• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Motu M2 Review (Audio Interface)

dshreter

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Dec 31, 2019
Messages
807
Likes
1,254
I don't have much to add of substance, but I'd always owned "hifi" components, and completely overlooked products like the M2 previously. I just swapped out a stack of Naim separates and passive speakers for a Motu M2 and Neumann monitors on my desk and I couldn't be happier. This thing is really a treat to use and surprisingly versatile.
 

Backflash

Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2021
Messages
51
Likes
26
How this M2 dac compare to those topping or smsl dac with similar price?
This is a good guideline for price/performance choice.
 

kdejaeger

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2018
Messages
10
Likes
0
Can someone help me decide ... . I'm a bedroom producer/dj. Mostly melodic house & techno. Always loved high quality gear, but not freaky expensive. In need for some better gear. I am going to buy 2 krk g4 rp5 studio monitors and own an hd 600 and behringer dt 1990 pro. Now just need to add a dac/headphone combo to match this gear. I could buy this device and call it a day. I mostly am concerned about how it sounds, so the DAC quality. And how would it sound different to the topping a30pro (or is this overkill in my case) or even the cheaper minifuse 1 (the one with the older CS4272 tech. Would I be able to hear the difference? iiWi reviews always has so many details about how it sounds, and I really liked his description of the topping device as leaning for electronic music. I don't understand everything.

Any thoughts? I'm actually leaning towards the minifuse 1 right now.
 
Last edited:

dshreter

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Dec 31, 2019
Messages
807
Likes
1,254
Can someone help me decide ... . I'm a bedroom producer/dj. Mostly melodic house & techno. Always loved high quality gear, but not freaky expensive. In need for some better gear. I am going to buy 2 krk g4 rp5 studio monitors and own an hd 600 and behringer dt 1990 pro. Now just need to add a dac/headphone combo to match this gear. I could buy this device and call it a day. I mostly am concerned about how it sounds, so the DAC quality. And how would it sound different to the topping a30pro (or is this overkill in my case) or even the cheaper minifuse 1 (the one with the older CS4272 tech. Would I be able to hear the difference? iiWi reviews always has so many details about how it sounds, and I really liked his description of the topping device as leaning for electronic music. I don't understand everything. Any thoughts?
You have absolutely nothing to worry about in relation to the DAC.
 

AnalogSteph

Major Contributor
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
3,371
Likes
3,317
Location
.de
How important is the recording side to you?

With your headphones being on the mid-high impedance side, the greater flexibility and higher output levels achieved by combining a $100 interface like the Minifuse with a $100-ish headphone amp (Schiit Magni Heresy, JDS Labs Atom Amp) as an "afterburner" may be worth it, there's really no interface with that amount of output. As good as the M2 is, the headphone out tops out at about 3 Vrms, which should generally get the job done but in a production environment you tend to need some more gain than in playback (as a rule of thumb, I would should for maybe 6 dB more output than playback baseline, which would generally be ~2 Vrms for your kind of cans, so ~4 Vrms).

For another all-in-one solution, the Audient iD4 / iD14 MkII interfaces would provide more than enough output, just as long as your computer sports a Type C USB connection.

While the trusty CS4272 sports a more modest DAC dynamic range than the more modern options, it is still good enough when combined with an analog output level control, it's not like you need more than 108 dB(A) worth of instantaneous dynamic range very often anyway. As a rule of thumb, you want the noise floor in headphones to be <20 dB SPL, so you could have the volume adjusted to be hitting 120 dB SPL peaks here (which is more than generous and about 8 Vrms into HD600s) and would still be fine. If you have a fancy DAC, you can merely do away with some complexity in the analog stage as well as pot channel tracking issues.
 

kdejaeger

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2018
Messages
10
Likes
0
I don't really care about the recording side. Just the outputs.Thanks for the tips. Looks like the audient matches better indeed for the 250/300ohm headphones. Plus it has more up to date DAC chips. Looks a bit uglier though.
 

buedi

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2021
Messages
7
Likes
4
I am on the fence getting the M2 and I have seen that Motu released a new Firmware a few days ago here: https://motu.com/en-us/download/

Unfortunately I can not find any changelog. Did someone with an M2 already install the new firmware and can experience a change here or there?
 

Trell

Major Contributor
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
2,752
Likes
3,285
I am on the fence getting the M2 and I have seen that Motu released a new Firmware a few days ago here: https://motu.com/en-us/download/

Unfortunately I can not find any changelog. Did someone with an M2 already install the new firmware and can experience a change here or there?

I downloaded the MOTU M-Series Updater.zip and Microsoft Defender flagged it as containing Trojan:Script/Oneeva.A!ml

Time to run some extensive scans of my PC.
 

Longshan

Active Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2021
Messages
230
Likes
259
I downloaded the MOTU M-Series Updater.zip and Microsoft Defender flagged it as containing Trojan:Script/Oneeva.A!ml

Time to run some extensive scans of my PC.
What is the point of the update??
 

buedi

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2021
Messages
7
Likes
4
No idea. I downloaded to see if there was any readme in the zipfile.
That´s exactly what I did too, hoping that there is a readme. Instead there is only the installer. But since I do not have a Unit yet, I did not start the installer. I hoped that it shows what changed when it installs the firmware. It´s a mystery... everything else seems to be very well documented on the Motu homepage.
 

mrbungle

Active Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2021
Messages
177
Likes
175
Location
Boston
Didn’t update anything for me, so I suspect it’s only a fix to the update tool itself. Like support for Windows 11 or macOS Monterey.
 

Longshan

Active Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2021
Messages
230
Likes
259
Didn’t update anything for me, so I suspect it’s only a fix to the update tool itself. Like support for Windows 11 or macOS Monterey.
For some reason, I can't get the downloads page to open. I tried using Safari and Brave.
 

Trell

Major Contributor
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
2,752
Likes
3,285
That´s exactly what I did too, hoping that there is a readme. Instead there is only the installer. But since I do not have a Unit yet, I did not start the installer. I hoped that it shows what changed when it installs the firmware. It´s a mystery... everything else seems to be very well documented on the Motu homepage.

I opened a ticket with MOTU for the detection of a trojan, but they could not reproduce it and nor could I in the new download they provided.

NOTU said the update was general bug fixes and improvements, though they’ve not yet replied to my question of new firmware version number and why the updater does not recognize my M2. My experience is that they respond quickly so I’ll just wait as I’m in a different time zone.
 

mrbungle

Active Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2021
Messages
177
Likes
175
Location
Boston
I opened a ticket with MOTU for the detection of a trojan, but they could not reproduce it and nor could I in the new download they provided.

NOTU said the update was general bug fixes and improvements, though they’ve not yet replied to my question of new firmware version number and why the updater does not recognize my M2. My experience is that they respond quickly so I’ll just wait as I’m in a different time zone.
I saw a change log for the drivers, but not sure the firmware changed.

You need to press the monitor button for input 2 when you turn on the device.
 

Trell

Major Contributor
Joined
May 13, 2021
Messages
2,752
Likes
3,285
I saw a change log for the drivers, but not sure the firmware changed.

You need to press the monitor button for input 2 when you turn on the device.

Not in the downloaded zip file where there any changelog, but I've not checked the MOTU homepage today if any is added there.

My M2 was in update mode as instructed by the updater firmware and I could see the "Update..." text on the LCD screen on it.
 

mrbungle

Active Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2021
Messages
177
Likes
175
Location
Boston

Not sure, my mac firmware updater told me it is on the latest firmware when in update mode.
 
Top Bottom