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High volume level of the main output. Is it good?

VäzPre

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May 13, 2025
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Hello,

Main outputs of the Steinberg UR-RT2 have much higher volume levels than e.g. Audient ID4, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 4th or Steinberg IXO22.

I notice this e.g. when playing music from a PC (the main output goes via a balanced cable to the Kali Audio LP-6 monitor).

Is this good, bad, okay or...?

Thank you.
 
The specs for actual maximum output aren't terribly different:
UR-RT2 +16 dBu
Scarlett +16 dBu
iD4 +12 dBu

This would suggest that the output stage in the UR-RT2 has higher gain than say the Scarlett's and you could drive the output into clipping with signals at or near 0 dBFS, but also have a better chance of getting low-level signals loud enough. It's a double-edged sword. You may want to take note of the output volume knob position that gives levels comparable to the Scarlett, and label everything above that the Danger Zone (Kenny Loggins optional :p). Beyond this point you are on your own when it comes to making sure that digital levels remain low enough. You could conduct some tests with the generator in REW and a maybe 100 Hz sine to find out how much excess gain you have, although doing it in loopback or using an external mixer seems a better idea than recruiting the LP-6s.
 
Thank you for your answer.

And can't it be, for example, the impedance of the main outputs (75 ohms) or the extra high power level (power requirements: 18 W)?
 
No.

As an aside, I highly doubt that the unit really needs that much power, it just happens to ship with a 12 V / 1.5 A power adapter (which would cost just a little more than nothing to make in this day and age). The fact that the UR-RT4 uses the same should be telling you something. How warm does the unit actually get? Not a whole lot, I suspect, particularly without phantom power on. It is common practice to overspec switch-mode power supplies as they have a habit of shutting down when faced with brief current spikes e.g. at power-on, and maybe the PA-150B is of better quality than the 750 mA PA-130B in other respects as well.
 
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