Focusrite introduction

Focusrite is a company that needs no introduction. It has a long-standing reputation for audio interfaces, microphone pre-amps and AoIP solutions. The Scarlett is an – almost famous- very affordable interface used by many home studios. On the high-end pro-side of the spectrum Focusrite offers their RedNet product line. The RedNet is based on Dante technology. The headphone amp and monitor controller RedNet AM2 is in the spotlight of this review.

What is the Focusrite RedNet AM2?

The AM2 is a small, all aluminum, desktop box in the RedNet color with 2 silver looking volume knobs, one mute button and 4 LEDs. It feels solid, made for many years of service in your studio. It can be used as a Dante single speaker set monitor controller with headphone amp. Each with its own volume knob. The line out is balanced XLR and the headphone is a standard ¼” jack plug.

The AM2 can receive two Dante audio channels, making this a stereo device. So, the headphone and line output carry the same source signal. The line output can be muted by the button on top and the red Led will turn on.

Of course, you can use the line output for anything else than hooking up some active speakers. But from my point of view, it has been designed to manage one speaker pair.

Okay, time to get tec-nerdy. The build-in Dante board is the Audinate UltimoX2. Most likely being the UXT-01-002 version because it only supports 2 channels.

It has two 1GB network ports on the back that can be used as network switch and not configured in a Dante primary/secondary configuration. Before we get to the inside there is one more thing to mention, you can mount the unit on a microphone stand if you want. 

Besides the hardware the RedNet AM2 also comes with a software bundle that you can download after registration. Some good plugins and most important an Audinate DVS license. With this software you can connect your computer without additional hardware to the Dante network and have a Virtual Dante Soundcard. Together with the AM2 you are good to go.

Now let’s setup the AM2.

Configure the RedNet AM2

The first thing to do is powering it up. This can be done in two ways like most Dante equipment. Either by a power adapter that’s in the box or using PoE from your switch. This last one is the way I tested it. The first LED on the front shows green when you power from the switch and should turn red when you use the power adapter.

Within the Dante controller we must add it into the Dante network. The AM2 can support a sample rate from 44.1kHz till 96kHz. The bit depth is fixed on 24 bits. The latency can be set on 1ms, 2ms or 4ms. On my multiple switched network, it has an average latency of 400us.

The Focusrite AM2 does, like all current units, support the AES67 standard communication. 

RedNet control

When done with the Dante controller we have one more app to install and that is the Focusrite RedNet control 2 software. I assume they wanted to give their product line something special and its own identity within the Dante world. 

You download the software after registration on the website. First, I did this on my MacBook-pro with Intel i9 processor. This was a little disaster as it made my computer almost freeze on the network port and crash the machine. Even the Apple crash report could not be generated. So next try on a Mac-mini M1 computer. I use this one for controller my studio and Dante network. The installation went fine on the Apple M1, and the application does work after rebooting the AM2.

With the RedNet control 2 software you can see a list of all the Dante devices on the network and the Focusrite units are listed on top. Selecting one and you see an emulation of the front panel of the hardware unit on your screen. 

With the AM2 you can control the mute button remotely this way. There is also a setup page, and this page is important for the last part of the AM2 configuration.

On this page you can decide what the peak line output level is (at 0dBFS), +18dBu or +24dBu. Also, the headphone amp can have a +6 or +12dB attenuation.

The last option in the control 2 software is making the AM2 clock master on the Dante network. You don’t need the Focusrite software for this. It can be done with the Dante controller. Giving you also a complete status overview of all devices and their clocking.

Time for some music? Not yet, I need to install the Audinate DVS software on my laptop first, so that I can play music from the laptop to the RedNet AM2. 

Focusrite

was

out of DVS Licenses

On the Focusrite website after registration you can (1) generate a software code. With this code you can (2) go to the Audinate website, create (3) an account and (4) enter this Focusrite code, (5) download the software from Audinate, (6) install the software and key, et voila?

Well..hell no. Focusrite was out of DVS licenses codes. So, the process stopped at step 1. Contacting Focusrite-pro support did not turn out very helpful either. The message was “we are out of codes” buy your own at Audinate. The DVS software license is not a gift, but a part of the package. Two and three days later I still received the same message. After three days it became quiet from the Focusrite-pro support side. They did send me a request if I wanted to rate their support. After 9 days I asked them if a Christmas present could be expected. I also informed them about my review. Then I got the license within 30 minutes. Yes, we finally can play music! 

Back to setting up the AM2.

The AN2 is configured, connected to the network and the second LED on the front shows the green light meaning that it has a synced connection with Dante.

The third LED lights up when music (or better sound) is received. The LED indicator shows red for 0dBFS, orange at -6dBFS and green at -42dBFS on either channel. If you want to have a more detailed metering information you must look at the earlier mentioned Focusrite controller 2 software.

How does the Focusrite RedNet AM2 headphone output sounds?

One thing that the AM2 is very useful for is as a headphone amp. Sitting on your desk next to the laptop, giving you access to any Dante audio stream, is a wonderful feature that not many manufactures offer on the Dante market. But to be successful it must sound good as well.

We all know that sound quality is also a lot about taste. So, I go for a comparison approach. The test set-up is as follows. I have a Burson Conductor 3X headphone amp linked to my Laptop via USB on one side and the Focusrite AM2 connected to Dante 96kHz 32 bits on the other side. Both, Dante and the laptop, stream Apple Music (loss-less) the same track. I will use three different headphones, the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, the HEDDphone and the Audeze LCD-X.

The goal is to switch between both amps and check if I notice any difference in sound. Secondly, I check if the AM2 headphone amp can deliver enough juice for the headphones (especially the HEDDphone needs a lot).

The first thing I found out is that you must put the attenuation of the AM2 headphone output on the 6dB setting. With this setting the volume knob is around 12 o’clock. It’s a kind of sweet spot for the AM2. 

Listening to the AM2 is a joy on all 3 headphones. It has a tiny little bump round 400-600Hz, but it can hold up very well to the Burson amp. The Burson sounds a bit more HiFi and the AM2 a bit more rough. The Burson is little more detailed as well.  But the AM2 can give you the information that you need for mixing, singing, or recording an instrument. The Audio-Technica and HEDDphone worked very well with the AM2. The Audeze was OK but there was a clear difference with the Burson amp.

The juice that the amp can provide is for all tested headphones sufficient. Even with the HEDDphone plugged into the AM2 the volume was more than loud enough and undistorted.  To be honest the AM2 shines at its best with this headphone plugged into it. I preferred this combination above the Burson.

My two cents for the Focusrite RedNet AM2

The RedNet AM2 is a beautiful looking device on your desk. The volume knobs have the right size and feel to it. The desk real-estate it eats is small, but it stands sturdy due to its design and weight. On top of that the headphone amp is sound wise trustable for recording and mixing. The Dante integration is as expected. 

If you just need a volume/mute control for your monitor speakers and a good headphone amp connected to the Dante network, then the Focusrite RedNet AM1 might be the perfect answer for you. 

Focusrite support needs to do some work. A combination of software and hardware within one product is becoming more and more the norm nowadays especially with AoIP networks. This means that there are more dependencies between manufacturers. Having as a supplier a continuing focus on the operability of these product chains might be an important key for success in the nearby future. Focusrite should have known that they were out of license keys for the Audinate DVS software. Telling me to buy my license at Audinate (and pay for it again) is a bummer.

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About All4Dante

All4Dante is an independent platform for Dante equipment and networks. We perform tests and reviews of equipment in our own Dante lab and share the results on our platform. We see a future for Dante in the recording and pro-studio environment as well as in the music instrument segment. By addressing audience related topics we want to support the migration to a more AoIP world.