MOTU UltraLite-mk5 Review (Audio Interface)

[Davide]

Sorry but English is not my strong point ... someone kindly explains to me what this wording in the manual means?

Quarter-inch line outputs are not cross-coupled. Therefore, when connecting them to an unbalanced input, use a TRS plug with the ring disconnected. Not floating the negative terminal will short it to the sleeve ground and cause distortion.

Which is the ring to be disconnected?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Sorry but English is not my strong point ... someone kindly explains to me what this wording in the manual means?

Quarter-inch line outputs are not cross-coupled. Therefore, when connecting them to an unbalanced input, use a TRS plug with the ring disconnected. Not floating the negative terminal will short it to the sleeve ground and cause distortion.

Which is the ring to be disconnected?

In a balanced connection Tip is normally (+) and ring is (-) with the sleeve grounded. So going into an unbalanced input they don't want the ring grounded out to sleeve (which is usually how such cables are made). So you'd want to disconnect the ring connection. Or that is how I read it.

 

[Bamboszek]

Tip (3), ring (2) and sleeve (1) are name of contacts of TRS (stereo or balanced) Jack connector.
That means if you want to connect one of MOTU 6.3mm outputs to RCA for example, you need TRS Jack - RCA, TS (two contact) Jack to RCA wont work.

 

[mdsimon2]

They are referring to the "ring" of a tip - ring - sleeve (TRS) connector. The ring is the middle section of a TRS connector as shown in the image below.

Configuration 10 in the link below for a non-cross coupled output stage shows exactly what MOTU is recommending with no connection to the ring.

RANE Commercial - Knowledge Base

Rane Commercial

www.ranecommercial.com

Michael

 

[Davide]

Has anyone by any chance measured the jitter rejection on Toslink / ADAT inputs?
I am considering using these instead of USB as I am having audio dropout issues (possibly related to ASIO drivers).

 

[jtwrace]

Has anyone by any chance measured the jitter rejection on Toslink / ADAT inputs?
I am considering using these instead of USB as I am having audio dropout issues (possibly related to ASIO drivers).

I would work to solve the dropout issues. I use one without any sort of dropout issue as do many others that I know of.

 

[Davide]

I would work to solve the dropout issues. I use one without any sort of dropout issue as do many others that I know of.

It would be cool ... but on other forums there are people who have the same problem and have already tried everything including the replacement, but no solution. Obviously now I'll do some tests, but since the problem is random I could go crazy...

 

[mdsimon2]

I have not measured it but I’ve used the TOSLINK and SPDIF inputs without issue. As everything else on this thing is competently designed I would surprised if there was an issue.

Curious about the drop outs though. What is your setup? How long are the drop outs? Complete silence or crackling?

Michael

 

[jtwrace]

It would be cool ... but on other forums there are people who have the same problem and have already tried everything including the replacement, but no solution. Obviously now I'll do some tests, but since the problem is random I could go crazy...

What source are you feeding the Motu with?

 

[Davide]

Dropouts is about 1/2 or 1/4 second of total silence also showed by level indicator of the Mk5 (but not by indicator of DAW).
No clics, no pops, indeed ... it also looks pretty soft like drop ... not sharp like 1-0-1.
And there is no signal delay.
So it seems absence of audio stream somewhere between software and interface (drivers...).
But everything is up to date.
The fact that it shows up after a couple of hours from switching on makes me think of a buffer / clock drift or thermal overheating problem (I had read somewhere that the XMOS chips has this issue).

 

[Davide]

Sorry I forgot .. I have a Dell laptop with Win11

 

[jtwrace]

Sorry I forgot .. I have a Dell laptop with Win11

Have you tried W10? Make sure firmware of the Motu is up to date. Also, make sure the BIOS of the computer is up to date too.

 

[redeyes]

You should contact Motu support, not start doing random things.

 

[Trell]

I definitely agree! Having on-device delay is so useful and avoids having to round-trip to the host. I wish the RME ADI-2 also had a delay option.

There used to be standalone S/PDIF-in / S/PDIF-out boxes you could buy that allowed you to dial in a specific amount of delay, aimed mostly at people wanting to solve lipsync problems with the digital outs of their TVs, but they seem to be pretty hard to find these days. PartsExpress has stopped selling the one they used to sell.

I could add a on-device delay for audio using my new RME Fireface UCX II and its Echo FX from a tip I saw on RME Audio user forums. Works well enough for me in that the delay is in steps of 10ms.

New (2021) RME Fireface UCX II

It's not the multichannel version of ADI-2 FS PRO DAC/ADC that I've been dreaming of but it's closer and definitely stellar specs and improvement over Mk 1 . https://www.rme-audio.de/fireface-ucx-ii.html I like this feature :

www.audiosciencereview.com

(Unofficial) RME UCX II Interface Review and Measurements

Hi Here are some measurements of the new RME UCX II Interface Please apologize if there is any error here. Don't hesitate to ask or flag in case of doubt. The RME UCX II is a new small USB interface from RME, belonging to the UFX II and UFX+ family. Its small size (1/2 rack wide and 1U high)...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[BeerBear]

I would work to solve the dropout issues. I use one without any sort of dropout issue as do many others that I know of.

The issues with the MOTUs are known and there is seemingly no permanent fix. They affect the UltraLite-mk5 and the M2/M4. I've been following the threads on Gearspace since they were released.
But only some users are affected, while others (I guess the majority) have no problems.
It's a shame, because otherwise these are pretty good sound cards.

(Also, using Windows 11 is asking for troubles. I doubt switching to 10 will fix it, but officially that's the only supported OS right now.)

 

[Davide]

You should contact Motu support, not start doing random things.

Regarding this problem Motu assistance is groping in the dark ... probably their technical staff cannot reproduce the problem on their systems.

 

[BoredErica]

Motu is out of stock everything until mid Feb... Oh well, guess I gotta wait.
How is the firmware/software stuff now? Everything all smooth and fixed?

 

[Noodles]

Regarding this problem Motu assistance is groping in the dark ... probably their technical staff cannot reproduce the problem on their systems.

If they are using the general xmos driver then you should check if the streaming is “always on” or “when needed”. Especially if the dropouts are at the beginning of playback or whenever you have silence in between sound playing.
Either way if they expose the setting or you can expose it yourself - I would try that.
I wrote a thing a while ago: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...os-driver-settings-for-no-cutoff-delay.25838/

 

[mdsimon2]

Motu is out of stock everything until mid Feb... Oh well, guess I gotta wait.
How is the firmware/software stuff now? Everything all smooth and fixed?

There was a firmware update since the review. I've been running at 96 kHz and had all EQs turned off so I did not notice any difference with the new firmware. I did just run a stepped frequency sweep at 192 kHz with all EQs turned on and the distortion rise at low frequencies is completely gone.

Michael

 

[BoredErica]

Is there a way to set up a macro so a button on my keyboard can switch between headphone or speaker output? If you use speakers and headphones with the Motu, how do you switch between the two for maximum convenience?