Solid unit

Interms of build quality,it is perfect and works well with field usage. I own rme babyface as well. It's great but as build quality goes - usbpre2 has an edge. Though rme babyface has a bit more musical than this, this also sounds good. You won't regret getting this.

Buy It.

I cannot stress enough the improvement this device will make to your desktop both for recording and general music playback enjoyment. I have mine connected to a vinyl record player, a dedicated mic preamp (Grace M-101), and my powered monitors. Anything sounds great through this. The USBPre2 is incredibly user-friendly and extremely rugged in its design. The dip switches on the back provide amazing functionality. If you don't need more than 2 XLR / Line inputs, this is it.

Killer Mobile Unit

After having a friend show me and let me listen to the quality of his SD 702 recorder, I was blown away with the sound quality. Since I already have plenty of "bit buckets" (Korg MR-1000, MR-1, MicroTrackII, etc.), I didn't need the recording interface. However, I was intrigued by the quality of the preamps and the conversion.

My normal on-location classical rig consists of multiple banks of True Systems P-8 preamps, Dangerous Audio Summing, RME FF800s and a computer. For small recordings, it's a pain to lug out all of this (600lbs) of gear. I'd been looking for something that would do a great job on a very portable size and the Sound Devices stuff seemed to be a good fit.

I ordered the USBPre2 after chatting with the guys at Sweetwater and at Sound Devices and being assured that the preamps and converters were just as good as the 700 series (same pres and converters apparently). I ran the USBPre2 in stand alone mode (not hooked up to a computer) using a Zagg Sparq 2 to power it (which, BTW, will power this unit for over 10 hours) and fed a Royer SF12 into it with the outputs going to the Korg MR1000 at line level recorded into 2x DSD format.

The results were simply stunning! The sound was amazing. The pres matched great with my Royer - in fact, they paired beautifully. The recording is warm and full without the "roll-off" present from lower impedance preamps. There's a sense of space and depth that I get from my higher end pres - truly, there seems to be no compromise!

It's not the most "transparent" preamp, but it is a preamp that sounds delicious. I use it on orchestral material and haven't found it to be a hinderance at all!

Perhaps the best thing of all was that I was able to get the mic, cables, device, recording unit and stand all inside in one trip while hand carrying everything without even a hint of strain!

Short version of this story -
It sounds great
It's ultra-portable
It's built like a tank
It will let me live 20 years longer versus dragging around hundreds of pounds of gear!

Outstanding Customer Support

You probably won't have any issues with the new 2 but if you do the Sound Device tech support department is terrific! They're smart, helpful, and friendly. So what if they're Packer fans!

Great unit

The preamps sound fantastic.
Not needing any drivers or having to mess with control panels is a welcome plus.

USBPre 2

I just received this today and I have been very excited. Expectations have been met and then some. The clarity of this interface blows my old pci soundcard out of the water. I have been searching for years to replace my old gear and it finally paid off. Though this is a pricey unit, it is everybit quality defined. The dynamic range is incredible, paired with high quality XLR cables I can now listen to my music the way it was intended by the mixing engineer. Stereo separation is more defined and bass is more rich (although not colored). The process for updating firmware and ASIO driver were very easy. I look forward to years of enjoyment!

USBPre 2

I don't get a lot of five star pieces of equipment but this gets it hands down. I purchased it to record with my iPad. AKG C24, iPad with Multitrack DAW, and USBPre2 equals a cool little setup. It works great to mix through with my HD rig and really fun to check mixes with. It is a really nice piece of professional audio equipment. I was not disappointed in the least.

USBPRE 2

Just got mine from Sweetwater.
Works beautifully with my MacBook Pro as an audio interface. No drivers needed to install. Clean preamps, much better them my M-Audio and Zoom stuff a used... Gives you total control and connectability. Small, handy but very well built peace of professional equipment.
Love it!

Great sound, small, light weight

I purchased a USBPre2 for on-location recording when a simple 2-channel set up is all that's needed. I'm generally happy with the unit. It seems to be built well and the pre-amps and converters sound good. However it's not perfect. I use it with a current generation Mac PowerBook running Logic Pro.

I've had no problems with recording, although I do get occasional "clicks" using the USBPre2 as the output monitoring device during recording. I's annoying enough that I now use it as an input device only and use the computer's headphone output for monitoring. I've tried changing buffer settings and other suggestions from Sound Devices Support, but nothing has eliminated the occasional digital click.

Pros:
>Excellent level LED metering - very clear and visible
>Flexible configuration
>Fully USB powered - no external power supply needed
Good sounding pre-amps. Not as quiet as a Grace M 101, but will work with most low-output mics
>Decent sounding A/D converters although not as clean as the Apogee Ensemble ADCs
>Seemingly rugged construction
>Small
>Lightweight
>Cost effective

Cons:
>Playback through DAC generates occasional "clicks"
>No front panel phantom power switch
This is a major issue for me. I use the USBPre2 with some very expensive microphones and I always insist on removing phantom power from the mic inputs before connecting or disconnecting the mics.
Phantom power on the USBPre2 can only be switched via the two rows of DIP switches on the back panel under a rubber cover (which is very inconvenient). Before connecting or disconnecting my mics, I must shut down the whole USBPre2 by disconnecting the USB cable. Recconecting the USBPre2 usually means restarting LogicPro so the device is recognized, all in all a real pain.It would be much better if the device had a front panel phantom power switch.