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Primarily known for their pro-tier interfaces, converters, and master clocks, Antelope Audio is now appealing to home recording musicians, streamers, and content creators with the new Zenith 2. Although it sports an entry-level price point, the Zenith 2 still prioritizes sound quality with console-grade preamps and converters, but also offers four real-time DSP effects, onboard mixing, class-compliant USB, and streamer-friendly features like loopback.
“The Zenith 2 is a multifunctional hub which provides a very quick and easy way to achieve studio-quality sound right out of the box without putting effort into plugins, additional effects, and anything else,” says Product Manager Momchil Shishkov, the mastermind behind the Zenith 2. “It was our main goal to make it super user-friendly, but at the same time, keep everything on a professional quality level in terms of sound and flexibility.”
For Antelope, “entry-level” doesn’t mean a step down. Just like their higher-tier interfaces, the Zenith 2 features discrete console-grade preamps designed in-house, rather than off-the-shelf OEM preamps. Each of its two preamps delivers up to 75 dB of gain with remarkably transparent sound and ultra-low noise floor, followed by A/D converters boasting 123 dB dynamic range and signature Antelope clocking that practically eliminates jitter.
“The discrete preamps are designed with components we have chosen based on tests and measurements,” Shishkov explains. “So you have a good gain stage, but then you also have the converter and the clocking, which contribute to the signal as well. The combination of those three things—a good preamp, great converters, and great clocking—gives you the final result, which is a super clean and accurate recording.”
Real-time DSP effects are a common feature in professional interfaces like Antelope’s Synergy Core products, but this technology is usually used to power virtual emulations of vintage studio gear or complex reverb and modulation processing. The Zenith 2 takes a different approach by offering a stripped-down selection of DSP effects for enhancing vocals and guitars with minimal fuss: namely, the Tube-Opto Compressor, Sky EQ, Master De-Esser, and Guitar Amp. From premade vocal chains to fully tweakable guitar amps, this small suite of effects provides a surprising amount of flexibility.
“There are three modes for the effects,” says Shishkov. “Preset Mode gives you 10 pre-made presets with a combination of effects for vocal, podcasts, guitar, and streaming. You just choose your preset, and it's applied directly to the input signal. In the latest update, we added Studio Mode, which allows you to tweak all the individual parameters for each effect. Then we also have Guitar Mode, which allows you to apply amp and cabinet emulations. All these effects are processed in real time, so it's practically imperceivable latency. A new update is coming, with new cabinet models, noise gate, and brand new Voice mode.”
Here’s a quick breakdown of each effect:
Tube-Opto Compressor
The gentle smoothing of vintage optical compression is a go-to effect for enriching vocals and bass guitar in particular. With its slow, smooth response and characteristic warmth, the Tube-Opto Compressor is perfect for gentle volume leveling, but it can also add a bit of harmonic edge when pushed harder.
Sky EQ
Sky EQ is Antelope’s version of a classic high-shelf equalizer known for adding high-end sparkle that makes any track pop. Simple and easy to use, Sky EQ reliably “opens up” dull-sounding vocals and instruments, enhancing clarity and presence without harshness.
Master De-esser
No matter how good your mic is or how much acoustic treatment you have, there’s always a chance that sibilance can creep into your vocals. The Master De-Esser solves this problem for good, targeting harsh “S” and “T” sounds with precision and reducing them without affecting the natural tone of your voice. It’s also great for taming harsh cymbals!
Guitar Amp
Last but not least, Guitar Amp gives you instant access to high-quality amp and cabinet emulations so you can plug your guitar right into the Zenith 2 and hear authentic tone in real time. With natural tube warmth, overdrive that responds to your playing, and realistic speaker modeling, you’ll swear you were playing through a real vintage amp.
The Zenith 2’s DSP engine also powers multiple built-in mixers, so you can create custom mixes for each of the two headphone outputs, as well as the main monitor output. Loopback allows you to route sound from your computer to the interface and back, so you can easily add audio from games or apps like Discord into your streaming mix.
“Each output has its own small mixer with four channels: input one, input two, USB playback one and two, and USB playback three and four,” Shishkov explains. “Each of these channels has a fader, so you can adjust the balance between those signals going to each of the headphone outputs and the monitor output. It's the exact same for the loopback mixer, which is routed to the USB recording channels three and four. This way, you can create a good balance inside the device and stream them on a separate channel to your computer.”
It might be overshadowed by the other features, but one of the coolest things about the Zenith 2 is that it’s totally class-compliant, meaning it doesn’t require any drivers or software to use. Antelope does offer an ASIO driver for advanced setup and control, but it’s not actually necessary to use the interface with any PC, Mac, iOS, or Android device.
“It's ready to record and play audio straight out of the box without any installations,” says Shishkov. “You’ll need to quickly activate the product from the Antelope Launcher to fully control the device and benefit from all the free software included. Zenith 2 is class-compliant by default, which makes the setup pretty straightforward. And all the control happens from the display, so you don't need a separate application to make some changes to the effects or the mix. Although a control application is coming up soon for everyone who prefers to navigate with a mouse! The fact that it's class-compliant also allows you to connect it straight to a mobile phone or a tablet, and it’s not very power-hungry, so it’s portable.”
While the Zenith 2 is Antelope’s lowest-priced interface ever, Shiskov and his team worked hard to make sure that an entry-level price didn’t mean cutting any corners. From the quality components in its discrete six-transistor preamps to the sturdy and stylish aluminum chassis, the Zenith 2 sounds and feels just as high-quality as Antelope’s higher-end offerings.
If you’re a singer, guitarist, streamer, podcaster, or content creator looking for a simple device that gives you professional sound with ease, look no further. At just $299, The Antelope Audio Zenith 2 delivers a perfect balance of sound quality, features, and value.
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