Recording - October 2013 - 33

I have the touch
The touch panel of the Echo2 is designed
to respond differently than that of a conventional touchscreen device such as a smartphone or iPad; because one doesn’t normally want to be constantly changing settings, it’s set up to ignore momentary touches anywhere on the screen. To activate any
function, you have to lightly touch the panel
and hold your finger there for a half-second
or so; secondary functions are activated
with a long 2-second touch.
In particular, the level control strip takes
some getting used to; it ignores all touches
anywhere except right next to the highest
lit level LED, so an accidental touch doesn’t drop your output volume to near silence
or send it to ear-shattering levels. It seems
counterintuitive to have to practice using a
touchscreen, but once you get the hang of
the Echo2 you appreciate how it never
resets itself or does anything silly just
in the course of being handled.
The touch panel offers two input
select controls that cycle through linelevel, mic-level, and guitar; when a
cable is unplugged, the input automatically resets itself to line level for
safety’s sake, and any input selection
change resets the gain to 0 dB to prevent sudden level jumps or feedback.
A +48V button activates global phantom power for both inputs.
The six buttons below the Input
and Output level meters select what’s
being controlled by the Level touch
strip—Input 1 and Input 2 Gain,
Monitor Level, Main Output Level,
and Headphone Level. The sixth button mutes the Main Outputs but not
the Headphones. The bottom of the
Level control’s travel for each output
is a hard mute. Holding the
Headphone button for 2 seconds
switches between playing back its own
stereo signal, or mirroring the Main
Outputs.
Computer? What computer?
It’s tempting to think of the Echo2 as a
USB interface, since that’s its most obvious function, but Echo doesn’t describe it
as such; in fact, the description of computer use comes near the end of its manual. First and foremost, the Echo2 is a
high-quality dual mic preamp with instrument inputs, designed to travel anywhere.
As a mic preamp and instrument DI, the
Echo2 offers some pretty fearsome specs,
including a –129 dBu equivalent input
noise, 115 dBA dynamic range, and a frequency response that’s flat to within 0.1 dB
from 10 Hz to 20 kHz. There’s a whopping 63 dB of gain available on each
input, taking the Line inputs from 0 dB to
+63 dB, the Guitar inputs from +6 to +69
dB (with a 1 Megohm input impedance
that helped make my test guitars sound
great), and the Mic inputs from +12 to

+75 dB. Yes, you read that right... +75 dB,
with little or no audible increase in noise
floor until you get to the very highest gain
settings. While its 1.8 kilohm input impedance might not be ideal for some vintage
ribbon mics, there’s certainly no issue with
available gain for any source.
The Echo2 offers a handy feature
called EZ Trim. Hold either Input Gain
button for 2 seconds until it starts to flash,
then play or sing as loudly as you can for
up to 12 seconds; the Echo2 will set itself
so the loudest signal it heard in that 12
seconds equals 2 dB below clipping.
As a preamp or DI, the Echo2 doesn’t try
to add anything to your signal; it falls very
much into the straight-wire-with-gain camp,
and provides a clear, uncolored sound for
your DAW, PA, or effects rack. As a guaranteed clean signal source you can always
have with you, it’s an exceptional choice.

Okay, NOW add a computer
The Echo2 is class-compliant on Mac OS X
10.6.8 or better and comes up as an audio
interface without any downloads or installations; on Windows XP/Vista/7 (and presumably 8, although I didn’t test it) a downloadable installer provides ASIO 2.0 drivers and
a basic control panel to set buffer size.
The Monitor Volume control comes into
play here; Input signals can be passed
through to the Outputs at a level you
select, from unity gain down to muted.
Holding the Monitor button for 2 seconds
lets you switch between hearing a mono
mix of the two Inputs or hard-panned
monitoring, In1 to OutL and In2 to OutR.
When working with a DAW, the Echo2
appears as a 2-in/4-out device; the headphone output can mirror the mains or have
its own audio signal, letting you set up cue
mixes or a separate headphone monitor
mix if desired. It worked flawlessly with
every application I tried on my Mac OS X
(10.6.8 and 10.8.4) and Windows 7 test
machines, and frankly it sounded glorious.

In A/B tests with my AudioFire2 on one
of my test Macs, the Echo2 sounded at
least as clear and open as my previous
preferred standard listening interface, and
noticeably better in some cases. I forgot to
keep writing this review as I lost a fair number of hours just kicking back and listening
to my high-res music collection through the
Echo2 for sheer enjoyment.
Final thoughts, hopes and dreams
I’m not a huge fan of USB as an interface
protocol for audio interfaces, just because
USB tends to be shared with control surfaces
and external hard disks that can cause bandwidth issues if you’re not careful. That being
said, one can’t deny that in today’s world,
with FireWire going away and Thunderbolt
not yet really well-situated, USB is the only
practical choice for interfacing, and the
Echo2 can’t be faulted for going with ports
everyone has.
However, I do miss MIDI and
S/PDIF I/O. On the AudioFire2, this
was accomplished with a multipin
jack and a special cable ending in 5pin DIN and coaxial RCA jacks. On
the Echo2, even if there’s no room for
DIN jacks and a breakout cable is
impractical, a USB-A passthrough
port for an external MIDI control surface or interface would be a fantastic
addition to a near-perfect portable
music interface solution. I don’t know
how feasible it would be to add coaxial S/PDIF on RCA jacks or optical on
Toslink ports without compromising
the size and ruggedness of the box.
These minor gripes are my only
issues with one amazing little interface. If Echo should ever decide to
get completely out of the audio interface business, I will mourn; these
guys have always had a very special
take on combining compactness, flexibility,
and near-unparalleled audio quality, and
the Echo2 takes that recipe to a new level.
The Echo2’s price tag may seem stiff for
a 2-in/4-out box, until you realize that its
competition is not found among the wide
variety of affordable entry-level interfaces
on the market. It should properly be compared to the upscale interfaces with worldclass converters and onboard “smart” controls that are favored by discerning audio
users. With that in mind, we’re not talking
about a portable audio interface that costs
a lot more than the competition; we’re talking about one that costs significantly less.
The Echo2 is elegant in form and function, easy to set up and use, and sounds
exquisite. It should absolutely be on your
short list of candidates for a no-holdsbarred portable audio solution.
Price: $289
More from: Echo Digital Audio,
www.echoaudio.com
RECORDING October 2013

http://www.echoaudio.com

Recording - October 2013

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