, etc. experience should be. Yes, it's only two channels--but if deciding how to sum down to two at a time isn't your idea of fun--why not hire a studio instead of buying an audio interface? For big-budget, fashion-concerned recording engineers, ultra high-end equipment choices will certainly provide for a degree of better convenience, performance, and bling--but where this box could potentially take you as someone who'd like to make the best recording possible no matter your privilege level--then with some carefully selected techniques and decent associated equipment it's likely way further than any other product in its price range--and possibly to a point approaching what the big, giant piles of money can do--for a couple of good reasons: no-nonsense conversion and preamps. The DA converters are clear enough to get you in the accuracy ballpark. These simply push beyond the boundaries of typical prosumer-level interfaces (with SD's reputable circuit design choices, wise elec component choices, and so on). I have a work-in-progress mixing room, a reasonable quality, dedicated stereo listening room, a typical home theater set up, and sometimes get to hear really good high end equipment in great rooms. My ears are only just slightly golden. That said, here's my first impression of the bpre2 output. After about an hour of routine set-up activity, I (usb) plug the bpre2 into a late model 64 bit laptop PC (running Reaper 32) in my well-treated mixing room (mineral wool) with a modest set of powered monitors (original Event 2020 bas) and I play a few favorite 24/96 tracks. Aha! Dry resolution, depth, seperation, and all the audiophile goodness that we seek (and may have heard on better systems) are immediately present. Not a perfect sound, but I'm there within a few percent instead of a few dozen. My mixing room components are at least reasonably matched--no more overwhelmingly weak link. I can clearly envision certain recording consoles, appreciate finer texture and seperate subtones in inst's, and relish in the glorious tube equipment (RCA I think) used on a great set of Elvis tracks burned from vinyl. A couple days later I do a recording test to look at the AD conversion and mic preamp character. I set up a trusted guitar rig (I own one good preamp, a few mics, cymbals, drums, guitars--you get the idea): a Telecaster through a 36 watt Marshall clone w an SM57 close-mic'd on a celestion Gold and a ribbon about nine feet out in a foyer area adjacent to my living room. I feed in one mic per channel to the usbpre2 mic inputs, adjust levels w headphones, and hit record. After a few minutes of aimless chording/riffing, I carry the laptop and interface (in about 20 seconds!) to my mixing room, make some minor pan/phase adjustments in Reaper, and play the test back: same fine results as first basic listening test. The amp speaks for itself, but what I got right (and what I didn't) with mic placement, eq, etc. are instantly apparent. Note: the 24/192 setting does function as advertised with the driver download; I'm saving it for a special occaision. With only two basic tests completed, I'm sold on this SD product. I'll be experimenting (and hopefully improving as a recordist) with different mixing/summing equipment into the bpre2 inputs, as well as recording other players' takes in various spaces, and I've no doubt the unit will perform flawlessly. Thank you Sound Devices. ... More
USB Interface Perfection!
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by Fulgurite on B&H Photo Video
I have used many USB interfaces over the years. I have to say that the Sound Devices USP Pre2 is the best balance of features & value. The preamps are just about as good as it gets. They are easily as good as Apogee or RME. However the USB Pre2 has a REAL HARDWARE LIMITER that's in front of the preamp. This is a MUST HAVE feature for location sound recording. (In my opinion.) The other feature that's really outstanding on this device is the headphone amp. It's powerful and quiet. The headphone amp is not quite as silent as the actual ADC/DAC but it lets you drive headphones to ear shattering levels for live recording situations. (Another MUST HAVE advantage.) The Basic I/O is excellent. The connectors and build quality are absolutely top notch. This is a professional grade device built for the road. No plastic. All METAL. The setup and configuration dip switches are very straight forward and get the job done. Some might argue that the dips are a bit old school but I prefer the simple approach to menus and displays. The dips stay where you put them. No chance of getting accidentally bumped while recording. While some Hifi enthusiasts might argue about sonic nuances between brands... Professional recordists will never criticize Sound Devices preamps. They are pro grade. They have limiters. As for compatibility... I have not found a Mac, PC or iOS device I was not able to connect seamlessly. It just works. (And usually without installing extra drivers.) I cannot say enough good things about Sound Devices products. They just get the job done. ... More
Serious Tool & Serious FUN
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
The USBPre2 is one of the most fun and satisfying purchases in my 30+ years of being both an audiophile & audio professional. This is easily the highest quality, most portable, and convenient audio multi-tasker I have ever used. SERIOUS TOOL: It's more compact than I expected - a good thing for portability. The A to D and D to A conversion are absolutely superb. The microphone preamps are dead quiet with good headroom & gain. They bring out the best in my Sennheiser and Neumann mics. The limiters work well and sound seamless. The meters are accurate, helpful & easy to read. The headphone amp sound quality & power is outstanding. This will easily drive any serious pro headphones... even very high impedance cans. It has all the heavy-duty pro connectors I need, but it also has all of the consumer connections if needed too. I especially appreciate it having both coaxial and toslink digital jacks, and also both quarter inch and eighth inch headphone jacks - so I don't have to mess with adapters in either case. SERIOUS FUN: After work is done in capturing Voice-Overs and Interviews, I use this to have some fun enjoying listening to music or recording live music. I use it for portable music listening - and also for live music recording - powered by a portable battery via USB - and by toslink to a Sony PCM-D50. With high-res music files - 24bit/96khz - the sound is really stunning - and it's much more compact than dragging around a laptop. Going out of a Macbook Pro via USB, the unit is bus powered - and through really good headphones, the sound quality is FANTASTIC. It easily competes with my audiophile head amp/dacs that cost much more. Very honest, clean, liquid & effortless sound. It really makes listening to music fun again... even on the go in a messenger bag. ... More
I love this little box!
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
I purchased the Sound Devices USBPre2 for use in my home studio, used mainly for my own voiceover work. My hope was also to be able to use it as a portable recording solution along with my laptop, so I could take the studio on the road and record and edit wherever I need to. Well, I'm happy to report it works PERFECTLY in both scenarios. With the USBPre2, I can record, edit and mix no matter where I am, at a consistently high quality. The preamps are clear, honest, and gorgeously detailed, and the A-D and D-A conversion are stellar. Because it is a USB class-compliant device, it instantly works when plugged into any computer-- Mac, Windows, even Linux-- no drivers to install (though for the highest sample rates, Windows users may choose to install the ASIO driver). Zero-latency monitoring comes courtesy of a mix knob on the front of the unit. Turn it farther left to hear more direct signal of the live mic, turn right to hear more PC playback. One note about using it in a Linux-based OS: each time you connect the USBPre2 to the USB port of your Linux machine, you have to hold down one of the front panel buttons to put the device into the right mode. It took me two days of needless troubleshooting to realize that... it was right there in the manual all along. :-) The USBPre 2 also works in standalone mode, without a computer. It still has to be powered by USB (there are good ways to do this without a computer). I have not used this feature, but a film director friend may be borrowing it soon to get great location audio into his camera. All in all, this little guy is amazing. Instantly available, crystal-clear, detailed sound, anywhere there's a computer with an available USB slot. ... More
Amazing Sound At A Great Price
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
I am using the USBPre 2 as a phono preamp, ADC and DAC in my home sound system. This unit amplifies the signal from my low output MC cartridge (an Ortofon A90) and converts the amplified analog signal to 192K / 24 digital. This data stream is sent to my computer via USB. The computer handles storage and RIAA equalization using Pure Vinyl software. The USBPre 2 also handles conversion back to analog, which is sent to my conventional sound system (preamp, amplifier, speakers) for playback. I am simply amazed at the sound this unit produces. Its performance is actually better than what I can achieve by playing vinyl directly through a conventional high quality phono preamp. When used as a DAC, I can not tell the difference between it and my tubed stand-alone DAC. I am making these comments based on listening through a high end sound system (preamp, tube mono bloc power amps, and monitor speakers) that is very capable of resolving subtle differences in source components. So, I feel pretty comfortable in recommending this unit. Not much more I can say. since this is my first experience with computer audio. Others have compared this unit favorably to the highly regarded Lynx sound card, which is high praise indeed. ... More
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First Impressiona
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by Hal the Radio Engineer on B&H Photo Video
Sound Devices has hit a home run with their new USB Pre 2 external sound card. It's really well thought out with just the right inputs, outputs, monitoring functions, 23 segment multi-color LED VU/Peak metering, etc. They use pro quality components like Neutrik connectors, metal case and knobs, etc. I've done some test recordings at 24bit/192kHz with my MKH416 using a 11.6 screen Acer Netbook running Vista and Sound Forge Studio 10. The most striking thing is almost NO discernable hiss on the mike preamps. Sound Design has put exactly the same mike preamp technology in this $ jewel that they use in their high end 700 series digital location recorders. So for that price and a netbook running entry level professional recording software like Sound Forge Studio (SFS10 is the first version that will support 24/192 recording) you get a Hollywood quality recording system for about 1/2 of what it would normally cost. In my opinion it's a much more versatile system than a stand-alone recorder since you're using a computer for software and capture.Now if they would just include Time Code. ;-) ... More
Top notch portable preamp interface
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by MichaelPatrick on B&H Photo Video
My USB Pre 2 came and, like Sound Devices recorders, it is another finely engineered piece. I run it on a USB battery in standalone mode with small digital recorders, a MicroTrack II, a Tascam HD-P2 and a DR-680. It's a perfect complement to SD744T recorders which have two preamps but 4 channels. This little box will make top notch digital recordings with portable digital recorders or a laptop computer, and what you get for the price is incredible. The mic preamps, converters, headphone amp and analog outputs all sound stellar. P.S. The little mixer knob lets you adjust precisely how much recorded vs playback sound you want which is ideal for layered multitrack recordings. Nothing in this price can touch it. I'm excited that truly pro-level preamps now fit inside a portable computer interface, and smaller budgets too. ... More
USBPre 2-Great for linguistics fieldwork
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by Mike Fox on B&H Photo Video
I'm a graduate student at North Carolina State University studying sociophonetics. So, I mainly use the USBPre 2 in conjunction with the Audix HT5-P headset microphone and my laptop computer to record interviews for my research. The USBPre works as a great preamp and analogue-to-digital converter. Most importantly it allows for high sampling rates and bit-depth and thus quite a bit of spectrographic detail - an important part of any sociophonetic analysis. One feature that makes it better than the previous model is the stand-alone mode which allows for interfacing with a portable recorder such as a Sony PCM-M10, and not just a computer. The quality of the recordings I am capable of capturing now that I've purchased the USBPre 2 is head and shoulders above any of the previous recordings I've done. As such any linguist looking for a preamp-A/D converter in one package should look no further than the USBPre 2. ... More
This is how things are supposed to work
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by fyzziks on B&H Photo Video
This interface is the best I have tried. It just works beautifully, gets out of the way so you can hear what you're recording. The preamps are the quietest I've used, and the LED level indicators are really what's required to know where you are when recording. I've used it for both live recording with microphones and recording from phonograph records (had to put a pad in there, too much gain on the preamp) and cassette tapes. The results were excellent in both cases. I've used the E-mu 0404 USB, the m-audio transit, and the compact Roland USB interface. This is far better than any of those - quieter, smoother, easier to control and get the results I wanted. I guess it's the difference between a professional device and those consumer devices. This one really does the job right. Worth every penny. ... More
Versatile, Small and Powerful
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
I am a new owner of the USBPre 2 from Sound Devices. I use this device in the field to make audio recordings. I am very happy with the quality and build of the product and am finding many ways to use the device. 1. I use this primarily as a microphone pre amp. So microphones are connected into the USBPre 2,where 48 volts of phantom power are supplied by the USBPre 2 and then output to a high quality ADC (analog to digital converter) and from there the output goes via S/PDIF cable as a digital stream to a recorder. 2. Mics are run to the USBPre 2 as above, but then digitally output via S/PDIF or optical output using the USBPre 2's own built in ADC to digitally stream to a recorder. 3. I can make 2 recordings to two different recorders using both methods above at the same time, giving me the advantage and sound differences of two different ADC's. I feel like I have only scratched the surface of what this machine can do. ... More
love it
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
This thing is great. It's extremely portable, sounds great, has no latency issues over USB (2011 macbook air). I was using MOTU before, and the sound of this unit is so much more revealing and rich than the mk2 i had before. That coupled with the build quality you expect from sound devices makes me say this thing is a STEAL at $. Strictly in terms of build quality, duet 2, rme stuff are like toys next to this thing (though they of course offer more channels). I'm using mac os 10.7 and it's been mostly smooth, although I do occasionally have wake-from-sleep issues, which necessitate unplugging and re-plugging the unit. Other than that, I'd give 10 stars if I could, I'm extremely happy with my purchase. ... More
High-end Sound, Windows 7 Driver Problem
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by Michael North on B&H Photo Video
Someone either flagged my previous review, or B&H culled it out. How can we trust reviews if a range of opinions are not allowed? In any case, sound quality if superb, but be aware that there is a known bug with the ASIO driver and Windows 7. It's not possible to select 24-bit recording in the driver control panel, even though your DAW supposedly will record at full 24-bit depth. Sound Devices tech support has confirmed this glitch and is working with the driver developer to fix it.
Amazing!
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by Jinkscat on B&H Photo Video
The most affordable SD product and the most useful! Sounds incredible as all SD products do, use it as a DAW with a laptop on the go, it is light and sturdy. Fits perfectly in the Petrol PS607 bag. The SPDIF connects seamlessly to the Tascam digital in and with the Tekkeon USB power units I get hours and hours of Phantom powered recording. If you do not like to fuss with your settings too much this is for you, if you require more flexibility and more extensive limiters and filters then buy a 702 :)
Great Solid Interface
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by DAVID on B&H Photo Video
This is a great mixing interface to use between a mic and computer; probably the best out there. I also use a Sound Devices 442 mixer in my work and I can attest to their build quality. I gave them a 5 out of 5 stars but, I do have a couple of issues with the Pre2: One: The XLR inputs are mic-in only; not switchable between mic/line like their other mixers. Two: there are no limiters on line inputs, again, like there are in the other Sound Devices mixers. That said, this very relible and sturdy interface is worth every penny. ... More
Sounds Great/Less Filling
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
I bought this to replace my MOTU MK3 for use with SMAART. I've ended up using it for other applications such as recording into my computer or playing back audio from it. It's compact and solid as a rock. Sounds amazing and is a breeze to setup. Just plug and play. The MOTU is great but was too big to carry for one offs and fly dates. It's a bit pricey but it made for a nice tax write off. I wish you had the option to power it via battery and or external power supply so I could throw it on a pair of podium mics if the mood struck me, and giving it another use. I love this box and you will too! ... More
excellent piece of gear..
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by psummerlin on B&H Photo Video
..every input and output one could ever need on the road or at home in the studio -- very well built, and with first-rate sound quality; I've had this unit for a couple weeks, and I love it; the learning curve on the back 'pins' is quick for any experienced engineer, and they are easy to set once you get used to them; converters are great, and headroom is outstanding; the size of a direct box with so many features! I'm glad I came across this unit in my research for a new interface, and I know I made the right choice -- highly recommended ... More
USBPre 2 is a great interface
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by guarsh on B&H Photo Video
I use this as the front end of my Pro Tools 9 system which i run off a MacBook Pro. It seamlessly integrates into the software. It also works with any other app that you run, including the system. When using Pro Tools, all system sounds still come from the computer, and not thru the box, which is great. The box is extremely sturdy, knobs feel great, and the metering is wonderful. The mic pre's are super clean. All these things i expect from Sound Devices. The unit receives power thru the USB Port, so no added power supplies. Minuses: i wish it had an AES/EBU digital input / output. It's got SPDIF and Optical, but i use AES more. ... More
Superb,Great and simple
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by Andreas on B&H Photo Video
This is what to get , sound outstanding, I got apogee duet and returned baby face pro. They don't come close. And also not the week one knob design. That looks good but in practice it's infirior to Ian pre2 user friendly fantastic sounding offering. And if you need customer service sound devises is outstanding:)
Very good audio interface
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed by Robert on B&H Photo Video
I had a Steinberg UR22 interface that was getting a little old, and did not have the flexibility I wanted. I also thought that the headphone amplifier on the USBPre 2 might be better. I was right about the headphone amp--it does a really good job of driving my Sennheiser HD-650 headphones (which require more current than many headphones). And the metering and multiple connections are an improvement too. Further, the quality of the microphone pre-amps is excellent--I can use a Shure SM7B mic without a cloudlifter, with excellent results. Highly recommended.
Big Gain comes in small packages
Sound Devices USBPre 2 Portable 2x2 USB Audio Interface
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
This thing crushes my old Presonus. The mic preamps have zero audible noise and incredible gain. Over 1/2 gain the mic input starts clipping. I switched on the built-in Limiter to help with that. Maybe that means I can shell out some money on a higher impedance mic. The headphone output has great gain too - awesome for monitoring. The only slightly annoying thing is that you can't fit your finger in where the DIP switches are, so you need to use a tool (screwdriver, pen, toothpick, key, whatever). Shipping from B&H was fast and their return policy gave me confidence to try this out. ... More
