Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Mackie Onyx Blackjack 2x2 USB Recording Interface

Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2017

style: Recording InterfaceVerified Purchase

This is a decent unit with simple design and features. I used it primarily for vocals and audio recording with a Shure Beta 87A. The quality was good, but did pick up a little hum at full gain. (which it had to be at full gain to get normalized volume)

Unfortunately it just died, a bit under two years. It started cutting out, USB got flaky, and now it barely stays connected. I tried it on a couple different machines, etc. It only has a 1 year warranty so I'm SOL there.

I replaced it with a Tascam US-2x2 and was quite surprised by how much better and less noisy it is over the Mackie. That explains the low star rating, combined with the fact that it didn't last long. I think it's worth the extra $50 to buy the Tascam. (I also had the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, but it sounded worse on my mic than the Mackie.)

Your mileage may vary.

7 people found this helpful

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FacesFlying

Incredibly easy to use, Excellent for what it does (which is limited)..Overall a solid little box

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2017

style: Recording InterfaceVerified Purchase

I love this thing for what it does, which, admittedly limited, sounds pretty darn good.

The pre amps for each mic/line in sound fantastic.

(For Mac)
Its about as easy to use as I've encountered,
which is very nice.
Plug the USB into your computer,
and it will read it.

It is very simple to use, but also
very limited in what it does.
What it does do, it does expertly.

I knew going in it wouldn't be swimming in possibilities
so im not that disappointed.

If anyone wants a very simple, very easy to use
interface but don't mind if its not super loaded with features,
then definitely go this route.

One person found this helpful

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Damien Margo

Rugged And Affordable Audio Interface

Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2016

style: Recording InterfaceVerified Purchase

Based on low cost and surprisingly good performance I feel Mackie's Onyx Blackjack deserves a five star rating. I was lucky enough to discover this item very recently, long after the years when there was no suitable software driver. I'm using the Blackjack with Mackie's 3.0.0.0 driver package, and it seems I won't be needing ASIO4ALL in most situations.

I previously had USB 3.0 disabled on my motherboard (in the BIOS) before installing the Blackjack. Sadly, I was unable to get the driver below 256 samples without odd noise. Simply re-enabling the USB 3.0 AHCI function allowed me to get this unit working all the way down to its lowest latency setting: 64 samples. I'm not exactly sure why this helps, but it does on my system (ASUS MAXIMUS HERO VII). Bumping up to 128 from time to time is needed depending on the circumstances.

This overall good performance is allowing me to get as low as 3ms output latency in Reason 8--great for tracking and virtual instruments. The Blackjack also has an input monitor with zero latency allowing the dry signal to be conveniently previewed. This signal can then be sent to the headphone or 1/4" monitor jacks. Be sure to not mistakenly monitor both your DAW and the dry signal simultaneously--you might hear some phasing. The preamps are switchable providing a Hi-Z mode for direct connection to instruments, and in Line mode the unit will accommodate mics with or without phantom power. These preamps were the main reason I purchased this unit and their quality and overall rugged construction of this unit is quite welcome.

One person found this helpful

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Jim, The Radio Fan

Great Interface, Almost 5 Stars

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2011

style: Recording InterfaceVerified Purchase

I would give this interface 4 1/2 stars. I use it to power a Heil PR40 to record podcast interviews. It works fantastically. I can interview subjects and hear myself as well, which I have always read would require a much more elaborate setup...I should say I record directly into my computer. I have only had it a couple of days but so far it is marvelous.

The footprint, build quality, and look are all excellent. Recordings from its USB output into the computer sound great. A test with singing and a recorded backing tracking showed that there is zero latency which was an issue with my old Samson USB mic.

I run 64 bit Windows 7 and have had not issues with the drivers that others have described. Install and functionality all seemed to be in order.

The only reason I would not give it 5 stars is that occasionally there will be a slight stuttering on playback, perhaps this will be fixed in a future driver update. That is quickly fixed by pausing and restarting but it is a slight annoyance.

For someone with a use case like mine, I would not hesitate to recommend it wholeheartedly. I had assumed I would have needed a much more elaborate and expensive setup to achieve what I can with this little box.

UPDATE (7/6/2012): I started to experience more issues with the drivers as time went on, so much so that I had another unit in my Amazon "cart" and almost abandoned this Mackie unit. However, I am glad I did not because there is VERY GOOD NEWS. Mackie recently released new drivers in summer of '12 and since then everything has been rock solid. I am now very happy with the purchase and would give 5 stars.

15 people found this helpful

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Owen Scott

Great purchase - solved LOTS of problems

Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2015

style: Recording InterfaceVerified Purchase

UPDATE: April 2016 ... So now I get to add that the customer support is great! After about six months of use, the USB port failed. Without asking more than about four questions, the RMA process has already begun and it's quite fair. Basically, then send a replacement unit, I test it, and then ship them back, using the RMA, the broken unit. Hasn't happened yet - it's a process - but still, very good support!

This is absolutely awesome. I struggled for awhile with bizarre issues around my mechanical keyboard and USB headsets, where the keyboard would malfunction when USB headsets were being used for Skype calls - and other strange anomalies. For awhile I was forced to go analog with a headset - just misery. Anyway ... I broke down and bought this audio interface. One of the best purchases I ever made. Coupled it with a decent Microphone and I'm in heaven. I record a LOT of instructional software videos, and now the videos are clear as a bell. And the flexibility of this product means that I can plug in a set of headphones or push the sound out through the Monitor output to a set of speakers in the room.

Even the tilted format makes a difference in quickly getting to the knobs. Seriously - this is an awesome product.

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THE ULTIMATE PIZZA MANUAL 2.0 FANTop Contributor: Photography

Works fine on Mac, BUT has bad monitoring latency.

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2020

style: Recording InterfaceVerified Purchase

Works fine on Mac, BUT has bad monitoring latency. After ten emails back and forth with support, they say it should have ZERO latency (as spec'd) and that I should have the hardware repaired. Really? A hardware issue causes latency? This is TWO out of three Mackie devices I own that has hardware issues. The $400 VLZ-1402 mixer has a channel OUT on EVERY slider have two years of working. Advice: Stay way from Mackie.

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Amazon Customer

Good audio interface, but there isnt anything about it that makes it great

Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2016

style: Recording InterfaceVerified Purchase

I recently bought this as a replacement for my old audio interface. Let me start off by saying that I do not use this audio interface expecting professional studio results. I simply use this audio interface to run my microphone for podcasting, streaming, and playing with friends. I will occasionally record instruments, but its just to get ideas put down quickly.

With all that being said, I want to start off by saying that this audio interface does everything it says it does and it does it properly. I have absolutely zero complaints as far as something not working. The build quality is nice, and setup on a computer is flawless. Honestly on some computers you dont even have to predownload drivers, as your computer will do it automatically as soon as you plug in the interface.

Anyways, on to the reasoning behind 3 stars. As I just mentioned, the interface does its job. But thats it. It doesnt go above and beyond. It comes with small little nuances, and this interface is basically a living definition of "average".

Ill start off will all the little nuances Ive had with it.

1. Condenser mics absolutely work well, but I found that on some of my high quality condensor mics I have to turn the gain up all the way up. All my low quality and low power condenser mics do not have this problem, but it does result in lower quality recording.
2. This interface is obviously tailored and geared at home pc desk setups. What i mean by that is that the only input in the front is the headphone input. This allows the rest of the cables to be routed behind a desk and concealed well so the desk can look nice and cable free. Except the problem is that the interface is at an angle. So even though all the cables plug in at the back, you can still see them jutting out since they are angled upwards. A bit counter intuitive.
3. Ive only run into this problem 1 or 2 times before, but in my case ive had the recording issues just because the usb wasnt sitting in a perfect position in the PC. All it took was a little jiggle and it worked again. I can see this being pretty annoying for anyone with a pc with a hard to reach usb connection input.
4. I do get a bit of background noise and a slight decrease in quality. Obviously its considerably less than something like a usb mic, but ive used other interfaces like tascams and presonus usb interfaces that gave me slightly higher quality.

In conclusion, this interface is good. Its decent. But there is nothing about it that would convince me to absolutely pick it over other high quality usb interfaces.

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Baron Funke

Good and bad, but more bad than good...

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2017

style: Recording InterfaceVerified Purchase

I bought this in 2014 and when it's working it's GREAT, but early on I would get the audio artifacts in the recording (which I wouldn't hear in the monitors, but only after I finished tracking, so had to re-take), which is fixable by re-seating the USB at the computer end.

About a year in, I started getting input gain variance, due to (from what I can tell) issues with the gain pots; wild jumps in gain with a small move, a little crackling, etc. Often fixable by gently pressing IN on the pot, which screams faulty pot to me.

Now I'm getting actual gain decrease without touching the knobs, also present in the monitors, so it has become unreliable. Not sure what I'll go with, since this replaced a MoTU Ultralite Mk3 Hybrid which had a couple of bad combo inputs...

One person found this helpful

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David Staub

something wrong in the DA

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2015

style: Recording InterfaceVerified Purchase

The one I received has wrong digital processing in the DA. When connected to my mac mini, 0 dB FS sinusoidal signal fed to my Onyx Blackjack through USB digital results in distorted analogue signal output. The clipping was not due to overload in the AD in the measurement device. When I reduce 0dbFS sinusoidal signal level with digital volume control on my mac mini, then the output of Onyx Blackjack is clean.

By connecting other DACs by USB to the same computer, I confirmed that the problem is in my Onyx Blackjack. I am returning it.

P.S.
There was a slight disappointing performance in the AD in my Onyx Blackjack. It had more low frequency jitter than the AD in my cheap Behringer UCA202. Of course, the AD in the Onyx Blackjack had lower noise floor and lower harmonic distortion.

4 people found this helpful

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Glaffdragl

Best option available for this low price.

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2015

style: Recording InterfaceVerified Purchase

I needed something that would work with my (late) 2009 iMac so that I could use Garage Band with my electric guitar. After trying one other product that was less expensive, and with no success, I decided to spend a bit more for this.

Once I got it I unpacked it, hooked it up to the iMac with the USB cable, plugged in my guitar and fired up Garage Band. It did take me awhile to get the settings proper, but I found a vid on youtube that matched my older iMac so I knew what adjustments to make. Once set, you are ready to rock and roll all night and part every day!

Real easy controls to use and it unplugs and stores easily when not in use if you don't want it taking up space on your desk.

Don't waste money on cheaper alternatives. Put the money into this and you'll be set. Rock on friends!

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5 star		43%
4 star		15%
3 star		12%
2 star		10%
1 star		20%

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