Neumann MT 48: a BEAST... on PAPER? (re-recording AD/DA test, gear shootout & MORE!) 

Actually I think yours setup is brighter and more sibilant , NEUMAN was more flat and also did not boost lows so much as your setup.

Thanks, man!

Thank you too!

Haven't check the impedance and you're obviously right, thanks for the info!

Hey, Glenn! Camden is absolutely best that kind of money can get. You won't regret it for sure!

Yep, you can't go wrong with it. Cheers, Mark!

The issue is, you cannot bypass MT48 preamps which sucks for such an expesive interface. Apogee Symphony does it better

@@crazyKurious Wrong. 2 Mic/Line Inputs: Combo XLR/Jack 6.3 mm on the back and 2 Line Inputs: 6,3 mm Jack on the front. They bypass the preamps. Apogee Symphony is worse

@@Neekzu dude go and see their schematics in their manual

Got it. Love it. Funnily enough, it was UAD stability (31:36) that really pushed me to replace my Apollo with this gem. My newest voice overs have already been receiving compliments for their quality (and my own performance!) without me saying anything. It has been rock solid so far. It hasn't been randomly disconnecting like my Apollo and no UA Console tomfoolery has been going on.

Sure thing, my conclusion at the end of the vid is the same. Impressive piece of gear anyway!

@@FoliaSound 👍

Yes I'd love a sound comparison of super high end ADDA to that of the ADDA of the 500R8

Thank you too!

Maybe one day ;) Cheers!

Thx!

I have just RME UFX and Clarett ADAT :)

Agreed! Add the add ons please!

Don't have it on my desk anymore, sorry :(

Your preamp and interface are already highest quality. In terms of technical aspects of the recording - you won't get better results like this. On this level it's more a matter of personal taste and choices than performance. I'd seriously switch from DT to Neumann NDH 30, you'll find the review on my channel!

wow, sounds interesting! Can you point me to any sources detailing this? I've read about the Solution D, it was intriguing!

From everything I've read and watched, the Neumann MT 48 is essentially a branded Merging+Anubis with USB-C and ADAT i/o instead of a second Ethernet port. One video suggested it might have a slightly updated converter vs the Anubis, but the update would be whatever is currently available for Merging's Horus/Hapi units.

@@zachvalenti I would have no reason to question those associations. A business like Neumann would be hard-pressed to develop this product from scratch at this price point. There are some changes I would like to see.

Hey! I actually did this at the very beginning of the test, simply by listening to some reference tracks from Tidal HQ. I can tell you exactly what I said in the vid: it's pristine clear and neutral from monitoring purposes!

From what I can tell the Neumann MT 48 has a non-negligible technical edge over the Babyface Pro FS on every spec except perhaps latency. In particular the AD/DA conversion seems meaningfully better in the MT 48 over anything I'm finding from RME (the Dynamic Range specs are just insane on the MT 48). Whether that difference is audible to most people is up for debate. And anyone I've come across that claims to hear the difference expects you've already invested $10k+ on quality montiors, sound treatment, and room tuning for whatever room you plan on using this in. I don't think you're going to find the MT 48 more or less "neutral" than the Babyface - RME is famous for clean, un-colored conversion. However, by the numbers, it seems undeniable that the MT 48 offers more detail (if imperceptible). Aside from the 2x price difference (ouch), there's one feature the MT 48 doesn't have the Babyface does: bus-power. The Babyface Pro FS is arguably the best interface in the world for taking out of a backpack, connecting to a laptop, and working as long as your computer's battery will take you. A budget contender with some slightly better specs would be the Antelope Zen Q/Go Syngergy Core. Both cost less than a new Babyface and are also bus-powered with advertised AD/DA conversion closer to what the MT48 offers (though still in a leauge below). That said, RME's outstanding drivers are likely going to give the Babyface an edge over the Zen Q/Go and the MT48 for latency (the RTL numbers I've seen are just untouchable outside of PCIe cards). RME is also known for super long-term support of their devices' firmware and drivers, so you might well be using it for much longer. If you have the money, don't care about bus-power at all, and just want the best audio quality on Earth for under $5,0000, the Neumann MT 48 seems to be the current answer. And if you plan to grow a larger studio over time, you could do a lot worse than having an Ravenna/AES67-capable interface - running an Ethernet or three vs a ton of huge snakes is pretty amazing, and plugging the MT 48 into a Merging Technology's Hapi would give you one hell of an Dolby Atmos setup at a relatively competitive price. The Merging+Anubis is the only competition - I mean, it's basically the same exact unit - but the lack of USB-C sounds like an absolute headache for setup and virutal instrument latency. But if you refuse to be stopped by clunkly power supplies/wall outlets or if $1,850 is too rich for your blood, you will not be disappointed by RME's Babyface Pro FS or Antelope Zen Q/Go.

Might be so. Have fun!

Thanks, James!

I'm a RME Fireface UFX guy :) Couldn't recommend it more!

No

If I had to choose - MT, but RME is also stellar!

It performs very well, this is what I can tell you for sure!

@@FoliaSound could you do a propper test ? I'm really concerned about those metrics, it's determining to my purchase.

@@gabsauvage I had to give the unit back, I'm sorry. Remember that most latency will be given from your buffer size and plugins used (if you use any at any stage), not the driver itself. You have to forgive me, but I'll be moving to the next vid!

Please can you provide daw round trip latency 41 48 and 96khz 24 bit recording at 64 128 buffer size

No idea, but probably still China?

The MT-48 is made in Hungary.

@@MrRedrocket42 , nice info! Is it written on the case?

@@MrRedrocket42 Thank you!

Sound Devices is absolutely stunning when talking about preamps and A/D quality!

Thanks for your response. This device seems to get ignored as an audio interface for voice overs and I've wondered if it can compete with these others.@@FoliaSound

@@tinylittlefilms3043 the sticking point is latency (a slight delay between the original sound and hearing it through the montiors), which doesn't matter to everyone... but when it does, it really does. I haven't tried the new version, but I have an OG MixPre-6. Incredible pre-amps - not quite as good on paper as what's advertised in this unit - but extremely great. But the unit has super high latency as an audio interface, even at low buffer sizes. If this doesn't mean anything to you, it probably isn't a dealbreaker for you - and there's a half decent workaround if it becomes an issue. Latency in audio interfaces is mostly bothersome to vocalists and percussionists who want to monitor through their DAW to hear themselves through their favorite plugins with a metronome. It's essential for folks playing virtual instruments that can only be monitored through the DAW. That said, the MixPre series offers flexible mixing features to route your inputs directly to headphone or a stereo output with near-zero latency. And with their $99 "Musician" plug-in, you can add a metronome, monitor FX, and more directly inside your MixPre that's still near zero latency. Might not help for virtual instrument playback, but you'd have to try it out to see if it actually bothered you. I believe the Sound Devices USBPre2 would wildly outperform the MixPre on latency, but not necessarily any other features.

Nope, MT staright to the PC

I'm fine with that!

True!

What audio do you want to hear?

Yes, it is colored somehow, but in a great way, actually.

Human voice actually uses most of audible spectrum at once and it's a very good choice to check on preamp and mic quality. Why? Because our hearing system capabilities are scrictly tuned do the anatomy of our speech :) 80 Hz to 18000 kHz, which is a typical spectrum for a male voice, covers most of the territory needed!

Settings? What do you mean by that?

@@FoliaSound I meant the console settings, gain etc, I think, givent, the fact that we cannot bypass the preamp for line input, wouldnt it reduce the dynamic range and introduce noise

@@crazyKurious , I believe that Neumann MT48 input is a combo one, meaning that one socket contains two separate circuits - mic preamp is one of them and the second one is line in and it has pretty much nothing to do with the preamp. Preamp is called a preamp, because it amplifies the signal. Line is called line, because it remains nominal dBV/dBu against given voltage. So, still not sure what you mean by "bypassing" the preamp and any "settings". All possible eq, compression etc. are obviously switched off, so there are basically no settings. The session is 48 kHz, 24 bit.

@@FoliaSound if you read their manual, it clearly mentions that you have premaplification of upto 66db even with line inputs and the signal path diagram shows opamps in the path too.

It might not be visible in the vid, but this interface has nothing to do with ugly and cheap things. Seriously :)

@@FoliaSoundI said it looks like cheap, which is at least bad visual design.

Couldn’t disagree more. YMMV

Nice question!

@@FoliaSound same converters in both... diff config

totally different topology actually.@@gravesg

It's crazy everywhere ;)