MOTU UltraLite-mk5 Review (Audio Interface)

[Music1969]

But they are using a standalone src chip to do this, not DSP or FPGA.

SRC = DSP

 

[Davide]

These two articles displays r1.6 internals

声卡领域的产业革命已悄然降临，这一切始于 MOTU UltraLite mk5 - Midifan：我们关注电脑音乐

声卡领域的产业革命已悄然降临，这一切始于 MOTU UltraLite mk5,midifan：我们关注电脑音乐

m.midifan.com

MOTU UltraLite MK5 звуковой интерфейс

MOTU UltraLite MK5 – профессиональный звуковой интерфейс с двумя предусилителями, микшером и аппаратным DSP

prosound.ixbt.com

This video shows r3 pcb

Mk5 Teardown • DcSoundOp

MOTU Ultralite mk5 teardown in 4k with data-sheets linked in the description and lots of hi-res angles of the electronics inside!

www.dcsoundop.com

Does anyone have any idea why all those blue capacitors appeared? Could it be that they weren't needed before?

 

[PureLIN]

Does anyone have any idea why all those blue capacitors appeared?

They also change the FPGA from Altera MAX10 to Lattice LFEU5, emm......

 

[Music1969]

Due to worldwide component supply issues the last couple of years?

 

[SteveW]

Does anyone have any idea why all those blue capacitors appeared? Could it be that they weren't needed before?

They are next to the 6 input sockets and there's 12 of them, so 2 per input. So very likely due to the switch from AKM to ESS analog-to-digital converters.

What is interesting is that on the older revision PCBs, there's already sockets for them, so maybe MOTU was already planning to switch to ESS or at least wanted to keep that door open.

 

[Silra]

I replaced my old Steinberg UR22mk2 (that I only used to connect microphones), with a Motu UltraLite mk5 to add some flexibility to my analog I/O and for the integrated gate and compression that it offers on the microphone inputs.

I already had a Topping D90 DAC and a THX AAA 789 headphone amplifier alongside of this to feed a Sennheiser HD 800 S.

I had initially connected the UltraLite's main outs to the unbalanced inputs on the THX 789 so that I could swap inputs on the THX 789 as needed.

Honestly? ... I just removed the Topping D90 from the setup and connected the UltraLite's main outs to the balanced inputs on the THX 789.

I am incapable of hearing any difference. I tried level-matched A/B comparison - they are the same. Nor, after looking through the measurements of the two products on ASR, would I expect to be able to hear any difference, especially since the THX 789 can handle the full 7.5Vrms. I did not need the 384khz, 768khz, or DSD on the D90 anyway.


One amazing feature of the UltraLite mk5 that I did not expect is that you can use the full set of computer USB outputs (8 stereo outputs) in every one of the 8 mixes and select any one of them as the mix used for loopback.

You just need to change an option in CueMix that was introduced in a recent firmware but was left completely undocumented in the manual: 'Mix USB Channels' can be changed from 'Default' to 'Additional'. This inserts all computer USB channels in to each mix! Change the output of individual programs in Windows 'App volume and device preferences' to the UltraLite's various USB outputs, and set up the mixes and loopback in CueMix.

Suddenly you have granual control over what you hear and what you record or stream. You can even route either through outboard gear if you wanted.

 

[Ibanez]

Hello, i ask here, in an fairly active thread.
If using an interface as multichannel dac with use of Acourate as dsp.crossover or similar programs.
Do you direct route usb in to corresponding line-outs, ex, usb in ch 1 to line-out 1 or do you route it through the interfaces mixer first?

And if running through mixer, what is the correct panning of the l/r channels?

If I route through mixer on my Antelope OSSC and pan left max left (-30) and right max right (+30) it doesn't sound right, but if I do -/+ 15, it sounds better. But the bass dissappears, through the mixer for some weird reason.

And if i route direct without the mixer involved, the sound feels like it's duller and more bassy. Like the panning is on zero (pr is ut called mono, and I don't think it shoud behave like this, but I can ofcourse have misunderstood something.

Kind regards

 

[Davide]

SRC = DSP

Back to this topic... I don't understand what happens if I have, example, a toslink source at 44.1kHz connected to Mk5 set at 96kHz.
No signal is acquired? Or the internal DSP performs the src?

 

[mdsimon2]

Back to this topic... I don't understand what happens if I have, example, a toslink source at 44.1kHz connected to Mk5 set at 96kHz.
No signal is acquired? Or the internal DSP performs the src?

If you have clock source set to optical and the Mk5 rate set to 96 kHz and send a 44.1 kHz signal via TOSLINK it won’t lock and you will get no output.

If you have the clock source set to internal and the Mk5 rate set to 96 kHz and send a 44.1 kHz signal via TOSLINK you will get output but it will sound terrible as described here -> https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s/rpi4-camilladsp-tutorial.29656/post-1575493. Not sure what is actually occurring but needless to say operating in this manner is not recommended.

Michael

 

[Davide]

If you have clock source set to optical and the Mk5 rate set to 96 kHz and send a 44.1 kHz signal via TOSLINK it won’t lock and you will get no output.

If you have the clock source set to internal and the Mk5 rate set to 96 kHz and send a 44.1 kHz signal via TOSLINK you will get output but it will sound terrible as described here -> https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s/rpi4-camilladsp-tutorial.29656/post-1575493. Not sure what is actually occurring but needless to say operating in this manner is not recommended.

Michael

Ok, thanks.

Is it possible that that distortion is the jitter introduced by the spdif clock?
Or are the ESS DACs in ASRC mode?
I don't have the ability to do DA/AD measurements to test this.
Have you by any chance checked if the DACs work asynchronously or if there is something to worry about for the spdif clock?

 

[M1982]

Hello everyone... I am considering buying the MK5 but am a bit worried regarding the Windows driver issues.
You guys seem to be pretty knowledgeable so I would appreciate any recommendation on that topic.

I am planning to use it as an interface to feed the model1 dj mixer... so i will not have to run it on 192kHz... but I like the number of outputs and couldn`t find anything comparable in that range.

Do you know if MOTUs techguys "finally" released an update that makes their product flawlessly work with windows?
Is it depending on the way the interface is used (like being an 192-only-issue) or is it rather an overall incompatibility issue?


Thank you Michael

 

[Davide]

Hello everyone... I am considering buying the MK5 but am a bit worried regarding the Windows driver issues.
You guys seem to be pretty knowledgeable so I would appreciate any recommendation on that topic.

I am planning to use it as an interface to feed the model1 dj mixer... so i will not have to run it on 192kHz... but I like the number of outputs and couldn`t find anything comparable in that range.

Do you know if MOTUs techguys "finally" released an update that makes their product flawlessly work with windows?
Is it depending on the way the interface is used (like being an 192-only-issue) or is it rather an overall incompatibility issue?


Thank you Michael

I've had dropouts in Windows that Motu support was unable to troubleshoot.
Finally after a lot of analyzing and trying I figured out the problem.
My laptop had high DPC latency due to an Intel driver (Dynamic Tuning Management), which overloaded the ACPI system.
Permanently uninstalled the driver, no more dropouts.
The strange thing was that with other DACs the problem didn't appear, probably because they didn't have a very low latency ASIO driver like Motu.
Not even raising the buffer solved the problem however.
I don't know... I was there to sell the Mk5, then luckily I solved it.

 

[M1982]

Thank you Davide for your reply... was it some specific driver that you uninstalled...a quick search on google only showed DTT driverS (dynamic tuning technology) which I am not familiar with and it seems there are more than one... do you remember which one you uninstalled?

 

[Davide]

Thank you Davide for your reply... was it some specific driver that you uninstalled...a quick search on google only showed DTT driverS (dynamic tuning technology) which I am not familiar with and it seems there are more than one... do you remember which one you uninstalled?

Don't worry about this problem in advance. Surely your PC will be completely different from mine. The problem itself I believe was caused by the Dell motherboard. The Intel DTM driver is very popular and probably won't cause problems if the hardware is right.

 

[M1982]

I see... thx again... one last question... as it is not a nice precondition to get a piece of hardware that seems to be prone to (maybe) not work properly with windows, i would appreciate any recommendations on alternative interfaces which come with comperable specs - so do you know any that has around 5-6 outs plus midi and is in that price range or a little lower?

 

[Davide]

I see... thx again... one last question... as it is not a nice precondition to get a piece of hardware that seems to be prone to (maybe) not work properly with windows, i would appreciate any recommendations on alternative interfaces which come with comperable specs - so do you know any that has around 5-6 outs plus midi and is in that price range or a little lower?

Specifically, I don't know of an equivalent model. The manufacturer are always the same anyway... try to see what Apogee, Universal Audio, Antelope, Audient, Focusrite, etc offer. Maybe look at Thomann website if you're in EU so you can see them all together compared by price and features.
MOTU Ultralite Mk5 however in my opinion is unbeatable.

 

[M1982]

I did check them and came to the same conclusion... your advice was really helpful... I think I will give it a go with the MOTU

Much appreciated

 

[Darkshine]

Could someone explain why ADC and DAC on the same clock have a difference on KHZ frequency on all models test like this

ADC Fréquency 0,99997
DAC Fréquency 1,00012

 

[carat]

Earlier someone posted a link to this guide:

NOTE: If you are using a macOS or Windows computer with your UltraLite, there is a simple way to do this (although quite obscure, I found it in this forum). Just:

1. Take note of the network name of your computer*. Here are instructions on how to do it.
2. Run the CueMix 5 app from your iPad/iPhone
3. In the welcome screen, click on "IP Connect". Replace the IP there with your computer's network name, plus :1281. You should end up with something like this computer-name.local:1281

*Your computer's ip address works as well. However, since it might change from time to time, the network name might be easier to remember.

I'm having no luck with this.

The Mk5 is connected via USB to a Windows 10 PC, and I'm trying to connect to it from an iPhone on the same network. I think it might have something to do with iOS's local network permission system, however the prompt to allow local network access isn't popping up when I'm trying to use the CueMix app. Furthermore, CueMix isn't even present in the iOS settings app, so I cannot manually give it permission.

I've tried both the PC's name and its IP address. The guide shows ".local" between the name and :1281, while other discussions I found exclude the ".local". Does anyone know the significance? I tried both with and without.

 

[Davide]

Earlier someone posted a link to this guide:



I'm having no luck with this.

The Mk5 is connected via USB to a Windows 10 PC, and I'm trying to connect to it from an iPhone on the same network. I think it might have something to do with iOS's local network permission system, however the prompt to allow local network access isn't popping up when I'm trying to use the CueMix app. Furthermore, CueMix isn't even present in the iOS settings app, so I cannot manually give it permission.

I've tried both the PC's name and its IP address. The guide shows ".local" between the name and :1281, while other discussions I found exclude the ".local". Does anyone know the significance? I tried both with and without.

I also tried following those instructions but it never worked. In any case it would be inconvenient to control from a smartphone in my opinion...

Anyway, does anyone know if there is another way to power on/off the Mk5?
That knob is really uncomfortable, and I have an idea that one day or another it will break... and at that point I think it is unusable.
The first time I plugged it in it turned on by itself, but then I've never been able to do it again...