Gear Review: TC Electronic BMC-2 Monitor Controller and DAC

    When my old TC Level Pilot died on me I needed a new master monitor controller. The TC Level Pilot is essentially a stacked matched pair of variable resistors in one pot. The build quality seems high, until general wear and tear takes it's toll and it starts crackling and cutting out. Not great for a pro audio device. I needed something more feature packed and with more advanced features and greater overall value.

    My final choice as the replacement for that mini monitor controller was the BMC-2 also by TC Electronic. This unit is really a very different beast. What we have here is a multi-input DAC with the ability to take AES, SPDIF, ADAT and TOS and convert any one of those to a couple of balanced XLR outputs, a headphone output, and to a digital output of your choice. All the while the BMC-2 provides a variety of monitoring functions for the mix and mastering engineer.

Functionality

    I use it in conjunction with the AES output of my RME Fireface UFX. The BMC-2 then feeds line level to a pair of Genelec S30NF monitors. The built in headphone amp is also running my Audio Technica M50x headphones. This not only gives me an additional headphone output, tied to the main monitoring output, but frees up two more analogue outputs on the rear of the UFX. The monitor section offers a large number of really handy functions too. Switching between preset monitor levels, Reference and Dim, and an alternative, digital, monitor feed. It also has the facility to isolate the Mono and Side elements of your mix, which is an invaluable mix tool for me. Now while it is possible to get these functions out of the DAW without the aid of a hardware controller, I've found that having real physical hardware buttons to press on my desk makes accessing the functions a whole lot simpler. It's about workflow.

Limitations

    The BMC-2 can, however, only handle a limited range of sampling frequencies compared to the RME UFX.  The RME will output between 32kHz and 192kHz with all of the double and quad rates in between (and a manual pitch adjustment). The BMC-2 is limited to 44.1kHz / 48kHz and then the double rates of those (88.2kHz and 96kHz). So for those of you out there who have clients insisting on using those sampling frequencies above 96kHz, this isn't the product for you. For the rest of us, for whom double rates are plenty it's got a ton of functionality in the box.
   It is also "just" a stereo monitor controller. If you need something that does the same on a 5.1 surround signal you'll need something more akin to the Audient ASP510; but then that's an all analogue device and would eat up six IO for playback and record.

Sound

   The sound coming from the BMC-2 really is great. It has an air of quality to it that a lot of  TC equipment that I've used over the years seems to have. I think it would make a really nice sonic upgrade from some of the lesser audio interfaces out there, or even as use as a desktop audio monitoring controller from any sound card that has an optical TOS or SPDIF output.
   There is a very slight difference between this and the audio output from the RME UFX analogue outputs, but it's quite subjective as to whether it's "better". I think, to my ears, what we have is the difference between the sonic signatures of the two engineering teams; giving you what you could describe as the "RME sound" and the "TC sound". Both are highly reputed companies in the pro audio sector and have a reputation for delivering superb and reliable audio quality.
   As for the headphone output you will get varying mileage depending on your headphones of choice. Through my Audio Technica and AKG headphones it sounds great and seems clean at all useable volume levels, however with my Sennheiser HD26 Pros I'm left feeling a little let down. I'm noticing a fair bit of audible noise generated by it, which is completely inaudible coming from the headphone outputs of the Fireface UFX. The HD26 are a more sensitive headphone though and it may be that either the headphones or the output of the BMC2 could be sensitive to an imbalance in impedance.

Final Thoughts

   The BMC-2 is a wonderfully well thought out and keenly priced piece of equipment that wouldn't look out of place in any studio. It sounds good enough to keep up with any set of monitors you care to plug into it. It could be argued that the DA conversion isn't the best out there, but I think that you'd have to spend exponentially more money on hardware to improve upon it significantly. It is probably the perfect monitor controller for most project music studios.