Black Lion Revolution 2x2 Review (Audio Interface)

[phoenixsong]

Hi. Who really used BLA Revolution 2x2?
What is the subjective sound quality?
I need an audio interface to listen to music and measure the room with the REW program. Studio monitors I have JBL LSR6328p with a subwoofer. The son sometimes records vocals and mixes hip-hop at an amateur level.

I believe he records with the interface he is reviewing. Some of the better measuring options do sound clearer and more open

 

[Chez]

Yowsa, new vid promo:

Maybe people can make lemonade outta this?

 

[Sparda]

I really can't decide between the Revolution 2x2 and the Motu M4 interface.
In this recording, to my ears the Revolution 2x2 sounds much cleaner than the M2 and iD14 . (The M2 sounds better than the iD14 to me)

I have a super old Sontronics STC-2 and would like to pair it with the Motu M4.
My old Tascam US122-L in combination with the Behringer Xenyx802 produce a really buzzy noise in addition to the ground noise.
I use the Xenyx802 for +48V Phantompower because the US122-L is too silent its "gain" turned to max.
(gain put into "" because the knob for the MIC/LINE in says LINE on the left and MIC on the right side)

Effectively the wiring from the STC-2 to my PC is:
[STC-2] {Mic out via XLR} <-> [Xenyx802] {Mic in via XLR}
[Xenyx802] {Main out L/R via 6.3mm Jack} <-> [US-122L] {Line in L/R via 6.3mm Jack} - with this cable
[US-122L] {USB B 2.0} <-> [PC] {USB 2.0 A}

I want to record my voice for Let's plays/Playthroughs/Tutorials and maybe will use it for another project where I will have to record a lot of reading too.
I'm not going to record any guitar playing like the guy in the video above - maybe I'll use my keyboard for some VST stuff but thats going to use the MIDI interface.
Now I wonder if the Revolution 2x2 would be a better idea instead of the Motu M4 but can't really let my decision be based off a guitar recording.

What I really appreciate about the M4 is that I can turn on +48V Phantompower for each Channel seperately.
The idea is that in case I ever want to use a condensor mic + a mic that does not need +48V Phantompower, I can still use the M4, whereas with the R2x2 I couldn't.
Also I love the display, and that you can monitor the in/out db levels.

This guy has an issue with the Phantom power of his second unit of the Motu M4 and I'm afraid that this might also happen to me...
Other than that, there is this "dynamic range advantage" which I don't really understand yet technically and will have to read into.

I "know" that you can't really go wrong with these kind of interfaces and everything is going to be better than my current setup and that even the same model of the same interface is not going to sound the same (or so I was told?). But I am really at a loss about which interface to get right now.

 

[AnalogSteph]

My old Tascam US122-L in combination with the Behringer Xenyx802 produce a really buzzy noise in addition to the ground noise.

That should not be happening. At the same time, I cannot see any glaring faults with your setup.

Do you happen to have a 2x RCA --> 3.5 mm stereo cable or equivalent, and an onboard line-in? Then you could run the Behringer's 2-TRACK output into the onboard input for testing. (Some of the more high-strung modern-day onboard codecs are rather better converter-wise than the old US-122L anyway. Mind you, it's not like you need anything earth-shattering for spoken word to begin with. Maybe 80-85 dB worth of dynamic range, 48 kHz sample rate, filter periodic ripple and other parameters somewhat within reason.)

Proposed mixer settings for this:
MAIN MIX: approx. -10 to -12 dB (try slightly below the second major line, ca. 10 o'clock - this is important as it avoids overdriving the input and translates mixer internal signal levels into a more suitable range)
LEVEL for used channel: 0 dB or slightly above
PA: centered
FX: -∞
GAIN (MIC): approx. +40 dB (~3 o'clock) / as required

If this setup does not cure the problem, I would suspect the XLR cable first (it is not uncommon for cheap ones to have poor strain relief and require resoldering), followed by the mic itself (if touching the mic body changes ground noise, there is some sort of shielding issue, maybe some sort of bad contact internally). You can try plugging the mic directly into the input to eliminate the cable as a variable.

If one mic is all you need to accommodate (what about headphone driving capabilities?), isn't an M4 rather oversized? The M2 ought to be plenty fine for that - and you could get away with a lowly Focusrite Scarlett, too.

BTW, the vast majority of passive mics does not care about P48V one way or another (though bad cable stock may). There's just a few models (generally either very old or of dubious quality) that are miswired which you need to be careful with.

 

[Frank2]

Since this device can act as an ADC with SPDIF output with decent ADC performance and a decent price (300), I am thinking of buying one to use as standalone ADC. As far as I know there are no ADCs in this price range with SPDIF or AES/EBU output. You seem to either have the really cheap ones (less than 100) with mediocre performance or the very expensive ones (starting at 700).

The only thing that worries me is the early saturation at 8.25 dBu:

LP

However, the mic inputs of the device seem to do exactly that:

So I was wondering whether @amirm accidentaly used the mic input of the device.

It turns out such a mistake is easy to make, since simply using an XLR connector on the combo inputs seems to be interpreted by the device as using a mic. To use the line input a 1/4" plug should be used on these combo inputs:

@amirm do you happen to remember which input connector you used for the ADC measurements?

 

[Frank2]

Just found a better alternative: