ART USB MicroPre User Reviews at zZounds

"Totally worth buying!!" submitted June 6, 2006

By a customer from yahoo.com

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Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: hobbyist

Music Style: trance

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Sound: I'm basing this from comparing a CD to the same song on vinyl. I used BT's Flaming June for this comparision. The vinyl conversion was very good - the bass transferred over well as did the mid-tones, which is a HUGE plus in my book. The higher, more crisp sounds were a bit dulled compared to the CD, but that's to be expected since there is some sound loss in an analog-to-digital conversion. I gave this an 8 because the sound conversion was very good, but not CD-quality perfect. With some EQ tweaking using software, the sound could be rated as a 9 or 10. Feature: The unit has an input gain volume control, low cut filter, and USB power switch. Very simple and does the job. I like that ART didn't put EQ settings on this because it made the price less costly. Ease of Use: Turntable to the unit to the computer. Can't be any simpler! Quality: The container is stylist and sturdy. The USB power switch has a very cool blue LED. The input gain knob turns easily and is easy to control. Value: Superb bang for the buck value! I use this unit to convert my vinyl into mp3 files. I was debating on a mixer or this, but the analog to digital conversion was the main seller for me. The sound is great and it's simple to use. This is a great unit! Manufacturer Support: The company's website did not provide an easy way of navigating to information on this unit. The CD that came with it didn't have any clear indication that it wasn't a WinXP driver CD. The Wow Factor: Very nice design and the fact that you don't need an audio card to record vinyl is a very cool thing indeed! Overall: Given a mixer of this unit, I'd choose this unit. There is less sound distortion and this thing is just great.

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"Great product for simple LP Transfer too Computer, but NOT an "Audiophile" product" submitted August 27, 2006

By a customer from stevenworthington.com

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Musical Background: Amamteur Recording Engineer

Music Style: Jazz

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Sound: The quality of the phono pre-am, whilst not as bad as some I've seen, leaves much to be desired. I cetainly would not use it for any sort of lp transfer, if I was looking for a 'professional' result. the "noise" on the audio channels is considerable, and in comparison to my current phono pre-amp, totally unacceptable. In addition the resultant transfer is very harsh, and not as warm as I would like. Feature: From an ease of use, and functional point of view, it's a great little device, and I'll probably keep it (it's better than the internal sound card on my notebook). But it certainly is NOT an "audiophile" component as advertized. Ease of Use: Very Simple to set-up and use only takes minutes

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"Disappointed" submitted November 18, 2006

By a customer from msn.com

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Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

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The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Longtime experienced and knowledgable hobbyist

Music Style: Rock

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Sound: I don't know if I got a bad unit or what, but there are several blatant "dropouts" throughout every song I tranferred. Very annoying considering I'm tranferrring to an mp3 player which is meant to be listened to with earphones. You can hear every anoying dropout and distortion that this thing whips onto the tune. VERY BAD. I got better sound from the Numark USB Turntable, which I gave to a friend when I purchased this awful thing. Feature: Good features, no complaints. Ease of Use: Very simple to use especially with Audacity, no complaints. Quality: The thing is very nice to look at and its housing is very sturdy. Like I said above: I'm not sure if I got a bad one or not. If so, their quality control requires some work. Value: Considering the thing functions poorly and unsatisfactorally, I would say it was not a good value. Manufacturer Support: I have no intention of contacting their support. The Wow Factor: Listening to the playback with all the dropouts and wierd sounds it injects is just too annoying - I don't want it! Overall: This item is all show and no go - I thought that I had found my dream component and was disappointed. I guess I'll try out the new Terratec iVinyl and pay their hefty price - if I can find one.

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ART USB MicroPre Customer Review submitted March 20, 2006

By a customer from yahoo.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Active Musician

Music Style: Jazz, ragtime, classical

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Sound: Sound was good when unit was working correctly. Unfortunately, this device seems to be unstable. The peak LED flashes for no apparent reason when no input signal is present. Unit would also record noise from time to time when no input signal was present. Also, occasionally only one of the headphone (monitor) channels would work. Feature: This unit was a perfect match for what I wanted to used it for--namely dubbing records to CD. I can't think of any other features I would have wanted. Ease of Use: The device installed easily on my Mac G5. Audacity took a while to figure out, but wasn't too bad. I didn't have much luck with the noise reduction feature, though. Quality: The unit looks good. The controls seem to be solid and well made. On the other hand, the sporadic poor audio performance makes me question the quality control and/or the quality of the basic design. Value: This would be a good value if it only worked properly. Manufacturer Support: I couldn't get any help from the manufacturer. The vendor was helpful and cheerfully refunded my money when I returned the product. The Wow Factor: This would be a desireable product if it only worked properly. Overall: This is a very disapointing piece of equipment. It has all the features I want. It appears to come from a reputable manufacturer. Unfortunately, the unit I tried was not even usable.

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"Records and tape transfers busted" submitted January 4, 2008

By a customer from netzero.net

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Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Guitarist, Choir director, Tape recorder builder and owner of professional gear

Music Style: You name it; I like music anyway it comes...almost.

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Feature: Independent controls for left and right would have been a great help. The Wow Factor: It is difficult to determine whether this device merely increases the volume on phone input and chops the frequencies on all pass through signals or not. I no longer have the gear that does that. However, the sound does appear to be attenuated.

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ART USB Phono Plus Preamp

User Ratings

"Totally worth buying!!" submitted June 6, 2006

"Great product for simple LP Transfer too Computer, but NOT an "Audiophile" product" submitted August 27, 2006

"Disappointed" submitted November 18, 2006

ART USB MicroPre Customer Review submitted March 20, 2006

"Records and tape transfers busted" submitted January 4, 2008