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Thunderbolt: The ultimate in high-speed connectivity
More than twice as fast as USB 3.0—not to mention twenty times faster than USB 2.0 and twelve times faster than Firewire 800—Thunderbolt is the interconnection technology of the future. Co-developed by Apple and Intel Labs, it allows signal to be transferred at an incredibly fast 10 gigabits per second, which means virtually no latency. Thunderbolt interfaces such as the TAC-2 are also unaffected by computer jitter (slight variations in timing), so there's no need to connect an external master clock source.
In addition, Thunderbolt carries 10 watts/18 volts of power (as compared to the 2.5 watts/ 5 volts carried by USB 2.0)—enough to provide stable phantom power. This also allows the use of high-end components such as the Burr Brown PCM4202 analog-to-digital converter and AKM AK4396 digital-to-analog converter in the TAC-2.
The TAC-2 performs 4-times upsampling during both analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion. In other words, when the sampling frequency is set to 44.1kHz or 48kHz, the TAC-2 processes the signal at high resolution 176.4kHz or 192kHz. For A/D conversion, this means less aliasing noise; for D/A conversion, this means increased clarity and fidelity.
The Ins and Outs
The Thunderbolt port on the rear panel carries digital signal to and from your computer as well as carrying power to the TAC-2. Two combo XLR/TRS inputs are provided for the connection of mic- and line-level signals, and there's a handy Hi-Z (high impedance) unbalanced input on the front panel for direct connection of passive electric guitars and basses using a standard 1/4" guitar cable. The TAC-2 also offers two balanced TRS output jacks which allow you to connect the TAC-2 to your monitors, as well as a dedicated 1/4" stereo headphone jack. All TAC-2 audio jacks use the industry standard Pin 2 hot on XLR connectors and Tip hot on TRS connectors.
The TAC-2's single rotary control knob is used to set input, output, and headphone levels and to provide +48 volts of phantom power to the selected input, allowing you to use the TAC-2 with any kind of microphone, from low-cost dynamics to expensive studio-quality condensers. Seven-segment LEDs show continuous signal strength as well as input/output overload clipping.
Zoom TAC-2 MixEfx
TAC-2 MixEfx is a free Macintosh application designed specially for the TAC-2. With TAC-2 MixEfx, you can set mix parameters and add high-quality effects such as reverb and echo. Other features include a low cut filter, phase reverse, and AUTO GAIN control for each input. There's also a LOOPBACK function that allows you to blend the input signal and playback signal for ultra-low latency. TAC-2 MixEfx has three memory slots for saving user settings with quick recall.
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