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Hey gang:
I am going to be buying a PC audio interface soon - it's going to be 8 channels of D/A, probably Firewire or PCI (not USB). Not sure whether I need 24/192 yet, but 24/96 for sure. I have been looking at the following interfaces:
MOTU UltraLite-mk3 $550
MOTU 828mk3 $750
Motu Traveller $850
TC Electronic Studio Konnekt 48 $1000
RME Multiface II (PCI or PCIe) $1150
The next step up (which may cause divorce) takes me to:
RME Fireface $1700
Lynx Aurora8 $2200
The stuff I KNOW I can't/won't afford quite yet:
Apogee Rosetta 800 or Lavry Blue. (Dare to dream).
Here is my thinking: If I figure I don't NEED 24/192 capability (this is for a tri-amped playback system) then I might be best off with the RME Multiface - for $1150 I probably won't get 8 channels with better clocks and D/A. MOTU gets me into 24/192 for a lot less money than RME, but sound quality trumps max sample rate in this app of mine. (I have very little 24/192 material to play back, and I am not even sure I will have that much to play back in the future anyways - depending on the direction of hi-res blue-ray and hi-res downloads).
So the big question is: how much better is the RME clock and D/A than the MOTU stuff? And which MOTU unit (if any) begins to compete sonically with the RME Multiface? And how big is the jump from Motu to RME compared with, say, the jump from RME to Lavry or Apogee?
Any input from you recording "audio interface" gurus would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Presto
Follow Ups:
Hey Presto, sorry about the late reply... I just now saw this thread (I think).
Not sure what your app is, but you might also want to look at the M-Audio ProFire 8-preamp unit and the Presonus thingies. They both have Firewire interfaces. Lastly, and this may be outdated news, but I've heard that the Firewire 800 is a bit problematic as compared to Firewire 400.
-t
I'd suggest you add the Presonus FireStudio audio strip to your list. They've finally become stable and are in the pro-sumer range of pricing.
A couple of other things for you to consider:
- Multiple mic pres: Why are you wanting them? If you're planning on playback only, why go there?
- Stability of drivers: This is where the rubber meets the road with many, many of the pro-sumer audio interfaces, IME. That is many of the producers of pro-sumer level gear do not have a good track record of delivering stable, functional and robust drivers especially for the PC world - I don't have a Mac so can't comment there.
Go to places like Gearslutz _and_ the vendor's own forums to see the complaints and functional requests being made to get a idea of the issues here. Generally, Motu, Presonus and many of the smaller pro-sumer vendors are only now getting reasonably stable and latentency-efficient drivers onto their respective platforms - even while they've expanded their product lines. I believe one of the problems here has been that they've not been able to hire really knowledgeable driver developers until the economy turned down.
- Hi-rez: 24/96 or 24/192, etc: Unless you are making live-on-site multichannel recordings, I can't see why you'd want to do far more than 24/96 at this time. I would be nice to do better, but it will depend on the resolution you need. For playback of prerecorded material, this is pretty much controlled by the source which you have no control over.
- Consumer/Pro-sumer/Pro: Generally, I bucket these 3 segments in this way:
- Consumer: the little 2-mic input boxes marketed to a guy with a guitar in his bedroom. Generally, not over $300 or so.
- Pro-sumer: That market for multichannel mic-pre-laden audio interfaces that come in blocks of 8 preamps per strip. Motu/Presonus, etc fall into this category. Some, like the Presonus have add-on devices like the Monitor Station Remote, that makes the guy in his bedroom feel like he's operating a 'real' studio with talk-back, etc. Its still a romper-room sort of thing in that it is used casually but _could_ be put to good use in the proper skilled hands. Prices here will not exceed $1,000.
- Pro: This gear is designed, marketed to and sold to those very skilled hands. They are priced accordingly and will start in the high hundreds of $$ to well into the 5-digit range. RME, Lavray and other devices you see discussed at places like Gearslutz fit into this category. The focus here is on recording capabilities first rather than playback.
Hope that helps.
Cheers,
David
Stay away from MOTU!
Don't sound particularly well and work particularly badly with PCs. Fine with Macs though.
I'd recommend Echo Audio interfaces as they sound easily as good as anything RME has to offer.
You'd need to go to Apogee Rosetta or Lavry to get anything appreciably better.
They are also a lot cheaper then even MOTU and rock solid!
My own AudioFire 12 does twelve channels of 24/96 fully duplex without breaking a sweat.
I don't know if this will get to you or not, but here goes...
I am considering a multichannel audio interface similar to those by RME Fireface 800, Lynx Aurora 16, T. C. electronics Konnekt 48, etc., for a computer based crossover/room correction system for my Magnepan "Frankenpans" (which, in case you are not familiar with them, are custom built and highly modified Magnepan planar speakers).
See my post http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/vt.mpl?f=mug&m=190042 in the Planar Speaker Asylum for more info.
I was searching to see if this gear is adequate for my purposes. Others have used the Lynx Aurora 8 and found it to be quite adequate, obtaining excellent results. In an attempt to save some bucks, I concentrated on the Konnekt 48, as I own an Impact Twin from the same company, and the Konnekt 48 has 12 channels. I came across your recommendation on the Echo Audiofire 12 and started looking into that as an even cheaper alternative. When I thought about it further, it made good sense that the quality would be as good as RME or Lynx because the Echo unit does not have all the bells and whistles that the others do, nor does it have any Mic preamps.
My question is this. Do you still feel the same way about the Echo Audiofire? Has your opinion changed any? Do you think it would be as good as an RME or Lynx? Would you recommend anything else? Anything you can tell me about it would be very helpful. Thanks!!
MOTU is stable in a properly set up system- the drivers are rock solid and mine has been stellar for 5 years.
Having said that, if I were to look again, I'd go with the RME in your list.
If I could add to your list, I would pick up the UA Apollo. Then you're set for a verrrrry long time!
I am considering a multichannel audio interface similar to those by RME Fireface 800, Lynx Aurora 16, T. C. electronics Konnekt 48, etc., for a computer based crossover/room correction system for my Magnepan "Frankenpans" (which, in case you are not familiar with them, are custom built and highly modified Magnepan planar speakers).
See my post http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/vt.mpl?f=mug&m=190042 in the Planar Speaker Asylum for more info.
I was searching to see if this gear is adequate for my purposes. Others have used the Lynx Aurora 8 and found it to be quite adequate, obtaining excellent results. In an attempt to save some bucks, I concentrated on the Konnekt 48, as I own an Impact Twin from the same company, and the Konnekt 48 has 12 channels. I came across your recommendation on the Echo Audiofire 12 and started looking into that as an even cheaper alternative. When I thought about it further, it made good sense that the quality would be as good as RME or Lynx because the Echo unit does not have all the bells and whistles that the others do, nor does it have any Mic preamps.
My question is this. Do you still feel the same way about the Audiofire? Has your opinion changed any? Do you think it would be as good as an RME or Lynx? Would you recommend anything else? Anything you can tell me about it would be very helpful. Thanks!!
Thanks B.
I have been looking at the Echo Layla 3G PCI and the Echo Audio Firewire 8 channel. The 12 channel is nicer - 24/192 capable and gosh is just looks so much nicer!
I have also been looking at a rare breed - the ESI ESP1010e. ESI stuff is supposed to sound good and lots of guys on PC Audio forum love the 2-channel PCI card from ESI, the Julia. The neat thing about the ESI gear is the "Directwire 3.0" software which makes routing between audio busses very intuitive.
I'll see if I can audition an Echo!
Thanks for the input.
Cheers,
Presto
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