Motu M4 Audio Interface Review

[umbral]

Do any M4 owners have any issues with volume jumps from barely turning the monitor output volume knobs?

I usually find that around 9pm on the volume knob is a bit quieter than I'd like, but then turning the knob just a tiny bit is a bit too loud while I'm at my work from home desk. After the "bit too loud" position of the volume knob, it seems like the control is a bit more reasonable when I start listening at louder volumes. It's almost like there's an irregular volume bump on what I'd otherwise expect to be a linear volume increase.

I don't have this issue with the Audient iD14 mkII I am testing, which I believe goes up 2db per rotational click on the knob. The iD14 uses a multifunction free rotating knob in place of a potentiometer.

Still in warranty ? Return it for fixing.

 

[lizhuoyin]

Do any M4 owners have any issues with volume jumps from barely turning the monitor output volume knobs?

I usually find that around 9pm on the volume knob is a bit quieter than I'd like, but then turning the knob just a tiny bit is a bit too loud while I'm at my work from home desk. After the "bit too loud" position of the volume knob, it seems like the control is a bit more reasonable when I start listening at louder volumes. It's almost like there's an irregular volume bump on what I'd otherwise expect to be a linear volume increase.

I don't have this issue with the Audient iD14 mkII I am testing, which I believe goes up 2db per rotational click on the knob. The iD14 uses a multifunction free rotating knob in place of a potentiometer.

I was using REW to monitor dBFS changes while turning the master knob clockwise. The changes before 9 o'clock are faster than after. So, I think it's normal.

 

[txbdan]

Yeh I very very rarely go past 12 on the dial with my Genelecs set to their lowest sensitivity. Lots of gain early on the dial. It is very smooth though, no jumps or skips

 

[JeffGB]

I have both the MOTU M4 and the Audient iD14 MII and the volume control on the MOTU is smooth with no jumps in volume with a tiny move or anything like that. I have a Crown XLS 1500 that I run with it and I have tried various settings of the level controls on the Crown to move the range of the MOTU volume control around and found no rough or super fast changes. The Audient has a different feel, of course, because it has multiple rotations of the control available. I actually thought the MOTU M4 volume control to be excellent. It has hard stops and a proper marking along with no noise or imbalance.

 

[Vict0r]

My Motu M4's volume control is a bit finicky before 11 o' clock. Sudden increases, in unpredictable increments. After 11' it's much smoother. I never listen at those volumes, though, so I often have to fiddle with the volume wheel to get the proper level. Not great, but not a deal breaker for me.

 

[jae]

Did not bother to check the thread so apologies if it was mentioned, but there was a recent driver update about 3-4 weeks ago which improved performance with low buffer sizes.

 

[Margar]

I bought one of these shortly after release and I love it. I run the balanced monitor outputs to my t.Racks DSP204 for my speakers and the unbalanced line outputs to my JDS Labs Atom, since the headphone amp simply isn't up to par for HD650s and AKG K712 Pros.

One cool thing is that the balanced and unbalanced outputs can all be used at the same time, so I could, e.g., use the balanced line outs for a balanced headphone amp concurrently with the unbalanced line outs running to my Bottlehead Crack (although this doesn't work in practice due to my PC ground loops...).

Is it alone so bad with the AKG K712? I was planing on using just the M2 connected to my PC :-/

 

[AdamG]

Is it alone so bad with the AKG K712? I was planing on using just the M2 connected to my PC :-/

Welcome Aboard @Margar.

 

[Severian]

Is it alone so bad with the AKG K712? I was planing on using just the M2 connected to my PC :-/

I have to max out of the volume pot on the M4 headphone output to get the K712 Pros to sound loud, and that's after disabling my typical EQ profile that has a -6.5dB preamp gain. It sounds alright (I'm testing it out right now) but there is no headroom for quieter music or EQ.

I don't see that as a mark against the MOTU, it's just that the K712 Pros are very demanding headphones.

 

[lc155]

Yeah, the Motu volume pot has way too much juice in the lower half of it, I had mine barely turned up with Genelcs and fine-tuning it was a pain.

 

[Severian]

I haven't had any issues with my M4 volume control. I think it's excellent.

 

[lizhuoyin]

Yeah, the Motu volume pot has way too much juice in the lower half of it, I had mine barely turned up with Genelcs and fine-tuning it was a pain.

Did you try lowering Genelec's input sensitivity to have a better volume range? Or use a -20dB pad.

 

[lc155]

Did you try lowering Genelec's input sensitivity to have a better volume range? Or use a -20dB pad.

I did. Still wasn't enough.

 

[Trailblazin]

Is the M4 still the best Interface in the price range it's in, headphone amp weaknesses aside?

 

[lizhuoyin]

Is the M4 still the best Interface in the price range it's in, headphone amp weaknesses aside?

It's still my top choice if I needed one now.

 

[Trailblazin]

It's still my top choice if I needed one now.

Good to know, I may need a new interface and I've been eyeing the M4 for a while, I wonder if any driver updates have improved the ADC performance since the review?

 

[sharpty]

headphone amp weaknesses aside

Even with the mediocre power output, it can drive my 150ohm HD58X to painful levels.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Good to know, I may need a new interface and I've been eyeing the M4 for a while, I wonder if any driver updates have improved the ADC performance since the review?

In what way would they? There is little you can do to influence it, the choice of digital filter and possibly ADC sample rate and SRC are about the only things I can think of, and even that is more the responsibility of firmware than the drivers themselves.

 

[andrewjohn007]

A question for those of you familiar with macOS Midi Audio, JRiver and the M4/M2 line up...

Would it be possible to use the macOS Midi Audio Setup to create an Aggregate Device (M4 & M2 = 6 analog outs) so that you could use JRiver's DSP Studio's Output Format plug-in to produce 5.1 Surround Sound?

If so, could one combine two M4s and produce 7.1 Surround Sound using the same method?

Trying to create an alternative in light of the current Okto DAC8 supply issues...

I am always open to suggestions regarding alternative interfaces or software...

 

[jdubs]

Anyone using the m4 with moode audio and camilladsp?

-Jim