Zoom UAC-2 USB 3.0 Audio Interface, 2 In/2 Out Audio Interface, 2 Mic/Line/Hi-Z Inputs, MIDI I/O, Headphone Output, 2 Line Outputs, Bus Powered

I needed a new audio interface for recording vocals since my old USB 1.0 interface has serious compatibility problems with my new X99 motherboard that I was unable to resolve. I use Zoom field recorders that have served me well, so I decided to give this one as a try. Very simple PC setup:Shure SM58 mic to XLR jack on UAC-2Monitoring with headphones on "Phones" jack on UAC-2USB 3.0 port on PCWindows 10 ProZoom UAC-2 ASIO Driver at maximum sample rateAbleton Live 9The MixFx application that launches automatically when you connect the UAC-2 works fine, but doesn't really provide anything I need for my simple setup. It is supposed to alert if new firmware is available for the UAC-2 so I usually keep it running.Signal quality and low-latency perfectly meet my needs as an aspiring musician.

First let me qualify this review with my PC setup as most reviews will almost always eventually lead to "what kind of setup do you have" questions: I'm running a custom build Intel Hex-core i7-5820 overclocked to 4.2ghz, EVGA X99 Micro 2 MOBO, 32GB Corsair XMS DDR4, EVGA GTX950 video card, Samsung 256GB NVME SSD, Mushkin 1TB Reactor storage SSD, and WIn 10 64 Pro all in a liquid-cooled Corsair Air 240. This is NOT a "studio-only" PC. I use this PC for everything; email, surfing the net, Photoshop, video editing, telecommuting for work, etc. I know many people are VERY strict (anal) about not using their studio PC for anything but that but I have found after decades of building PCs that it's really not that big of a deal. I've seldom had any conflicts or performance hits due to also running software other than whatever DAW I was using. Lastly, you should know that my aim with this purchase was mainly focused on LATENCY. I've streamlined my home setup (kids will do that) so that I'm basically doing everything with VSTs/virtual instruments now. That means I need the lowest latency I can get to get a natural feel when tracking.Prior to this Zoom I was using an aging Mbox 2 with Pro Tools 11. I have since (finally) left the Pro Tools camp after over 15 years of far too many upgrades/crossgrades and over-charged nonsense. I have only recently begun to use Presonus Studio One. Running my Mbox 2 through Studio One would cap at a buffer of 128/44k and anything lower would seriously distort the signal. Some research showed that this is a known issue with the Mbox 2 on Windows 10 64. With that buffer setting I was getting noticeable latency. Presonus was reporting something like 10ms input and 10ms output. I've read that still wouldn't be the true real-time latency (RTL) number that ultimately matters (it would be higher) so that wasn't good at all. Especially since I couldn't get the buffer down any lower. After countless hours of research, mostly on Gearslutz and DAW Bench, it seemed that I either needed to drop serious money on an RME device or wait until the situation gets better with all the other brands. Well, I got kids...and RME wasn't going to fly with the wife. So that left me kind of stuck...I could get a firewire card and try out the Focusrite Saffire Pro series but I didn't feel like adding more PCI cards to my setup and some reviews were mixed on it. What was key in my research was this...it's not so much the interface hardware as much as the DRIVERS that matter. Apparently there are very few interface makers that actually develop their own drivers. RME, of course, is one of them and that's why they are always at the top of the list of low-latency interfaces. Most use the same generic driver that may or may not be fully optimized for the interface. So on one of my research binges I noticed some forum posters on Gearslutz mentioning ZOOM this and ZOOM that. Now, I'm primarily a guitar player and I had heard of Zoom before from way back in the day and my initial impression back then was basically that they were the Walmart of guitar products. Cheap, made-in-China, knockoff and low quality stuff that I would NEVER put on my pedal board. So as I'm reading some users raving on the quality and most importantly, the low latency of the UAC-2, I was skeptical. There were even some comments about Zoom supposedly contracting a company solely for the purpose of developing their own drivers for this product and the theory being that THAT is why the latency was so good on this device. That's how I ended up here. For $250 (vs. $750 for the RME Babyface Pro) it was a no brainer to check this one out. I'm very glad I did. I'm getting incredible latency numbers being reported by Presonus and most importantly, I can't detect any delay when I'm tracking guitar loaded with amp sims and effects or synth VSTs. It's amazing. Presonus is reporting something around 1.54 input latency and 4.04 output latency with a 64 buffer at 44k.. And again, yes I know that is not the true RTL number, but it sure is better than what my mbox was able to achieve and it's noticeable to my ears and playing.Lastly, the install was ultra smooth. I did not experience any issues installing the latest drivers or setting it up in Presonus Studio One. To summarize, if latency matters to the kind of work you're doing with your DAW, it's hard to beat the value this unit represents. FIVE stars.

I bought this to record guitar with garageband. The previous solution i was using had a continuous hum when I connected the guitar. More annoying was the noticeable delay between playing and hearing it back through the computer. With the Zoom UAC-2 I don't have any static noise at all and zero delay while playing. I definitely recommend it.

Terrible headphones sound. Everything else is fantastic. No latency. I'd read that reviews about the headphones. I knew I didn't need the headphones for my live application. Awesome product.

I was excited to get this product because of the USB 3.0 port, 192 kHZ sampling rate, etc. Unfortunately, my PC (Windows 7 64 bit) couldn't recognize the device because the drivers couldn't install successfully. After communicating with Zoom through a chain of emails troubleshooting the problem - testing out other USB ports, uninstalling and then installing the driver, testing out the device on another computer, etc., eventually Zoom informed me that it was a known issue that occurs with Windows.The next day, I was provided a PDF with three ways to fix the issue, the issue being that I needed to disable digital driver signing:1) Every time I restart my computer I need to disable driver signature enforcement in the advanced boot options2) Disable integrity checks in command prompt and turn on test signing3) Enable "ignore" for code signing for device drivers from the local groups policy editorOptions 2 and 3 didn't work even though I followed the instructions verbatim. I didn't want to deal with the hassle of Option 1, I was also just frustrated at this point and not very hopeful, and I had to look up ways to reverse what I had just done.However, to be fair, when I tested out the device on my brother's laptop (Windows 10 64 bit) it installed instantly, and control panel recognized the device. Also, Zoom's tech support was responsive, which I appreciated. Nonetheless, I spent hours just trying to get my computer to recognize the device. I had read negative reviews about this subject, but I figured an issue as big as this would probably be fixed by the end of June. Lesson learned. Don't assume!!

Bought the UAC-2 11 months ago. Beautiful sound, great latency, whisper quiet.6 months ago the channel 2 gain control started randomly changing levels and became unresponsive to any front panel knob adjustment -- the gain would just max out and sit there. The only way to adjust it was using the mixfx software but it would not keep the adjustment. Then, last month the exact same thing happened to gain control on channel 1. It's now unusable in any way.Which is terrible because it sounded so, so good on my system.