The ULN-8 is here!

[henryrobinett]

It's here, and it's official. The ULN-8. I can finally talk about it.
Welcome to Metric Halo

I've been a beta tester for this amazing box for about two years now. Nothing like it. The pres are every bit on par with Grace or Millennia. 8 AES I/O - 4 stereo pairs. Built like a tank. Sounds very sweet.

I'm very excited and so happy now I can open my mouth about it. It's no longer gossip. I'm not so bound by NDA. It's been so hard to keep my mouth shut these past two years (or is it three?)!

I wish them all the luck with this endeavor! Awesome product. Awesome company.

[GnS]

When the pre's are really like the level as grace, then 6k is not too much!

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by GnS

When the pre's are really like the level as grace, then 6k is not too much!

That's what we've been trying to say. This is actually a no brainer. This is NOT that expensive when you think of the bigger picture. It's actually quite cheap, when you think about it. Top of the line A/D, D/A, Pres, plugs, mixer, . . . for 6k? You'd spend close to that with 8 channels of premium pres alone.

[Dave Davis]

Backin ya up... I've been testing for over 3 years.

This is significant. The ULN8 is unusual for the length of it's development in this day and age. Others have released 2-3 new lines while the ULN8 was in development. It's been working in studios big and small for a long time. So, unlike a new piece from other companies, what you buy is not barely-beta. It's seriously used as a workhorse in real-world environments before you touch it. I know of at least one Grammy-winning record, aside from my one-and-only Grammy nomination, made on ULN8s. 2 CEA winners have been mastered on them. Some of us on the team have been fretting to get it on the market over a year, but BJ's attitude is characterized by the old Robert Mondavi commercial: he serves no interface before it's time! In hindsight this makes sense: their stuff holds its value, and stays "state of the art" years after release. Both current models are still class-leaders, and will remain so in their niches. There still aren't many better boxes than 2882s and ULN2s. They are the first truly "classic" digital interfaces (wiess makes some dsp boxes I'd call classics too).

At my old job the pres enabled us to replace a 32 channel, classic MCI console in our A room, and improve the sound of our PTHD system by upgrading its front end. Yeah, that's right: we bypassed the old HD192s entirely, and suffer through Digi's routing just for the pres and Console. For the record, we had Amek, Neve, and oodles of outboard pres. I stopped using most of them when the 8s arrived. In my mastering/sound design room, I was able to basically gut a wall of gear, eliminate half the cabling, improve all interconnects and reliability (moving to db25), and make trouble shooting faster and easier. I had to replace my old monolith desk because it looked terrible with nothing in it and I hated the reflections anyway. I had a Studio Technologies pre, and some others that I never used after the 8 was installed.

It's for real.

-d-

[henryrobinett]

Dave -- has it been three years already? Damn. That's a long time for me to keep my mouth shut. Some kind of record.

[Jax]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Dave -- has it been three years already? Damn. That's a long time for me to keep my mouth shut. Some kind of record.

It's gotta be a relief now that the surveillance cars have left your neighborhood, eh Henry?

[The Cube]

One will come straight to my desk asap. Thats for sure.

[The Cube]

One question though.

With all these super duper specs, why firewire? Why not MADI with an option for a ExpressCard MADI interface with the unit like the MADIface by RME?

There are sooo many advantages of MADI and PCI express over firewire!

Let me know!

[henryrobinett]

BJ would have to chime in on that one. That said I've had no issues with firewire. Well I did have to get a firewire card to help split up all the FW devices I have on one bus!

That said, Metric Halo have proved and promised to remain "future proof."

[The Cube]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

BJ would have to chime in on that one. That said I've had no issues with firewire. Well I did have to get a firewire card to help split up all the FW devices I have on one bus!

That said, Metric Halo have proved and promised to remain "future proof."

Henry I get you man. But my question is, taken to the max, will FW 800 handle a fully 4x ULN-8 rig @192k??? Has anyone tested that these 2 last years of ULN-8 beta?

I am planning to use this on the soon to come MBP i7 CPU Quad core, and unless they give us more than one FW800 bus Im not seing how the hell will I be able to record such an amount of bandwith to my external FW800 HDs. I guess it will b too much BW to fit in one single FW bus.

Of course my 2x 2TB WD Studio Edition 2 HDs can connect via eSATA, but unless apple give us that too on the new upcoming MBPs I will have to sacrifice my sacred expressCard bus for that. And then no UAD for me!

Any info is welcome on this. Thanks!

Thanks for the input.

[highsage]

The press release said it was available now...but i can't find it anywhere to buy yet. Cookies = Tossed, but Distribution = FAIL, if I can't buy it today.
Surely tomorrow I'll wake up and realize that my 2882 2D is more than I'll ever need anyway...


On a more serious note...seriously ... what to do?

2882 2D with DSP + Dangerous D-Box
vs.
ULN-8

For making acid house and grungy electronica... not sure I need 8 ULN Pre's, you know?
I wonder if ULN-8's D/A's are 'similar' in character to the D-Box's, or if they are world's apart sounding...

[jdg]

i think they'll be avail to buy starting the 8th (tomorrow)

[Dave Davis]

The Cube, the FW thing is interesting... I think the a benefit is it's common, reliable and from MH's perspective very familiar technology.

I use my ULN8 with my laptop as well as a G5 in the studio. I devote the lappy's FW entirely to the ULN8, and track to eSata drives. In the studio, same deal, with sata isntead of esata. This gives me MUCH better performance where it matters (going to disc). On the G5 and Mac Pros you can record to mirrored drives now, without setting up a raid, so if you keep your FW bus clear you can really pile up the tracks... and be safe! In other words: it can be an advantage.

I'm not sure how many ULN8s you can put on a single bus, but on desktops (or laptops for that matter) you can add more FW busses. I've run 2 2882s and 1 ULN8 on a single internal bus. At my old job we ran 3 ULN8s on a mac pro before, so I know you can get 24 tracks without breaking a sweat.

Maybe BJ will pop in from Munich to clarify?

-d-

[swafford]

I was with Dave at Sound Images last winter and saw this thing in the rack and I said "A ULN-8, wtf?" and Dave said "You don't see that, it doesn't exist. If I ever hear you mention again, I will kill you"

I don't see the specs on the website. Does it do 192?

[henryrobinett]

Let's see. I've used two ULN-8s, a 2882 and a ULN-2 with no issues simultaneously. I did use an additional FW card to split the fw chores though! I found that was necessary. BJ said something about 9 ULNB-8s at 96k on three fw busses is the record so far. I think I have that right. But this depends on your computer.

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by swafford

I don't see the specs on the website. Does it do 192?

Yep. It do 192k. And it's gorgeous.

[highsage]

Originally Posted by swafford

I was with Dave at Sound Images last winter and saw this thing in the rack and I said "A ULN-8, wtf?" and Dave said "You don't see that, it doesn't exist. If I ever hear you mention again, I will kill you"

I don't see the specs on the website. Does it do 192?

yes, totally. check the other two threads about it here in the 'new gear' section...all the specs fully posted.

[henryrobinett]

Metric Halo ULN-8 - MacMusic

[The Cube]

Thanks for the input guys!

[Dave Davis]

Not only does it do 192, it does it so well, I've finally jumped off the Good Ship Lavry...

The ULN8 is the ONLY device that has made me seriously question Dan's position (not the 60K thing, but the practical 96K = sufficient thing). Previously, in cases where I like 192K better, it was a clear "enhancement" of the source, not accuracy. I could reliably pick out the 192 source from the "lesser" source blind, though usually BOTH could be distinguished from the input blind, indicating an improvement unrelated to fidelity. The 8 is definitely accurate: if you switch between any analog source and a round trip through the 8 @ 192 in the analog domain, you may well not be able to detect which is which. But it's also "better": at lower rates it gets a lot easier to tell. After I measured and established nothing was broken, I realized there was a difference: better filters, far out of the audio band at 192, just sound closer to the source in current implementations. The sound of everthing passing through gets progressively tighter and better, all the way to the top.

Maybe MH has gotten timing/jitter to the point of irrelevancy, eliminating the timing issues (at 192K a converter with low jitter at 48 will have 4X more)? Maybe it's the phase-linearity and power linearity of it's DC coupled design (both flat from 0Hz - Nyquist)? Who knows? Not me. I just know what my ears tell me.

Upsampling 44.1 sources to 192 for processing yields measurably better results. And there lies my heresy. I've developed a new bad habit of mastering at 192 of late. It eats resources, and bugs me intellectually, but sound is sound, and soundBlade+ULN8 sound better at 192. I get paid to master with my ears, not my calculator, so here I am.

-d-

[jlcl]

will this have jensen xfmr options?

[Dave Davis]

Originally Posted by swafford

I was with Dave at Sound Images last winter and saw this thing in the rack and I said "A ULN-8, wtf?" and Dave said "You don't see that, it doesn't exist. If I ever hear you mention again, I will kill you"

oh... yeah... about that... really sorry, man!



-d-

[dbssound1]

Tester for 9 months!

This is the greatest piece of gear I have every used. I sold my grace and my prism dream! Get ready to empty your racks!!

[henryrobinett]

I know! I'm contemplating what else to empty!

[dbssound1]

And here goes the muscle flex !!

(me and my staff in the studio with the "8"s.)

thought I'd share!

[sonicdefault]

So you guys think these converters are very neutral? What do you think about the analog components in the ADA? (not the pres)


-SD

[sonicdefault]

Is there not a product page up yet on the MH site? I couldn't find one.


-SD

[dbssound1]

It just went live!!

Welcome to Metric Halo

[sonicdefault]

Originally Posted by dbssound1

It just went live!!

Welcome to Metric Halo

Thanks! It was literally minutes away


0SD

[jdg]

Originally Posted by sonicdefault

So you guys think these converters are very neutral? What do you think about the analog components in the ADA? (not the pres)


-SD

its insanely neutral. i dont use the pres that much, but the AD/DA in the unit are so mind-blowingly transparent. i was confused for days after i got it and put it in my rack next to my lavry and UA converters.