I've finally created a login so that I could share my experience with the Motu 8D with AES/EBU input capable speakers.
Been lurking for a few years here.
@pauldavidthomas
Yes, you can go Mac->USB->MOTU 8D->AES-> whatever
.
Without another AES convertor.
Another option is use AVB (i have the assumption you have an Ethernet port on your Mac)
Mac -> Ethernet (AVB) > Motu 8D -> AES -> ...
You can use the Mac's wireless for your normal network connectivity unless you have AVB switch (from what i gathered but didn't think i need to get any yet).
I run mine via AVB (to me, it's technically 'better' for this application than USB) from the Mac and connect the USB to a PC.
I did run in a small problem initially that when playing off AVB from the Mac, there would a some noise every 95 seconds.
I thought it was the speakers but the noise was present on the 8D headphone output too so that rules out the downstream devices.
After no joy finding solution on the web, I found that changing the switch clock mode from internal clock to the correct AVB Input Stream solved this issue for me.
There is however another problem which I've yet to solve. If you clock the 8D via AVB stream, the USB input will have a small dropout every ~8.6 seconds.
Clocking it to the USB, the AVB stream will have the noise issue every ~95s.
It will play both AVB and USB simultaneously (below) but you will have one of the above issues depending on which clock mode is used.
There are also some little other caveats but have yet to reach out to Motu support as i've only had the 8D for just a week.
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I too use SoundSource mainly for its ability to use AU plugins.
Check out the Headphone EQ if you use headphones. A huge improvement (and convenience!) for your headphones!