I am attempting to accomplish two things here. First, to have low latency audio output for metronome and occasional drums from Cubase, and second, to have a better DAC/Output stage than the onboard sound in my shorty Dell 3010. The UR12 looks like it checks all the right boxes, in that it can be externally powered, has a simple line output for my preamplifier, and a headphone jack for patching back into a mixing board channel for integrating Cubase generated sounds with my analog recording rig.
I also use the setup for casual and critical listening to music and movies, sometimes with Hi-Res audio sources. I would not be using the UR12 inputs for any reason. So can it also be used as a regular old soundcard using regular programs like Winamp, VLC, Spotify, etc?
Also the line out appears to be +0dBV. My Pre setup with the miniDSP I use for room correction uses a 2V max input, which the onboard card in the Dell just happens to output at full volume. Does this mean it’ll be quieter? My brain is not up to the task for doing the math right now.