Correction correction: I have triple-checked and my Babyface really does deliver 125 dB(A) dynamic range with the XLR output. I might have gotten lucky here and I wouldn't expect every Babyface to reach this exact dynamic range but they will be close and that's an excellent performance.
Thanks for the videos man. Now you know that the Babyface Pro was upgraded to the Pro FS, which they say is a big improvement in terms of the "steadyclock" but nobody know what that is. I don't have the FS only the old Pro version.
@@ZPaulCenti The clock defines the stability of the audio signal. The FS is a steadier clock for cleaner audio. But they actually changed more things in the Babyface Pro FS than the clock. You can search that info on your own.
Wow, fantastic latency specs. RME drivers are incredible. I'm still using my Multiface to this day. They still support it. Nice to see a company support its products for years and years to come as you advance through OS's.
Too right. I had a very nice interface/monitor controller from a rival company. A recent Windows update caused some latency issues. The company hasn't updated the drivers for over five years and won't be doing so despite me reporting issues. I bought a Digiface just before Christmas and RME have issued two driver revisions since then. There is no better company for drivers in audio in my book.
@@soundbelch1600 Yes, they are by far the most solid drivers I have ever worked with. Super easy to install and never, I mean never have had an issue with them from Windows XP, WIn7 and Win10. It just works.
This, 100%. RME drivers are so solid that it's the only interface I really trust for mission critical stuff. Back a few years ago, I was responsible for broadcasting a multi-venue music festival thousands of miles from home, and we'd always plug the interface in last, because that was the thing that never failed to do exactly what it was supposed to. Compared with other brands (even ones that I also own), RME is reliable like the sun
TotalMix has long been in a class of its own. Great, consistent interface and excellent view choices. It’s not immediately apparent what justifies the high cost, but the deeper I look, the better the deal looks.
I’ve had mine for a year now and I’m finally understanding totalmix… When I got my Babyface all I had to refer was the manual! All these videos are new but much needed!!! My input has been low with too much noise and I finally figured out how to increase output without introducing more noise. I DIDN’T even know it had a built in pre amp until recently too!
Julian, your videos have been MAD useful. I'd love to see you tackle some of the major mixer/interface combo units out there, things like the Tascam Model 12, the Allen & Heath ZEDi, and PreSonus Studio Live ARc consoles. I think they're pretty overlooked/underconsidered by a lot of people trying to buy something that gives them a lot of bang for buck.
Thanks for the video Julian! I'm so glad you finally got around to this one as I've had friends recommend it to me in the past as the gold standard. This RME unit is really one step ahead in the latency departmen! Seeing the difference in performance with the Motu M2 which I use daily, I'm glad I picked it over this one when deciding, as putting in 3 times the price of the M2 to get only marginally better performance (hello, diminishing returns) really wouldn't have made much sense for me (and still wouldn't!). Seeing more comparisons and reviews on your channel, I think the Motu M2 might even be slightly more expensive than I could have gotten away with for my requirements - but then again, the M2 is built excellently, and has all around excellent specs for its price category.
seeing Motu as a top performer in his chart is amazing esp for its price. I am considering either the m2 or ssl2. I have the id4 atm and I love it but need 2 inputs and the id14mkii which would have been an obvious choice presents itself with some bummers like no physical control for the line input and many things are software controlled which will definitely not work on my system ( Linux ).
If I were buying an interface today, this would definitely be on the short list as the specs and features are pretty well everything I'd want in a desktop interface. I've been using my RME PCIe interface for just over a decade and haven't felt the need to upgrade. I'll admit, though, I still haven't fully learned all the features of Total Mix. Thanks!
It's not the audio specs that matter with this interface so much. I mean, they're good. Perfectly adequate for any use, but that's about it. The driver is the real beauty. Rock solid under any conditions, infinite flexibility, no limitations. You're basically paying for the driver and it's worth it.
With all due respect speaking as an IT professional what you said makes no sense. You can't use a driver to fix insufficient hardware. The beauty of the RME Babyface (and all of the RME products) is their combination of high quality hardware components and chips, system design and finally the extremely well-written drivers. They are also extremely diligent in updating their drivers and firmware as necessary. The drivers are great but no matter how well you develop your driver's they won't make crappy Hardware any better.
You both are right. RME hardware is excellent so it can achieve good result, and also RME, compared to other mamufacturers, put serious time in creating the good drivers for their products, which are better, and give better results in stabilit y, latency,, etc, compared to other manufacturers' interfaces
Thank you so much for this review I just got a BF after months of waiting and this review confirms my choice. One thing I think you didn't stress enough is the fact that the BF is USB powered, with those specs no other USB powered interface achieves this, no matter the money. I think this is also the reason for not including the DSP dynamics, they had to cut some corners...maybe who knows, an option for future firmwares, dynamics included if you externally power the unit? Also for the same reason (USB powered) I think they had to cut corners with the instrument input gain, vintage single coils pickups struggle a bit even at maximum settings, not a big problems because the noise is low, but more gain for single coil pickups would have been nice, humbuckers and active pickups of course have no problems. Another thing I really hope will be available in the future firmware is the possibility to go from mono input to stereo output in standalone mode and allow to use the BF as a practising tool to be used with headphones. A simple workaround for guitars is a Y split cable mono to dual mono, but still it would be nice to have this simple function in standalone mode, obviously this is easy to do when connected to a PC. Also as last point, people should remember not to connect unbalanced monitors to the balanced output connectors of the unit without proper unbalanced XLR connector /adaptors (with only pin 2 and 1 connected and 3 disconnected), the output is not servobalanced. Meaning the BF doesn't recogonise unbalanced connectors at the output. This is another corner cut for USB powering the unit. Overall a great unit with the super bonus of TotalMix, which is a valuable, quick, flexible and efficient mixing tool.
Much awaited review. Eagerly awaiting for the teardown and performance results of Apogee (Duet 3) and Apollo Twin MK II (Quad core). Thank you and very best wishes for future videos 💫😊
Finally :-) Every morning when I startup my Computer, I'm in love with my Babyface!!! Wonderful review! Good points in your final verdict. Thanks a lot, Julian
Hi Julian, any chance of covering any of the other RME interfaces? I would love to see you do one of your deep dives on UCXii or even UFXiii. Regardless of if this is even possible, I really appreciate everything you do on this channel. It is just so helpful. Thank you.
Great review and it totally confirms my experience with this interface. I have this interface around a year now only using for home recording. At the time I was interested in the usb based appollo and the zen go as they seemed to have lots of extra stuff that comes with them which looks pretty cool. I went with the babyface cause I wanted a simple great performing solid interface and it was exactly that. I set total mix to daw mode as I dont use the built in fx and its basically plug and play. And as a home recording guitarist the low latency is fantastic.
Julian Krause is one of the very few RU-vidrs who uses 'sponsor' (and 'advertisement') correctly! Many RU-vidrs abuse the word 'sponsor'. They belief is : - company pays = sponsor - company does not pay = not sponsored They never even say that they are advertising even when they clearly are advertising whether they buy with their own money or not!
Great job Julian Thank you. I’m a huge RME fan. Their support for older devices (FireWire 800in my case) is still awesome. I recommend them to everyone without any reason apart from being awesome!
I love to see the Tascam HR2x2 on second place in noise mic input. :) I switched from two old Firestudio Project interfaces to a HR2x2 + a 16x08. I cannot be happier with them, such clean audio and the units don't produce any heat whatsoever.
Nothing compares to RME! I just cant tell you how much incredibly better the sound out of this is period. And love the no latency! It has saved me in many ways
Don't think I'm ready for this one yet. It is cool to have a company truly dedicated to longterm support through the years. I'll look at the manual. You can learn a lot about a brand on how their manual's written. Glad they painstakingly break down every button. Having great support is just as necessary as great hardware. peace
Hey Julian, amazing as usual. I have to point out, as others have, that RME is STILL supporting HDSP system (Multiface, Digiface) from 21 years ago, AND they even made new Firewire drivers for M1 devices. People will always bemoan the price, then will proceed to switch out their interface every 3-5 years, or as long as it takes for their brand to drop driver support. Also, any chance of reviewing a couple of "vintage" interfaces? Just for fun - might be interesting to see just how far audio quality has (or hasn't) come.
Completely agree! I bought a Multiface 1 many years ago (used ). It hadn't been sold anymore for ages. Then some years back RME released a new firmware for it plus a new driver for... WinXP! Which had been discontinued by Microsoft at the time. It's just an absolutely amazing product support. I only use RMEs now (3 different ones) and will never buy anything else.
@@LeadingMotive Same here, my first experience of RME was a Multiface. Now I'm on a Digiface and ADI-2 FS after owning others and other brands and this is the best sounding setup I've had.
If you are seeing this comment and you're a Mac user please read. Apple has announced that it will no longer be supporting kernel extensions. I purchased the RME Fireface UCX II and while installing the drivers found this out. This means in order for a non thunderbolt device from RME to work you will need to install using the DriverKit option. Doing so means that your interface will not be as stable or robust. RME doesn't tell you this until you start to install the drivers. On the other hand I suppose they could have just not said anything at all but still, I wouldn't have bought this had I known about the discontinued support from Mac.
@@MichaelOCampo2 I spoke with RME directly and they said they don't think Apple will pull the trigger until the DriverKit option more stable. I also spoke with Apogee and they said two things of note being first they don't see Mac OS 15 ending kernel extensions and second Apogee doesn't require kernel extension in order to install their drivers. The thing is I found on their website instructions for installing their drivers and it says something different 🤷
@@MichaelOCampo2 also I must say that I am on the fence about returning the Fireface UCX II. The jump in overall sound quality from my Steinberg UR22C to the Fireface is absolutely phenomenal. I'm currently thinking about just hoping for the best and in the meantime save up for the Lynx converter and probably a Neve preamp.
Simply amazing review. You have definitely impressed me with your ability to focus on important issues, and show the strengths and weaknesses of the product with extreme dignity. It was originally released in 2010. By any standard this is a phenomenal piece of gear that has stood the test of time. That's thanks to its stats and build quality, exceptional business ethics from the entire team at RME, and the fact they have continuously updated the drivers which have been considered some of the best in the recording business. This interface is 12+ years old and they just released a firmware update as well as drivers for the new Apple silicon computers in 2023. Is there any chance we'll get a Neumann MT 48 review soon? They say it has 136 dB of dynamic range. Thanks
I hear RME makes some of the best interfaces around, which this confirms -- thank you! Need to decide between this and the Audiofuse Studio with the extra preamps and reamping ability but maybe lower audio quality.
please be advised, I have the audiofuse studio and the latency ranges from 8ms to 50ms based on buffer size and sample rate. I’ve only used a few times to record vocals, but I didn’t notice a delay. at 1024 buffer for playback, I don’t notice any delays. I’ve heard/read that the latency comes into play with high plugin counts and when using analog gear. an option I’m considering for the future is the motu ultralite mk5. This channel did a review and compared the numbers; the only real rivals are all from the audient interfaces, which are pretty much neck and neck.
I was confused about Rme Babyface pro fs and Audient id14 mkii which one to buy a month ago and bought Audient id14mkii. After watching this video today I am convinced that I have made a good decision. :)
Love my Babyface Pro FS :) The only thing I use when recording something at home (even though I have a couple of analog and tube pre-amps at home as well). It's not something you would use for a studio, but as a portable and/or bedroom interface it's perfect! As long as you plan to record only up to 10 mics at the same time and mix completely ITB, there is really no need for anything more than what the Babyface offers. I guess you could connect a couple of hardware pieces if you connect them through a ADAT pre-amp, if you really wanted to. There are other interfaces better suited for that though. I do wish that the headphone outs were separately controlled, but other than that I can't think of anything I would change with it.
If you see this I would greatly appreciate your advice. I have a dedicated room in my apartment that I've converted into a studio. Is it possible to make semi pro quality audio ITB aside from vocals and acoustic guitar? It's just myself recording so I don't need a lot of I/O. Currently I'm using a Steinberg UR22C and don't know what to upgrade it to or if it would make more sense to spend resources on an AD/DA and a two channel pre of high quality.
@@pikeysrock absolutely. Even vocals and acoustic guitars can sound professional recorded in a bedroom/home studio. If you install proper acoustic dampening in the room (which you should anyways when using monitors) you can record vocals/acoustic guitars without problems. The most important thing is that the vocals are performed well (you can't polish a turd), and for acoustic guitars: that it's played on a good sounding instrument. Next is good sounding microphones, and third a good interface (even better if you have a great sounding pre-amp running into the interface). You don't have to splurge on a separate converter and pre-amps. Todays hybrid audio interfaces are already good enough for 99% of all recordings. Just buy a good interface from brands like RME or UAD. If you are a PC user I would strongly suggest RME for compatibility and quality reasons. Their Fireface 802 (or the newer 802 FS) has practically everything you'd ever need for a bedroom studio interface. If you are a Mac user you could check out the UA Apollo x8, or maybe the MOTU 828 2024 version (works on PC as well, but their drivers doesn't always work 100% for all Windows systems). The 828 2024 version is probably the most bang-for-your-buck interface on the market right now. All of the interfaces I've mentioned have onboard DSP that you can utilize for cue mixes or print to recording, very advanced and powerful mixer/routing software, are expandable through ADAT, super high quality conversion, very transparent pre-amps, great headphone amps, and all should have very low round trip latency figures.
@@nj1255 DUDE THANK YOU FOR REPLYING! That MOTU 828 looks absolutely incredible. I was going to get the Apogee Symphony desktop but this might be the best option. I use a Mac Mini M2 running Logic Pro. The Apollo would be great but I'm not able to spend that much at this time. I think I'm going to go with this MOTU.
@@pikeysrock Both the Apogee Symphony Desktop, MOTU 828 2024 and the Apollo X6 have superb converters and pre-amps. It's more a question of I/O, general component quality and hardware/software support that separates them. I believe that all three manufacturers have excellent software support when it comes to Mac (but all three suck ass in driver support for Windows). I know that there are a ton of 20-30 years old MOTU and Apogee interfaces and converters out there that still are useable, but since the interfaces are Firewire they have become obsolete (mainly because of Apple). I'm not so sure about Universal Audio in terms of component quality and software support, but they have been the "bees-knees" for the last 10 years or so. Although, since they have released their plugins natively know they don't really have the advantage of the onboard DSP anymore. Decide what I/O you need and how long you expect the interface to last you. If it's more than 10 years, the Apollo X6 might not be the safest choice, but at the same time it could also last you 20 years or so, so it's hard to say.
@@soundbelch1600 Initially watching it I just didn't realise who exactly this product was being marketed towards, the price clearly indicates the professional with maybe limited desk space :P
Thank you for this amazing review! I wanted to purchase it but I wasn't sure between babyface vs apollo twin! but now I wanna use this as my main interface so I can add some more in and out channels through ADAT, thank you again Julian and good luck!
Hey Julian, here's another Julian :) Nice review - just one thing I think should be mentioned regarding RME in general: The driver support for their products is second to non. You will most likely never run into the issue of not having proper drivers for your old interface trying to use it with your future system. I think that's is one of the BIG pluses when buying RME stuff and saves you money in the (not so) long run; particularly compared to other brands. For me this was the main reason to get RME interfaces and I will never change that for exactly that reason; besides their state of the art performance as a brand. Best regards Q
Glad to see ESS being used more and more. The Sabre32 series is a wonder chip in numbers and is perfect for audio interface use. Still being that the MOTU series uses the same converter, it's gonna be hard to justify RMEs over 300% pricing (over Motu M2) if in all the engine is the same.
@@andesneko ASlsoIm not entirely convinced of this as the ESS chips are widely used in various other aspects of audio, and have none the controversy. And still, understanding there are worldwide chip shortages, why would RME, being committed to providing the finest audio experience, use an inferior DAC? I can understand them not using AKM if the shortage prevails, but that does not mean using the ESS if there are such irregularities.
@@andesneko So upon reading very heavily in the RME forums, at least for the ADI-1/2 the reason for the change is that the fire at AKM ruined their chip fabrication, but as far as one chip being inferior/superior to another: Regarding Tech Specs: forget the data sheet tech specs. AKM and ESS both have their pros and cons, a simple THD+N comparison won't do it. Additionally we needed to reserve 2.5 dB headroom as that feature of the 4493 DAC should be there as well, and - even more important - the ESS chips do not handle intersample overs as gracefully as AKM chips do. So that headroom is a must - and naturally already steals 2.5 dB of SNR and THD+N. Again, please cite where RME state there is a negative to their usage of ESS and that they regard it inferior? EDIT found RME's youtube video explaining the change,a t kleast for the ADI-2. He literally says the performance differences are very small and negligible.
@@wwlittlejOfficial This is not from a forum: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-43kkU49sRLo.html You need to watch the whole thing and actually understand what he is talking about, but even though they try to make it sound as good as possible and are very honest, it is clear the AKM is better when the feature by feature comparison is done. And I get it, they are selling a product in tough times. Alas, most people should not be able to tell the difference (like I said, it compares well, but it is just not as good).
Built to last - yes; if they maintain drivers and software through changes in computer operating systems and hardware. Thanks for your videos they are invaluable.
RME is known to support their devices for a very long time. They are still releasing updated drivers for interfaces that they released over 20 years ago. They are also one of the first ones to release updated drivers when new versions of MacOS are released as well as validating their Windows drivers when new versions or updates come out.
@Daniel Gaudet That is pleasing to here. I, along with many others, had to swamp TC Electronic Forum with requests and complaints to supply an audio interface driver for Windows 10. The responses by customers grew to over a thousand comments on their forum. TC Electronics' employee became aggressive and called customers all sorts of names in replies and comments. They finally buckled and supplied the firewire driver. We found out they didn't code the driver, and perhaps they didn't want to pay for a third party to update the firewire code. As best as I can recall, this is before Uli and Music Tribe acquired TC Electronic.
They're not cheap but they are absolutely worth it (had one over lockdown that I moved on). Now have a Digiface USB and ADI-2 FS setup which sounds amazing. Really must get the ARC controller for it at some point.
I had the BabyFace Pro FS for 6 months, really loved it, but I replaced it for about the same price by a Motu Ultralite MK5 and I can say the Motu is a more versatile product with even slightly better audio quality. I wanted to try the AKM version of the Babyface Pro FS to see if it sounds better but mine was the one with ESS chips.
I'm also interested in upgrading my Focusrite 2i2 Gen2 interface. Can't decide between RME Babyface Pro FS versus MOTU UltraLite MK5. Do you recommend buying MOTU over RME?
@@burninghead2980 in terms of latency and sound quality they are very close with a slight advantage for Motu Preamps. I found the Motu Cuemix 5 software more intuitive than the RME Totalmix. Also, the MOTU uses a separate power supply that can help to make the USB connection to PC more stable (because some motherboards don't deliver proper USB power to audio interfaces). The Motu downside is, it's a bit bigger and I recommend to buy an high quality USB-C cable to connect it on the PC because the one they provide is a bit cheap.. The advantage of the Babyface is it's smaller and portable, but has much less inputs and outputs, which is something you consider if you want to plug synths and other instruments and to have separate outputs for different set of speakers/headphones amp/surround setup. Let's say the Babyface is good if you're sure you just need 2 XLR inputs and 1 set of stereo monitoring speakers only. For stability and drivers quality, I didn't find any difference between the 2, they both work well on Mac OS and Windows 10. For my usage I prefer the MOTU since I'm working for Post-Production and having so many outputs allow me a future proof setup for Dolby Atmos. Actually the Motu handles my 5+1 monitoring speakers setup. Another advantage for the Motu : the oled screen that is clean and provide better informations and metering than the Babyface.
Hi Thomas, thanks for so deep review of motu, can you answer, does ultralite mk5 supports multiclient operations ? can i use two ASIO DAWs at the same time ? and push some more sound from Foobar on WDM bus in windows ? is it gona be stable as RME ? have Babyface 1st gen, want to upgrade to motu, need more than 2 xlr outputs
@@aloneinthedev Thank you for such a detailed response. I heard that Babyface has cold-technical sound compared to let's say UAD Apollo. Do you find MOTU colors the sound in any way?
@@burninghead2980 I think it depends on your monitoring speakers and your room too. In my case, I use Focal Shapes 65 in a surround setup with a Eve Audio Subwoofer. Compared to the BabyFace Pro FS, I didn't feel any big difference in terms of dynamic or coloration. I use calibration with Sonarworks in an acoustic treated room and I noticed the results were pretty similar between the 2 interfaces, meaning both must be pretty flat which is important for critical listening. I didn't feel MOTU colored the sound in any way, but I didn't feel it either on the Babyface Pro FS. What I can say is, I'm used to work with ProTools HDX System too on much more expensive Genelec speakers, but I found the MOTU to have better DA converters, sound is more detailed compared to the studio setup with the Genelec, especially in the mid-range and low-end. I think what you can do with MOTU or RME interfaces is pretty limitless, the audio quality is much better than systems from 10 years ago that cost 10 times the price. The Babyface has the advantage of portability, the MOTU MK5 has the one in terms of user interface and connections. For post-production, especially in surround or atmos mixing, the MK5 is a bargain. After selling my Babyface, at first I was a bit scared about the MK5 because I was worried about drivers, latency and stability. But I instantly used a new USB C high quality cable, I connected the interface on a USB Chipset that isn't clogged on my motherboard and everything is super stable, I never had a crash, a bug or instability (Mac OS Mojave and Windows 10, using Reaper and Pro Tools 2021). Another good point for the Motu : the 2 XLR inputs have a locking system, the Babyface doesn't have one, and I feel the XLR inputs and outputs aren't stay super in place on the interface, there isn't any satisfying "lock click" when inserting the cable, at any time I feel it can be removed and hurt my mic..
Just discovered your channel, love your videos! Noticed you have no reviews on Universal Audio Apollo Twin, not that but not even any mention in the graph for value references. Planning to do a review on it at any time soon? That would be amazing.
Just purchased one based upon your review, and also as my Audient id44 lacks XLR outputs (dislike TRS to xlr cables). Will follow up when it arrives, it is backordered!
Been waiting for this one. I'd love to see you compare it to an old babyface. They go for around 250-300 euros second hand and I've been thinking that they're a great option in that prince range.
They probably are if you can live with the breakout cable but at the same time it's a crap shoot on how well the previous owner(s) have treated an already decade old device.
You may probably find that it looks scruffy but works perfectly, like mines, been with me since launch and never had a problem with it, neither hardware or software.
As others have said, drivers and long term support of products are unmatched. I agree that a finer EQ on the output and dynamics on the input would put this ting over the top. I'd even pay an extra $100 on the premium price for it. I do wonder how the headroom is on the instrument input compared to the last gen model (I have the last gen pro model). It gets a little dicey with high output passive humbuckers (haven't tried it with active). Though if I do upgrade I think I'll end up with a UCX II. Would probably still keep the babyface and use both.
It's definitely got more headroom for pickups than the first Babyface, that I know from experience. Generally in the RME forum I've seen people asking about how to get more gain using guitar DI when using single coil pickups so something much lower output than high output passives.
Hi julian, your analysis are impeccable. Wondering if you are avoiding Apollo Twin review or we just need to wait a little bit more. Can't wait. Thank you for such a nice job in all your videos.
Finally ! Thanks for outstanding review, Julian! After all i have a couple questions, you said that RME has multiclient ASIO support, i thougt that in 2022 every sound card does that ? no ? ultralite can't handle 2 or more DAWs and sound from WDM bus at the same time ? If i'll power babyface FS with external power supply, would it affect headphones output ? can it give more amplifiering to them ? results are pretty modest, 60mW wouldn't be anough for headphones like Fostex T50rp or some other power hungry magnet planars
Hey Julian, thanks so much for your overall approach, for both very technical information and soft - user info. I'm curious why you don't have the Apollo in your comparison mix? I'm sure there is a reason and I have not watched enough of your videos to know this. I'm trying to compare the Twin X DUO this this RME. You're about the only person I trust on RU-vid. Thanks again for what you do!
Thanks for the always serious and comprehensive review Juian. I really appreciate your tests that gives great no nonsense value to us consumers/customers, and this is no exception. May I suggest that you review the new Motu M4 V2 interface next? I know you testet the old Motu M2 V1 some years ago, but Motu have released new V2 versions of both the M2 and the M4. They are made in China (not in US as the old V1), have new build quality (more secure knobs and XLR), new DAC, new ADC, and new USB-interface chip (close to the ones in the UtraLite Mk5). I am just to buy a new Motu M4 V2, and would love to have _your_ test and opinion first. Thanks!
@@Scott__C It is not reflected on the Motu web site or marketing material, but people who have opened the new 2.0 versions of M4 has seen that it has new DAC, new ADC and new USB-interface chips. It is like a new interface internally, but with the old exterior design. Besides newer and more expensive DAC and ADC, the new 2.0 versions also have a better more robust mechanical design. More screws holding the XLR inputs to the front panel, and less wobbling potetiometers (a typical problem with the old 1.0 sound cards). They have also fixed some old issues on the 1.0 versions, like the noice with 48V on a dynamic mic. It is now totally gone with the new electrical design in the new 2.0 version of M4. As Motu does not officially distingguish between these old 1.0 and the all new 2.0 versions (same article number); here is how to do it your self: * On the bottom of the 2.0 sound card it now sais "MADE IN CHINA" (instead of "Assembled in USA"). * In the control panel check "Firmware version". The new 2.0 hardware revisions all have 2.x as firmware version (old 1.0 sound cards have always 1.x) * Check the front panel: 2.0 sound cards have two screws fastening each XLR inputs (old 1.0 only has one screw per XLR input)
I think for the price and performance the Motu Ultralite mk5 is an excellent choice over the RME, maybe their higher units are beyond better but I don't justify the price, $400 difference.
@@soundbelch1600 Whoa... Thomann, FS is $666 (hello), and mk5 is $679. In the US, FS is $999 everywhere, mk5 is $595 at Sweetwater. Currently OOS at Thomann, but. $27 shipping to Arizona. That's excluding VAT. I think the US is excluded? Would be nice. Odd that it's OOS at Scan and Thomann, though.
@@soundbelch1600 Ah, gotcha. Leaning that way. RME driver support and the latencies are seriously tempting (amp sims), but not at that markup. Which knocks me down to half of what I was planning to spend, which is nice. Don't need all the ins/outs anymore, but mk5 latencies are still pretty good. Thanks for the advice :)
Another fantastic video. Thanks for that! Have you considered doing a review of the Apogee Duet 3? I'd love to see how it stacks up against interfaces like this RME and a lot of others around this price point. Preamp noise, frequency response and AD/DA converters etc are all aspects of the Duet 3 that I haven't been able to find much into about. Cheers! R
Have you ever thought about checking mixing desk interface performance, for example Midas MR18, a massive amount of input and output and also a massive amount of DSP, when you consider the price point it is a very viable option!
Everyone knows that RME drivers are extremely good, and updated immediately when a new OS comes out. I would immediately buy it if another couple of output would be present. To play live I desperately need that... So sorry
Hey Julian, great content as usual. On the very low end, could you review the Behringer UCA202/222? :D Always interesting to see how the cheapest cra...stuff performs.
For a bus powered device it’s pretty good! However if you can plug something in it’s worth it. Whilst there is a lot of praise for the device, I upgraded to an Apollo Twin Xrecently and you can hear the improvement. Noticeably more power in the headphone amp, some subtle depth from the DAC. I also cannot get on totally, despite using it for years I just don’t find it intuitive. It’s a great device but lacks a certain feel. Functional, but not arty. Great for plugin makers - those that need very clinical.
i went from an apollo twin x to the rme and the conversion sounds basically the same. not sure what you're on about or why you'd want an audio interface to color the sound you hear which is what you're implying. uad console is definitely way easier and nicer to use than total mix though.
@@giles3211 it’s subtle ad I don’t think either colours the sound as such. For me the swap was just about having access to those unison amps which are great. Plus yes the console is a refreshing change.
Thanks Julian. The problem I see is the need of too many adapters because they did not put two large headphones inputs, also a combo XLR would be great together with balanced inputs on the side.
