Zoom UAC-232 - 32 Bit float - USB Audio Interface - Review

In this video I test the UAC-232 from Zoom which is one of the first 32-bit float recording interfaces that uses a dual ADC input which virtually eliminates the possibility of clipping a recording.
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Sweetwater US | Zoom UAC-232: sweetwater.sjv.io/DKAj4d *
Amazon US | Zoom UAC-232: amzn.to/3LAfl8A *
Thomann EU | Zoom UAC-232: www.thomann.de/de/zoom_uac_23... *
Audio recorders with dual ADC technology:
Thomann EU | Zoom F3: www.thomann.de/de/zoom_f3.htm... *
Amazon US | Zoom F3: amzn.to/419IlJE *
Amazon US | Zoom F6: amzn.to/3L0NZYT *
00:00 Intro
00:46 Hardware Overview
03:14 Internals
04:11 Mic Input Performance
06:14 Downsides of dual ADCs
07:20 Benefit of 32 Bit float
08:19 32 Bit float issues
10:10 Feature I would like to see
10:57 Mic Preamp Performance
12:45 Line Input Performance
13:21 Main Output Performance
14:09 HP Output Performance
15:22 Software Overview
16:57 Round Trip Latency
17:24 Verdict
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[@jaffasplaffa1]

I am here for the hedgehog joke ;)

[@aptudo]

I know how to set levels, but this is objectively better. Audio is unpredictable. People make mistakes. This solves both problems. If you're a musician, just have this thing recording every time you sit down to practice or jam. You might capture some magic and the levels will be fine no matter what.

[@_BangDroid_]

Unless it's not set up correctly, like one of those people mistakes you mentioned

[@pirojfmifhghek566]

Exactly, it's a HUGE quality of life improvement. I also noticed that using this changes how I use a lot of my microphones. It's no longer about which mics capture the most information within that narrow decibel band during recording. It's about the tone quality that I get _after_ I adjust the levels and compress it. Some passive dynamic mics are able to give me much more detail and fuller sound than my condenser mics in post. Also, no longer needing _extra_ preamps on things like ribbon mics is a huge win in the battle against the noise floor. Biggest drawback, though... you gotta be really on top of your room treatment. You're also gonna become keenly aware of the inherent noise in your setup.

[@shawnmarko7131]

Exactly! My Dixieland band recordings all saturated and horrible lol. Can't wait to not be pissing with levels!!

[@shawnmarko7131]

So happy I liked my own comment

[@dmc3489]

Love the segue at 3:14! Perfectly delivered. Great work...

[@tporter23]

I’m still laughing over that

[@LinleyZA]

Lol perfection😊

[@reverb.deluxe]

Terrific video, Julian! So 32-bit float audio with two ADC's is somewhat analogous to High Dynamic Range technology in cameras, where two images are taken at two different sensitivities in order to capture detail in both bright clouds and dark shadows. The end goal with both technologies is to capture the dynamic range of the real world without clipping and then eventually compress the information into smaller range for playback: 1.6 billion nits for the sun compressed down to 2,000 nits of brightness on your iPhone screen; or 190 db of sound compressed down to a CD-quality stream for your earbuds.

[@ajiraditya]

Excited everytime you post. Thank you Julian.

[@SoMyungJung]

It's been a long time! So great to watch your contents. Awesome video as always \m/

[@abnorth2276]

Always happy to see that you have uploaded a video. I really enjoy your reviews Julian. Awesome as always.

[@erwickdsouza]

ANother outstanding review. Thanks Julian!

[@MartinLeschinski]

Danke für die Vorstellung! Das ist echt spannend

[@CulturadelWhisky]

You have an amazing channel Julian. As an engineer in electronics, it is refreshing to find a technical channel like yours, among many KZbin channels of "producers" who it is pretty obvious that do not have a proper degree to talk about technical subjects such as digital analog conversion, component specifications and performance measurements. It would be great if you could get an Apogee Duet 3 in your hands to see your interesting analysis. Cheers

[@ProdDJD]

Whether they have a "proper degree" or not isn't as important as whether they know what they're talking about or not 🤔

[@pandamiata]

Nice review. Thank you for always include hp output in the review 👍🏼

[@emorcen]

Thanks for the amazing review as always Julian! Hope to see you eventually get your hands on the new Boss Gigcaster digital mixer / interface to see if they are any good!

[@holgieselchen7033]

Top brauchbare Informationen, danke Julian ☺

[@mickymack1230]

Excellent Video review .My default Audio reviewer, top delivery.

[@jamespowers8826]

This! I'm hooked on Zoom's 32 bit recorders. Been waiting for someone to incorporate it in an interface.

[@ridingdriving]

thumbs up, incredible detail overview

[@metalheads-golf]

I will be recording a lot of guitar soon and was looking for a new audio interface. This info was great and it makes it to my shortlist. Coolio. 🤘🏻😎🤘🏻

[@dragonstone6594]

Most excellent review! Been waiting for it and you did not disappoint! Next up, can you please review the SoundDevices MixPre 3 II? Which also has ASIO drivers. Thanks!! You're the best!

[@artysanmobile]

Big props for the belt loop design.

[@givemeajackson]

that is pretty badass! as a guitarist, there are so many smaller interfaces that just cannot handle really high output pickups, even if you set the input gain to minimum. so you'd need to mess with DI boxes or find an interface with a pad switch. this seems like a really good interface overall, especially at the price. 5ms-ish RTL is acceptable to me.

[@AugmentedNick]

Bro.. I tried everything I could but the sound is flickering everytime I open KZbin to play a backing track.. or if I start guitar pro.. I think it is not taking input from multiple sources ( as in guitar and KZbin/ Guitar Pro.. Please help - here's the video to show what the problem is kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnqwkmeJebqgmtk

[@ivanfaigenbom5300]

excellent as always!

[@delicrux]

wow fantastic review

[@Blewis-Diarrheo]

Great video as usual. Of course I pulled up the manual while I was watching, and the inputs can take +24dBu. Although that's enough headroom for almost everybody, I will attest to once getting a signal that hot, when I streamed a music festival on the island of Sardinia in 2019.

[@artysanmobile]

From what source?

[@joesalyers]

On MacOS Core audio supports 32 bit float and even Apple's own ARM based laptops have a 32 float converter for the internal microphone for Macbooks. Even though MacOS supports 32bit float recording though out the OS but there are certain applications do not. Logic Pro and Mainstage does not yet support recording or inputing 32 bit floating point audio only 20 and 24 bits. But Reaper, and Pro Tools do support it already. As well as MacOS's screen capture software and Quciktime recording does support it. I think this years OS update will have full 32 bit compatibility across all Apple made Mac Apps that support audio recording. The Logic/Garageband/Mainstage team have said 32bit float recording will come before the end of the year to those app and it will probably come to final cut very soon after that! Cheers Julian always great work!!

[@GeekTherapyRadio]

I have a Zoom M4 that records in 32 bit float and has a USB interface mode with 48K/32-Bit Float. However, in Reaper on Windows, it is an unusable nightmare currently. I'd like to blame Windows...but I have a feeling it is simply the firmware itself within the M4. I'll try with my M1 Mac and edit this comment soon with the results.... EDIT: Seemed to work just fine on my M1, make sure to go into Project Settings and under "Media" make sure WAV is set to 32 Bit FP. Still no luck on my Windows Laptop. Could just be my very new laptop is waiting for more updates (2023 Gigabyte Aorus 17H) EDIT2: Zoom M4 48K/32-Bit Float works flawlessly in my Windows 10, Ryzen 3900X, RTX 3090 desktop PC in Reaper. My laptop must be so new that it needs more updates.

[@joesalyers]

@@GeekTherapyRadio It might be the CPU if its AMD, maybe look to see if there is a Firmware update for your CPU. I know AMD Ryzen is notorious for audio issues and its such a shame since they are super good cpus. I know my Antelope audio interfaces have 32 fixed point converters that work at 32 bits on MacOS but on my Windows and Linux laptops it only will show 24 bits unless I use a usb 3.1 port or higher so maybe try your other USB ports.

[@GeekTherapyRadio]

@Music Factory Studios Awesome suggestions. Laptop in question is a 13700H Core i7. Latest. It has trouble with every interface I've used. I'm chalking it up to the chipset needing updates. My AMD 3900X CPU works flawlessly with my interfaces, including 32 Bit Float from my Zoom M4. But it's a mature platform. Hopefully Gigabyte will role out chipset updates for the Aorus 17H. It's still a bit buggy.

[@royw9196]

32 bit fp con't work on my windows 11 too.sad...even i setup ASIO.

[@Sarsour_]

Very good content!

[@Markste-in]

As mentioned in the video oc it can still clip... people should not forget that 32 bit float is just a "storage format". Everything before that is still hardware and has a physical limit. Starting from the microphone that has a maximum peak pressure all the way down to the ADC that has a maximum voltage input

[@artysanmobile]

The design for FS= +24dBU at the input connector makes that, if not impossible, at least practically so. Power supply voltage is the limiting factor. Sources would need a 40+VDC power supply, almost unheard of today. The key is that any conceivable operating scenario will be physically unable to reach that voltage, hence no input gains.

[@jtsotherone]

@@artysanmobile the maximum output of a good few recording consoles running on +/-18v is +26dBu

[@mjodr]

@@artysanmobile It seems like you are putting artificial limits on what you think is possible. Having designed and built amplifiers I feel like I could overload any input easily. Also, the PSU voltage doesn't have much to do with what the output voltage is capable of. The circuit can always multiply voltage above whatever the PSU voltage is. And why do you think 40V DC is some kind of limit? What if I hooked my vacuum tube amplifier up to the input of this audio interface? It has a PSU voltage of over 800V DC! lol

[@jas_bataille]

Yes obviously, but in practice, it's almost impossible to ever reach those. For example, the average maximum peak pressure of a condenser is around 130dBs SPL, which is the sound of a shotgun at 3 feet (yeah I know, this isn't a very scientific thing but that's the best we got lol).

[@jas_bataille]

@@mjodr ...No one is saying that it's impossible period. We are saying : unless you specifically wanted to, used a variAC to drive whatever you're gonna input above limit, or made whatever you're gonna input clip by default otherwise, it's not gonna happen unless you want it too. I mean, statistically, the possibility to clip if you don't want it tom is so low, that it's virtually impossible. No one is saying that this is impossible in the absolute. If you want to set the thing on fire... you can

[@gpag12]

Hey Julian, I would love to see you do a video on the Zoom F3. While I know it is similar to the UAC-232 and likely uses the same ADC schematic, it includes for example, a 24-bit MME driver mode for plug and play interface capability, which you asked them for in this video. Thanks as always!

[@insulatedworld]

nothing beats proper gain staging and understanding the basics.

[@coin777]

Except 32 bit float interface

[@_BangDroid_]

@@coin777 How would 32 bit float have improved the greatest recordings from the last 30-40 years?

[@tonn333]

@@_BangDroid_ potentially by leaving more usable source material?

[@b-b0t]

love the metric system shoutout

[@DNGMaestro]

Julian Krause is my favorite robot in youtube.

[@pauls3993]

I've been using 64bit FP for the past 10+ years in Cakewalk with an internal PCI card, so this is definitely great news for the interface market.

[@DiogoCocharro]

Great review! Thanks 🙏 Please, one day can you do a review of a high end UAD and RME. 😅

[@HalfPopcorn]

I Think it you be a great video if you made a top 10 list of the audio interfaces you reviewed so far!

[@AllenCavedo]

Nice review. You did make me laugh about not letting the 32 bit magic out.

[@cmd_f5]

I think the biggest thing for this interface is super hot active guitar pickups or active bass preamps. No internal clip and just setting the input properly in the app, I'll be good to go. The Focusrite 2I2 second gen can't handle hot pups without mild to moderate cliping. I generally don't care as I play metal, high gain ampsims, but it does effect cleans and edge of breakup tones. Excellent video.

[@ObscureMics]

The "not going to open it" transition LOL. JK is on 🔥

[@banterbanter]

Thank you

[@LegendaryMike]

I appreciate your dry humor

[@jj4l]

FL Studio can record 32 bit float into Edison and into the Playlist. I believe this is ASIO or CoreAudio only as these are low latency drivers, MME (used to be 16bit until Windows 2000 or something ) and other internal cheap stock soundcard solutions will typically be 24/32bit either depending on the source and can be weird sometimes not allow the passing of data samples as processed from the bus (USB port) but instead as CAPTURED (via the driver). Make sure your drivers are 32bit float and updated, as well as your recording software. p.s. apple users, I think Logic is 16bit until you hit 24bit BWF recording etc, I have no idea if 32 bit is a thing or is planned. I rarely use Logic other than for mixing.

[@alejandrosm8955]

Great video as always!!, a year ago you made a video about how to plug your headphones to your interface so I followed the instructions and it works perfect but you never showed how to unplug.

[@EasyHeat]

For hi-z direct guitar this is important. Early entry level interfaces drastically lacked the dynamic headroom for things like active pickups. I've recently been using a Vox ValveEnergy "Nu-tube" pedal as a (clean-ish) preamp into digital amp sims. IMO it "feels" more authentic and makes using analog pedals direct noticeably more convincing.

[@Doug-Didgiridoo]

That is the best imperial measurements rip I have ever heard.

[@momosbreath9713]

This is the way!

[@jordimoraguesmassanet1179]

The old Balance audio interface from Propellerheads had a Clip Safe mode that used both AD converters to record a mono signal with extended headroom.

[@PaulLembo]

I had one. it was great. I lost it in a move.

[@wightwulf]

Thank you for the review! I appreciate the part about 32 bit float compatibility with different capture programs such as OBS. Do you think you could try the obs-asio plugin with OBS to see if that fixes the issue?

[@MikeO01]

Hi Julian, great infos. What I didn’t find anywhere on the web, is comparing the F3 to the UAC-232. As the F3 can be used as an interface too. And is it practicable to use either with an iPad (with usb c) and do you get 32bit in the iPad? Thank you.

[@user-rl6xw8wl5l]

Thank you for making a good video. I'm thinking about using UAC-232 as a portable audio interface. If bus power is possible, it is attractive that 32-bit recording is possible just by connecting to a MacBook. (Although F3 alone can solve the problem, I think it can be used as an audio interface that supports balance output.)

[@jasonscoggins01]

Ty

[@jahstafari4606]

3:54 supernice 4:36 even supernicer ....tnx Julian always good info from you

[@thomaspaul311]

I have checked. Amazon US does carry the Zoom USC-232. It is $199 and in stock at this moment.

[@summarity]

10:22 yes! especially since the F3 has this feature for the monitor out

[@teedybear391]

Excellent video 👍 also would like to know if the antipope zen go has the same ad/da converters as the zen tour? Thanks a lot

[@666tonsofsquirrels]

Love the little jokes 😂 Excellent video 💪

[@aymanabboud5253]

Nice . Thanks a lot ... What is the programme you use for vocals editting

[@exdafrianz3939]

15:47 is it digital gain? or does the software controls preamp gain on the interface?

[@techmed-rainer]

Danke!

[@JulianKrause]

Immer wieder gerne, danke auch für den kontinuierlichen Support!!!

[@techmed-rainer]

@@JulianKrause Sehr gerne!

[@truecrimereaction]

when i record radio ads at the radio station the 'lawo ruby' listens for the first ten seconds and sets the perfect volume for my voice or anyones voice.

[@byronabadia]

Nice. 👌 👌

[@dare2liv_nlove]

As usual, came just for dat JulianK smoooth voice & jokes, eventhough i'm not interested in any of these new interfaces (happy with my Motu M2)! 😁

[@sonidojamon]

I have my eyes set on the 8 channel rack-mountable version Zoom will release later this year! (UAC-832). Looks like Zoom are taking notes on UAC-232's users feedback to improve the tech and features. They should hire you for their Consulting Team 😂

[@avocadochoe]

Is there any details on whether they'll have expandable inputs and outputs? I would also like the 8 channel rack version of this!

[@sonidojamon]

@@avocadochoe They have a Clock Source selector (with "ADAT" being one on the options) on the front panel picture/3D mockup on their website, so I'm guessing yes!! I think it's still in development, cause I haven't found anything anywhere else.

[@avocadochoe]

@@sonidojamon Oh my I am very excited for this! Hope they flush out some of the minor down sides mentioned in the video before the launch and I'd be sold! Should make an excellent home recording environment.

[@synclavier5405]

Sadly, Zoom have recently announced the discontinuation of UAC-832 development due to cost issues. A real shame

[@transunicorn]

Hi! Is it better this one than the Scarlet Focusrite? I can see the price is 200 euros which is more than Focusrite that cost a bit less.

[@bugracelayir]

These things leave a lot of work to the engineer... :)

[@michaelscott9266]

Thanks for the video. Can you do a review of the Zoom F3

[@VideoArchiveGuy]

The UAC-232 owner's manual actually explicitly states that they use two DACs, one low sensitivity and one high sensitivity and blends the two on pages seven and eight. zoomcorp.com/media/documents/E_UAC-232_.pdf

[@MikeO01]

Hello Julian, after further research ... can the UAC-232 Mix Control App record 32bit to an iPhone or iPad, as the Zoom specs say: Record and stream in 24-bit with iOS devices using Apps such as Garage Band, KZbin, and instagram. Thank you.

[@robertobarboni3492]

Hi Julian, comparing Zoom UAC-232 with Focusrite Clarett 2Pre USB. How it was the better interface? ( I have a condenser mic and SMB7, using CUBASE for windows ) Please could you give your opinion?

[@philipp594]

Could you test cardiod / hypercardiod small diaphram condensors for video conferencing setups?

[@_Thumbnail_]

@Julian Krause I wonder if parallel AD stages may affect signal phase. Would your test setup detect an (ever so slight) phase delay caused while switching gain stages? Think of MS microphony or mono compatibilty of XY recordings.

[@HolarMusic]

I doubt there would be any phase problems as the analog pre-amp shouldn't cause any (at the scale of our audio sample-rates) delay. Moreover, both stages are handled by the same ADC

[@williamevans9426]

The rubber buffers/rollers should have been no surprise - the unit is called 'Zoom' so could be expected to roam around one's desk!

[@dare2liv_nlove]

Good one! 😂

[@asmr6773]

CAN YOU PLEASE SUGGEST a DAW to pair with the Zoom uac 232 (Windows)

[@NORRATHBEAST]

Hi Julian, what do we have to do to get you to review the new Neumann mt 48?

[@alain-roger]

Hi Julian, have you already tested the Presonus 68c audio interface ? DO you have any result comparing to other audio interfaces ? Thx for sharing them if so.

[@zuminlair92cp]

9:05 FL Studio do support 32-bit float with it own FL ASIO netually. Also, FL Studio has all mixer channel simulate at 32-bit float

[@ahimsastudio6763]

If any of you guys have bought it, please review the headphone amp sound characteristic compared to any of your older audio interface and other devices.

[@ronmaison8690]

Excellent video.Can you please test the Motu m6 against mk5 , thanks.

[@sireveman]

This is awesome and would be an instant buy if it supported Linux.

[@alvesdeejay]

Hi julian what do you think about fluid audio sri2?

[@drfleka]

Rode implemented that kind of limiter for stopping the clipping in recordings when you are too loud.

[@robertfontaine3650]

Sweet

[@bluesjeon]

How can it be compared with zoom f6? zoom f6 has more versitile audio interface or field recorder but there is no audio latency information..In m1 macbook air and m1 mac mini logic pro the least i/o buffer size ,32 the RTL is 7.8 ...

[@zimbot_KWB]

Good grief, I'm still using Cool Edit Pro 2.1 from around the early 2000's, and I do everything in it using 32bit floating point format. Of course, CEP was way ahead of its time, and IMHO much better than what Adobe replaced it with (Adobe Audition), but it wasn't really set up to support the more modern workflows that have evolved since, especially when they rely on GPU's. And no other ADC has yet output 32bit floating point for recording, but I would record from any normal 24bit ADC as 32bit float in CEP (and of course, you have to set the levels to avoid clipping, but with 24bits that isn't hard to do). But I'm astonished to hear that people are still using software that cannot record in 32bit floating point format! I mean, really, I've was doing it 20 years ago with CEP!

[@MisterGribbles]

cool edit pro, now thats a name i havent heard in a very long time.

[@PaulLembo]

Cool Edit! I still miss it.

[@nachoseret5480]

Would love a review of the Merging Anubis, or Neumann MT-48 since they are essentially the same

[@jorcis67]

Thanks so much for your great reviews. I wonder if you have heard about iConnectivity AUDIO4c due to its capability of being shared simultaneously by 2 different devices. Would love to see a technical review from you. Cheers! ✌

[@tonn333]

I also would like to see that!

[@juancisneros725]

Can you review the new Newman MT 48 interface? It has a very similar dynamic range, so it would be very interesting to see the similarities and differences given the huge dynamic range of the UAC-232.

[@GeekTherapyRadio]

32-Bit Float is miraculous for ribbon mics (or any low output source...or high output for that matter). No need for inline gain boosters that potentially add noise. I just recorded my cheap MXL R144 with the Zoom M4 for this video, if anyone is curious. No Cloudlifter. Just straight into the M4 kzbin.info/www/bejne/p166dGVro9RghcU

[@MikeO01]

Hi Julian, you have great comparison graphs e.g. for “noise floors” of different preamps, but how are they measured…. with the same gain, or its maximum. Like, would a preamp connected to a gain hungry mic, requiring a maxed out gain setting with low noise floor (SOLID STATE LOGIC SSL 2) be better than a preamp (ELGATO WAVE XLR or F3) with higher max gain, needing less gain for the same mic, but having a higher noise floor according to your graphs? Thanks for clarifying.

[@PileOfEmptyTapes]

Depends. If you're a streamer who needs a ready-to-use signal out of the box, you would likely prefer higher gain. When recording, applying digital gain after the fact is trivial. (A number of interfaces are actually doing just that internally to extend the gain range of their input amps.)

[@bluesjeon]

17:05 Hello, I have Zoom F6 32bit floating usb audio interface or field recorder but consider if i should change it to UAC-232. .. Please let me know your pc specification like cpu, ram , nvme, os, daw version and model number, so that I can check the comparison of RTL latency between F6 and your UAC-232

[@Antitrump7431]

Where do i connect a headphones amp on the Zoom?

[@plusone.network]

Single handedly saved the music hardware part of the feed from another MPC X LE video lol Question/Concern: "Everyone's" argument usually goes something like "32 bit is unnecessary, cant reasonably capture or perceive that range, the file size!" & some other Hot takes... Answer: "Cool, don't use it then... 😆" Seems to be good for non-Audio Engineers, especially those with a noisy home studio or those who record out and about with mobile setups (outdoors or even all types on non treated rooms ie hotels & so on) Of course the mic/outboard preamp situation is a big factor but simply capturing everything after that fact enables ONE to do the rest in the box without jumping through a labyrinth of hoops Another interesting product is the Rode NT1-A 5th Gen USB/XLR mic. The catch is that the 32-bit float recording is built into the mic and is only possible when using the USB port. XLR is only 24 bit. Regardless would be interesting to see a side by side with that mic on USB (32-bit float) and then running through the 232 via XLR at 24 bit 🤔

[@tonn333]

What a great idea for a comparison... but why did you put it at the end where not many will see it 😂

[@plusone.network]

@@tonn333 🤦‍♂

[@mathiase.7096]

Are the Line-Outputs balanced ones?

[@skorpers]

Are there any preamps that are "quieter" than the Air 192|4? Seems that one has been on the top of your charts for years now.

[@felixneun]

Can you review the Neumann MT48 pls ?

[@ahfimiwonawun]

3:08 Dude is absolutely hilarious! 😂🤣

[@fabianrr]

👏

[@Lu_Woods]

Just saw the UAC-832 development was discontinued in November. That would've been cool.

[@PaulPaul-vj2vx]

Can you do a comparison to the zoom F6 and zoom F8npro … noisewise (not functional wise - there differences are clear) …. Love your channel!

[@lwrncl8329]

are you ever gonna review the apollo twin x?

[@jazzlehazzle]

Also 32b-fl requires your DAW (or any audio software) be capable of handling 32bit data, which apparently OBS & Discord (& likely many other apps) are not, so they still clip.

[@KlausKusserow-ClassicalGuitar]

09:00 Apple is always a bit late, but "we" (Macies) have 32bit float in Logic now🙂

[@awonglk]

Steinberg UR22 is also suppose to be 32-bit device and that was launched a few years ago.. but it has dynamic range of a 24-bit? What's happening there? Lack of dual ADC?

[@erinburke9711]

Why are people reading "32-bit" and "32-bit float" as being the same thing? There's another word in there, ya see?