Yellowtec PUC2 Mic LEA Review: An Audio Interface With LEA

Pick #3 of 5 in our Best Audio Sources guide.

Audio interfaces are a mandatory element in all recording setups. Most of them do the same thing - amplify inputs, convert analog signals to digital, and the other way around. But the PUC2 Mic LEA from Yellowtec is entirely different, with features that can easily improve your microphone quality with no post-processing. All that, and some more, for €769.

Build Quality: All-Aluminum, Made in Germany

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Everything is made of silver metal, likely aluminum. I couldn't find a single plastic part, besides the connector housings. And even they are mostly high-quality Neutrik ones. It's made in Germany after all, what did you expect?

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Two rubber elements, one on the front and one on the back, are making for very good-looking feet that prevent the device from sliding on the desk. The unit gets a little warm after some time, but its case can dissipate it with no problem, and it doesn't get overly hot.

Inputs and Outputs: Dual Combo XLR, AES Digital, and ZLM

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They are all located on the front and the back. Let's start with the front ones.

There are two combo XLR plus 1/4-inch jacks for microphones. Next to it, there's a headphone output for direct, latency-free monitoring purposes. And finally, a volume knob that also serves as an output switch, between line outs and studio headphones. Quite clever.

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Moving to the back, there's even more. Starting from the professional digital AES input and output, ZLM Jack - which routes the input signal directly to the output - and a 3.5mm AUX output. It can be used to drive a set of headphones but with no volume control. Finally, USB can be used to connect it to any computer, and a DC power barrel, which in this case is required for the interface to work.

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Technical Specifications: 192kHz/24-bit, 114dB, 48V Phantom

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This audio interface delivers the highest available audio standards. The sample rate comes at 192kHz at 24-bit. That's very good and it means that you have pretty much all audio formats available to you at all times. It also points in the direction that the digital-to-analog conversion inside is being done by capable chips. And they indeed measure well - with a dynamic range of 114dB, it's likely not going to be a limiting factor in any professional, or even more so home studio.

Unlike Yellowtec's lower-end models, this one has automatic input selection with AES detection. You can use it with condenser microphones, as it provides 48V phantom power, which they need to work.

The mic input's distortion is specified to be 0.05% - a respectable value. For digital conversion, the THD+N reaches -103dB, and for analog conversion, it's even better at -107dB. All these numbers are technically just numbers - what's special about this product is something entirely different.

Features: LEA Auto-Leveling and No Gain Knob

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It's plug-and-play, which allows for fast handling by both experienced and beginner users. You can stream two channels of XLR via USB. It has zero latency for your mic signal and zero-latency monitoring of that signal, which makes recording vocals much easier - and when you're recording a voiceover, you won't get confused by the delays.

They developed an ASIO driver for advanced operators, bit-perfect scenarios, and exclusive device use.

But the most important is the LEA technology. It's all about it - that's why you're getting this specific audio interface. LEA stands for Level Energy Arbitration, and it's a function that's made to keep you from bad leveling in real time. It doesn't require any plugins, setup, or software, but if you decide to download the application, you can tweak its settings. I tried changing some options, however, I ended up going back to the default settings - they're very good, and in most cases shouldn't be messed with.

It's not just a compressor, not even close. Instead, it combines analog and digital techniques to achieve the best results. The goal is to even out the average sound pressure level, yet not increase the noise floor during quiet parts, but also not introduce any artifacts typical of noise gates. Also, it greatly prevents clipping. It's almost impossible to overdrive it in normal conditions, despite being "just" 24-bit, compared to 32-bit float.

You might've noticed that there's no gain knob. Their technology is so good, they don't even feel like there's a need for you to spend any of your time doing it manually.

Sound Quality: Transparent, Slightly Warm, Endlessly Consistent

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The preamps are aiming to be fairly transparent, so their goal is not to influence the sound a lot. Yet they have a slight warm tint in my personal opinion, compared to more analytical-sounding interfaces.

What's exceptional about it is the consistency - it always sounds good, and the same. There's no audible distortion or other unpleasant artifacts. The speech clarity is enhanced a little bit, which is ideal for voiceover, podcasting, and live-streaming applications.

The interface contributes almost no background noise. That allows the microphone's true character to shine through more than usual. It generally sounds much better on voices than instruments, but I'm pretty sure that it is precisely what it's designed to do. Its LEA technology ensures it's going to sound as good no matter if the end-user is an experienced audio engineer, or just a beginner hobbyist who wants to experiment with vocal recording.

While it might not be the ultimate choice for every audio scenario, it excels in its target market, and I can't think of a better interface for this specific task.