Focusrite VRM Box Virtual Reference Monitoring Amp

Product Description

With the VRM Box, you can mix in your studio, wherever you are. Pocket sized and built to last, VRM Box places Focusrite's proven and patent-pending VRM -- Virtual Reference Monitoring -- technology in a robust, palm-sized audio interface.

Focusrite explains the useful VRM Box in this video:


VRM overcomes the major obstacle for mixing with headphones by giving you multiple perspectives on your mix, as if you were listening through speakers. Indeed, noise levels from mixing through speakers can make it impossible for most to mix at home, especially late at night; with VRM, you can mix any time, anywhere. Using any pair of monitoring headphones, VRM lets you choose your mixing environment from a living room, a bedroom studio, or a professional studio. You then simply choose from a list of industry-standard studio monitors and speakers.

VRM Box delivers audio quality worthy of your headphones. Boasting a dynamic range of 108dB, it provides a sound that's more precise, with lower distortion, than other low-cost audio interfaces, and far superior to built-in laptop headphone outputs.

VRM Box functions as a high-quality 24- bit/48kHz USB audio playback interface. So, whether you're mixing, creating music or simply listening to tracks, VRM Box is perfect. What's more, there's no need for a power supply or batteries, because it gets all the power it needs, with full audio quality, from your computer's USB port. VRM Box also features a digital (S/PDIF) input, which supports sample rates up to 192kHz. This allows you to run it in conjunction with your Pro Tools HD system, or any other interface with an S/PDIF output.

Mix in your studio, wherever you are

Focusrite's patent-pending and proven VRM - Virtual Reference Monitoring - technology, lets hear your mix in different environments, through different speakers and from different positions, just using headphones. Enhanced mathematical room models combine with speaker emulations, sampled using a unique dynamic convolution 'sampling' process.

Make the most of your headphones

With a dynamic range of 108dB (A-weighted), VRM Box provides a significant audio upgrade from low-grade laptop headphone outputs (which commonly only provide around 92 or 93dB), with an audio quality the equal of interfaces ten times its price.

Pocket sized and built to last

The compact size and robust build quality of VRM Box means it's ready to go anywhere, any time.

Pro Tools Native and HD friendly

VRM Box features a digital input, allowing you to run it alongside your Pro Tools HD interface, or any interface.

The Problem

VRM (Virtual Reference Monitoring) is Focusrite's own loudspeaker & room simulator designed for headphone listening. Accurate mixing has until now, required expensive monitors and a carefully designed and treated control room. Currently, both professional music producers facing budgetary limitations and project music makers without access to such, frequently encounter mixing and "auditioning" difficulties.

The Solution

VRM allows you to choose from 10 pairs of industry standard nearfield and main monitors in an acoustically treated control room.

Engineers routinely A/B their mixes by burning CDs and taking them into untreated rooms to reference on consumer stereos. VRM eliminates this process by simulating two extra rooms; a large living room and a smaller bedroom. You can choose between a range of speakers including quality hi-fi, computer, cheap stereo and television speakers.

The Method

VRM Box uses standard headphones to reproduce the direct sound, together with software running on your computer that is used to simulate specific monitoring scenarios. VRM's room models are mathematical models which provide greater flexibility in the possible combinations of loudspeakers. The loudspeaker simulations are created using convolutions of impulse responses measured using the original loudspeakers. The accuracy of these simulations in different environments is taken care of by the impulse responses themselves. zZounds is an authorized dealer of Focusrite products.

Specifications

- Headphone Outputs (Outputs 1-2)
- Output impedance: < 10 Ohms
- Power output into 150 Ohms: 15mW
- Power output into 50 Ohms: 30mW
- THD+N: -100dB (0.001%) (-1dBFS input, 20Hz/22kHz bandpass filter, 150 Ohms load)
- Signal to Noise Ratio: > 105dB

S/PDIF Digital Input
- Automatic Sample Rate conversion
- Supported sample rates: continuous from 32kHz to 192kHz
- THD+N: < -110dB any sample rate

Crosstalk (Channel Isolation)
- Any output to output: > 100dB

Digital Performance
- D/A Dynamic Range: 120dB (A-weighted)
- Measured D/A Dynamic Range: 108dB (A-weighted)
- Clock Source: Internal Clock only Clock jitter < 250 picoseconds
- Supported Sample Rates: 44.1kHz & 48kHz
- Input channels to computer: S/PDIF (stereo)
- Output channels from computer: Headphones (stereo)

Connectors and Controls
- Stereo S/PDIF input on RCA
- Stereo Headphone Output on 1/4" TRS
- Headphone Output Level control (analogue)
- 4-pin USB2.0 compatible socket

Indicators
- 1 Green LED Indicator:
- Flashing: Unit not installed correctly on host
- Off: VRM effects turned off
- On: VRM effects turned on

Power
- Bus power from USB bus

Operating System Requirements

Windows:
- XP (service pack 3), Vista, 7 (32 and 64-bit)

Mac:
- OS X 10.5 Leopard (Intel only), OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Weight and Dimensions

Dimensions
- Unboxed: 68mm x 25mm x 68mm (W x H x D)
- Boxed: 155mm x 210mm x 75mm (W x H x D)

Weights
- NetWeight: 123g
- Gross Weight: 380g

Dimensions and Weight in Packaging

Shipping Weight: 1 lbs

Shipping Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 3 in