A "brief" comparison of iRig HD2 and MeloAudio TS Mini
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I’ve been using an iRig HD2 for awhile now with my iPad and BIAS FX, and recently I bought a second hand TS Mini. So, I thought I’d give everyone a comparison of both.
Why do I have both? I’ve always been concerned about the plastic construction of the HD2, and I thought it would be good to have a backup. And, as long as I’d decided to get a backup, I thought I’d get something different. So, I started patiently looking for a used TS Mini.
The TS Mini:
The TS mini does seem tougher. The case is metal, I can’t tell about the quarter inch jacks, they look like they are metal, but they might be silver plastic. Internally, who knows if one board is built any better than the other.
The USB cable is a full size standard connection to the TS Mini, and the cable is longer than the one for the HD2. If it fails, you probably already have a replacement. But an adapter for a lightning connection is needed, and not included when you buy one new.
Features the TS Mini has that the HD2 does not –
The TS Mini can do either balanced or unbalanced output from the quarter inch output jack.
XRL input for a microphone.
MIDI input. I haven’t tried this yet, but I’m going to try it with a MIDI controller to see how well it works with BIAS FX.
The iRig HD2:
The iRig HD2 has a gain level control with a lighted indicator, TS Mini has this only for the XLR Microphone input, not the instrument input.
The HD2 has a lightning connector right out of the box, but the connection on the HD2 end is a micro USB.
The retail price for the iRig HD2 is less expensive that the TS Mini.
I’ve had the iRig HD2 for a couple of years now, and even though I’ve been concerned about the plastic construction, I’ve been careful with it, and there have been no issues with build quality.
Sound quality – they seem pretty comparable to my ears, you’ll see though that the specs for the TS Mini are better.