This is a review and detailed measurements of the Black Lion Revolution 2x2 audio interface (DAC, ADC and headphone amplifier). It was kindly sent to me by a member and costs US $399.
The Revolution 2x2 comes in a very heavy and hefty enclosure:
I thought this meant that it had an included AC mains adapter. I was wrong, it is USB 'bus powered:'
While the Revolution is plug-and-play compatible, I went ahead and downloaded the native driver. I was a bit disappointed to see the implementation using thesycon software. I find this to always be buggy requiring at least one reboot, and re-install of the driver to get it to work. Once there, performance using ASIO interface was the same as class driver.
Black Lion Revolution 2x2 DAC Measurements
I used the USB as the input and monitor out in the back as output to get our usual dashboard:
I expect a pro interface to be easily capable of producing 4 volts here but as you see, despite me cranking the volume to max, I could not get more than 3.2 volts. The worst news is the sum of distortion+noise as expressed in SINAD. 94 dB is quite poor as it can't even deliver 16 bit audio transparency, resulting in Revolution 2x2 landing in a sampling of interface DACs I have tested:
I thought something was wrong with the measurements but the company specifies the same:
We are actually getting a hair better at 0.0018%. Hoping lower output level may be better, I swept it but that was not the case:
The issue here is rather high noise floor which is evident in dynamic range test:
We are 10 dB short of company specs here. Company does provide a note on this front:
Maybe such tuning by ear happened post measuring the device and publishing that spec. Either way, I am not sure how noise floor can be compromised for some sonic ability when it is so audible unlike distortion.
Moving on, IMD versus level suffers the same fate due to high noise floor:
It is matching a phone dongle as far as noise level is concerned (dashed orange).
Jitter test shows the same high noise floor:
Linearity test filters out noise so performance there is much better:
Likewise multitone shows us distortion separate from noise so performance there is good as well:
The filter is the typical "lazy one" that cuts off at 24 kHz instead of 22.05:
Performance when sweeping frequency was exceedingly bad:
This test uses wide bandwidth though so let's see what exists in audible band:
Boy, that is a massive rise with frequency post 30 kHz.
Black Lion Revolution 2x2 ADC Measurements
Let's reverse the path and see what we get when we digitize the analog balanced input. Here again the unit could not handle nominal input voltage and I had to set the gain to minimum and lower the level to avoid clipping:
So less embarrassing than the DAC performance:
Frequency response is flat enough:
You can see the lack of headroom easily in IMD versus input level:
Sweeping the input frequency shows little dependency:
But gets beat by a consumer interface (EVGA Nu Audio in dashed red).
Black Lion Revolution 2x2 Headphone Output Measurements
Let's see how much power we have at 300 ohm:
As expected, not much. Same is true at 33 ohm:
Output impedance was lower though than some other outputs I find on interfaces so that part is good.
Regardless, for any serious headphone listening, you need an external amp unless you use something very efficient.
Conclusions
$400 for this? Really? The DAC performance is just horrid and unacceptable in any consumer device let alone professional. The ADC is better but operates at consumer voltage levels. Headphone output is the checklist feature as expected. So really, nothing to hang your hat on.
The Black Lion Revolution 2x2 is a big disappointment. If tuned by ear, I suggest getting a better protocol in place and at any rate, not produce the highly limiting input and output voltage levels.
Needless to say, I can't recommend the Revolution 2x2. There are so many better interfaces out there that deliver proper performance, not promise it and then miss it on so many levels.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The Revolution 2x2 comes in a very heavy and hefty enclosure:
I thought this meant that it had an included AC mains adapter. I was wrong, it is USB 'bus powered:'
While the Revolution is plug-and-play compatible, I went ahead and downloaded the native driver. I was a bit disappointed to see the implementation using thesycon software. I find this to always be buggy requiring at least one reboot, and re-install of the driver to get it to work. Once there, performance using ASIO interface was the same as class driver.
Black Lion Revolution 2x2 DAC Measurements
I used the USB as the input and monitor out in the back as output to get our usual dashboard:
I expect a pro interface to be easily capable of producing 4 volts here but as you see, despite me cranking the volume to max, I could not get more than 3.2 volts. The worst news is the sum of distortion+noise as expressed in SINAD. 94 dB is quite poor as it can't even deliver 16 bit audio transparency, resulting in Revolution 2x2 landing in a sampling of interface DACs I have tested:
I thought something was wrong with the measurements but the company specifies the same:
We are actually getting a hair better at 0.0018%. Hoping lower output level may be better, I swept it but that was not the case:
The issue here is rather high noise floor which is evident in dynamic range test:
We are 10 dB short of company specs here. Company does provide a note on this front:
Maybe such tuning by ear happened post measuring the device and publishing that spec. Either way, I am not sure how noise floor can be compromised for some sonic ability when it is so audible unlike distortion.
Moving on, IMD versus level suffers the same fate due to high noise floor:
It is matching a phone dongle as far as noise level is concerned (dashed orange).
Jitter test shows the same high noise floor:
Linearity test filters out noise so performance there is much better:
Likewise multitone shows us distortion separate from noise so performance there is good as well:
The filter is the typical "lazy one" that cuts off at 24 kHz instead of 22.05:
Performance when sweeping frequency was exceedingly bad:
This test uses wide bandwidth though so let's see what exists in audible band:
Boy, that is a massive rise with frequency post 30 kHz.
Black Lion Revolution 2x2 ADC Measurements
Let's reverse the path and see what we get when we digitize the analog balanced input. Here again the unit could not handle nominal input voltage and I had to set the gain to minimum and lower the level to avoid clipping:
So less embarrassing than the DAC performance:
Frequency response is flat enough:
You can see the lack of headroom easily in IMD versus input level:
Sweeping the input frequency shows little dependency:
But gets beat by a consumer interface (EVGA Nu Audio in dashed red).
Black Lion Revolution 2x2 Headphone Output Measurements
Let's see how much power we have at 300 ohm:
As expected, not much. Same is true at 33 ohm:
Output impedance was lower though than some other outputs I find on interfaces so that part is good.
Regardless, for any serious headphone listening, you need an external amp unless you use something very efficient.
Conclusions
$400 for this? Really? The DAC performance is just horrid and unacceptable in any consumer device let alone professional. The ADC is better but operates at consumer voltage levels. Headphone output is the checklist feature as expected. So really, nothing to hang your hat on.
The Black Lion Revolution 2x2 is a big disappointment. If tuned by ear, I suggest getting a better protocol in place and at any rate, not produce the highly limiting input and output voltage levels.
Needless to say, I can't recommend the Revolution 2x2. There are so many better interfaces out there that deliver proper performance, not promise it and then miss it on so many levels.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
