Focusrite VRM Box

Product of the month!!!!!

Overview


With 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.


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.



VRM
Virtual Reference Monitoring

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 and listening environments. 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 and the way they are calculated and manipulated.


Professional Studio


Living Room


Bedroom


Key Features


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 and through different speakers, 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
VRM Box includes D/A conversion with a dynamic range of 108dB, delivering 105dB at the headphone output – significantly better than most laptop headphone outputs, which seldom exceed 93dB.


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

Specifications

Headphone Outputs (Outputs 1-2)
·      Output impedance: < 10 Ω
·      Power output into 150Ω: 15mW
·      Power output into 50Ω: 30mW
·      THD+N: -100dB (0.001%) (-1dBFS input, 20Hz/22kHz bandpass filter, 150Ω 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 

£79.99