At the 2009 Frankfurt Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany, TC Electronic announced BMC-2 ($695), a dedicated digital-to-analog converter and high quality monitor control. BMC-2 is a self-contained desktop unit that can be operated with or without a Mac or PC setup. The BMC-2 controls the listening level and can also switch between three digital input sources: S/PDIF, AES3, TOS and ADAT, and confirm whether inputs are synchronous. TC Electronic states that it will ship the BMC-2 in June 2009.
The BMC-2 is designed to offer predictable speaker and headphone control, and drives one set of analog speakers, one set of digital speakers and a set of headphones. Calibrated listening is available with both sets of speakers and the headphone output.
In addition to DAC and level control, BMC-2 puts user-definable reference levels at the user’s fingertips. Simply hit the REF button and BMC-2 will attenuate the output to a user-defined sound pressure level, so reference level monitoring is always just a button-press away.
BMC-2 precision re-clocks all inputs, and features high performance jitter rejection based on TC’s patented JET technology, which was originally developed for TC Electronic’s flagship System 6000. The BMC-2 promises jitter-free optical interfacing with corrected asymmetries.
Analog output offers wide dynamic range on XLR connectors. Peak level metering and Integrity Check (iCheck) is also available on the selected input. With iCheck, the BMC-2 provides a shortcut for revealing artifacts of data reduction by exposing spatially compromised signals.
BMC-2 is self-contained and works out of the box with no need for a computer. It works directly with all new Macs and most PCs used for audio production; simply attach the supplied 12-volt DC power adaptor.
For more information, visit TC Electronic’s BMC-2 page.
