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Please Advise - Motu M4 and Audient ID14 mkii

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I swear this isn't a lazy post! Please help a neophyte out and contrast these interfaces. I've had a hard time finding definitive distinctions between the two.

Use cases: Recording audio for video, recording singing (soprano usually,) producing songs, and using my nice microphones on Zoom meetings. High quality mic preamps, and ad/da, plus versatility/"future proofing" are my top priorities. I have Windows laptop with USBC/TB4 and an iMac with USB-3 & TB2 with Audition as my preferred DAW.

What's the case for one over the other or a third option? Motu M4 or ID14 mkii?

The info would be much appreciated as I expand my knowledge of audio beyond a necessary component of video.

Thank you all!
PtH
 

GeekyBastard

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I've used Audient ID4 & ID14 MK1 before, their drivers were way more unstable than Motu's (on Windows at least), and updating firmware always fail on my ID14, I had to sell my ID4 in exchange for something better, and return my ID14 to the seller, Motu's drivers are really robust, even their older devices in earlier days computers, that's what I want to see in professional gears, no one wants a hanged system in the middle of a session.
Oh, and stay away from the SPL Crimson, worse drivers, and the big master volume knob always miss balance between left & right channel.
 
OP
P
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Thank you, Geekly.RZ

That Motu has better drivers for Windows is something I've heard before. What are the implications of this in everyday use? Audient ID14 would be more likely to crash more often than Motu M4? Would the drivers have any other effect on quality or usability?
 

Blumlein 88

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Either would work equally well for you. I too would favor Motu for driver support.
 

dfuller

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Amir measurued the Motu M4.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/motu-m4-audio-interface-review.15757/

Wolf measured the Audient ID14 mkII.
https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/measurements-of-audient-id14-mkii/

I would think this would no longer be a hard choice.
So I would keep in mind that the phase issue is a firmware problem and it changes based on frequency. As far as the multitone, that... isn't great, but I'm admittedly not sure where that's coming from given the low harmonic distortion and SMPTE IMD (IMD and THD are somewhat related, generally if THD is low IMD is also low).
 

dfuller

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So... You're saying Motu M4 is the way to go?
Realistically, I'd be perfectly content with either; depending on what headphones you have, the M2/M4 (same performance, M4 just has more inputs and outputs) may be better or worse (lower output impedance, but also less power available on the MOTUs and the opposite on the iD14).

The multitone distortion figure is admittedly not great but it's still 80dB down which is probably totally masked by music.
 
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