USB audio interfaces interest

[dfuller]

I don't understand what this means:

• 4 Line outputs: RCA
• 2 Main outputs: 6.3 mm jack

What is the difference between main and line outputs? Main is the one that has the knob and controls all other outputs? (except phones)

Main outputs are for monitors and are controlled by the volume control. The other ones have no hardware volume control. They're also different channels from the DAC.

And what is that "input-DAW" knob for?

It's for mixing between direct monitoring (i.e. mic input->cue output) and DAW output (DAC->cue output)

Another question is, I see the UR24C uses RCA for the 2 non main line outputs... do you lose quality compared to 6,3mm?

Unbalanced has higher noise (because of worse common mode noise rejection), is at risk to ground loops, and somewhat lower output. Otherwise... No. This all doesn't matter if your speakers don't have balanced inputs anyway.

 

[dfuller]

So, anyone ever get a chance to measure the Audient iD22? I just recently sold mine off otherwise I'd have sent it to Amir or someone.

 

[insane]

Main outputs are for monitors and are controlled by the volume control. The other ones have no hardware volume control. They're also different channels from the DAC.
It's for mixing between direct monitoring (i.e. mic input->cue output) and DAW output (DAC->cue output)
Unbalanced has higher noise (because of worse common mode noise rejection), is at risk to ground loops, and somewhat lower output. Otherwise... No. This all doesn't matter if your speakers don't have balanced inputs anyway.

My AdamA7 have XRL connectors, but the Magni 3 have RCA, so I guess it doesn't matter. Also, I was told unbalanced is basically the same as balanced sound quality wise, you pick up no noise unless you are using a long cable, and im using a tiny 0.3 meter cable to connect the headphone amp so I guess it's irrelevant.

 

[M0du1e]

I know this may sound like a waste of time, but a measurement of the good old E-MU 0404USB. Spec-wise it holds very well against more recent competitors, so it's a good baseline to see how are modern cards doing (many of them are not doing better at all, some may be comparable but hard to say without a proper measurement).

After the Motu M2 I guess the Clarett 2Pre will be nice to compare.

Yeah, it would be interesting to see. I still using 0404 USB as a DAC. Wondering if upgrade to "hi-fi" pure DAC would make any difference...

 

[datrumole]

Could you hook up (4) hifiberry DAC+ Pro's off a MCHstreamer I2S for an 8ch USB interface?

 

[somebodyelse]

Could you hook up (4) hifiberry DAC+ Pro's off a MCHstreamer I2S for an 8ch USB interface?

Probably from what i remember of the mchstreamer datasheet - you might need something to configure them over i2c too as I'm not sure the MCHstreamer will do that for you. An arduino clone or stm32 blue pill board should do the trick if needed. But for that money I'd look at the more versatile Auverdion Aurora.

 

[datrumole]

Probably from what i remember of the mchstreamer datasheet - you might need something to configure them over i2c too as I'm not sure the MCHstreamer will do that for you. An arduino clone or stm32 blue pill board should do the trick if needed. But for that money I'd look at the more versatile Auverdion Aurora.

interesting, i'd never seen the aurora. similar price point of a mchstreamer and dac+ pro's. however i'm not sure i follow the configure them, they aren't a dsp, so wouldnt it just be: feed it the data, it converts and passes to analog? this is a whole new space for me, so i have no idea

i do all my dsp on the cpu with equalizer apo, so i wouldnt need the aurora dsp capabilities, but i suppose it would then allow me to use additional sources in future if i moved away from the htpc model, which would be nice. doesnt look like it was measured yet, which is why i chose the dac+ pros as they have a decent performance/price ratio

 

[somebodyelse]

The configuration of the dac+ pros is to get them each to read the correct data from the I2S/TDM interface they'll all be listening on, and whatever other bits may need to be done. I don't _think_ it's something that just works. On the Pi it's done by the kernel driver and allows all sorts of things to be configured. The Pi doesn't have TDM which is why you won't find any 8chan output boards for it (but the BeagleBone and a few other SBCs do...) You'd need to have a look at the datasheets to see what needs to be done, and to check that it could work. I may be incorrectly remembering from my skim of the datasheet a while back when I was wondering about using the Tone Board's 8chan expansion header and some custom firmware for doing something similar.

I'd like to see some measurements for the Aurora too, but the HifiBerry performance isn't such a high bar. I've only seen the specs and the design files on github, so I can't offer any certainty. It would have a lot of features you wouldn't be using, but without filters set it should be capable of simple passthrough. The code's all available, so you could always tweak it I'm not familiar enough with Equalizer APO to know if you could migrate filters to the DSP or not.

 

[flaviowolff]

No love for the m audio mtrack 2x2?
This thread has pictures of it’s guts: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/whats-inside-an-m-audio-m-track-2x2.2454/
I use one as a dac and headphone amp and really like the sound, and love the quality of the knobs and it’s looks

 

[dfuller]

I'd be very interested to see how good a Presonus Studio 68c is. Specs are not incredible, but the headphone amps look to have decent-to-good power and relatively decent distortion.

 

[DeepFried]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it yet, but i'd be very interested to see measurements for the GoXLR and GoXLR mini, they're quite popular devices in streaming.

 

[Ellie]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it yet, but i'd be very interested to see measurements for the GoXLR and GoXLR mini, they're quite popular devices in streaming.

They are also a waste of money. You could get a UM2 or UMC22 and then do all that it can in REAPER with Synchronous Audio Router, and you be left with an extra 900 dollars and far less problems.

But I am also curious how that thing measures.

 

[DeepFried]

They are also a waste of money. You could get a UM2 or UMC22 and then do all that it can in REAPER with Synchronous Audio Router, and you be left with an extra 900 dollars and far less problems.

But I am also curious how that thing measures.

Oh i'm not interested in buying either, or any interface for myself for that matter (I have a USB microphone). But I know quite a few people who use them so i'm just curious how they stack up against something like a Scarlett solo or Motu M2, and of course what the head amps are like.

 

[ZeDestructor]

They are also a waste of money. You could get a UM2 or UMC22 and then do all that it can in REAPER with Synchronous Audio Router, and you be left with an extra 900 dollars and far less problems.

But I am also curious how that thing measures.

While that is true, the GoXLR also does a bit more than the UMC22 does, thanks to the sliders for volume control and the many programmable buttons. Worth $1000? No, but the $150 UMC22 is also not a direct replacement.

Something more comparable would be a UMC22 ($150) + Elgato Stream Deck ($150) + some manner of DAW controller (50-500) + REAPER/Audition/Soundbooth ($225 - admittedly you should have this one no matter what) and now you're looking at $600-1000 while needing to deal with setting it all up to integrate into your workflow, possibly flaky drivers, dealing with 1-4+ different vendors playing "pass the blame" in case something goes wrong and so on.

For many people who are buying/asking for things like the GoXLR, paying more money to have a nicely-packaged thing that does everything they need it to do is perfectly fine, especially if they can write it off as a business expense.

 

[Ellie]

While that is true, the GoXLR also does a bit more than the UMC22 does, thanks to the sliders for volume control and the many programmable buttons. Worth $1000? No, but the $150 UMC22 is also not a direct replacement.

Something more comparable would be a UMC22 ($150) + Elgato Stream Deck ($150) + some manner of DAW controller (50-500) + REAPER/Audition/Soundbooth ($225 - admittedly you should have this one no matter what) and now you're looking at $600-1000 while needing to deal with setting it all up to integrate into your workflow, possibly flaky drivers, dealing with 1-4+ different vendors playing "pass the blame" in case something goes wrong and so on.

For many people who are buying/asking for things like the GoXLR, paying more money to have a nicely-packaged thing that does everything they need it to do is perfectly fine, especially if they can write it off as a business expense.

The UMC22 is normally about 70 dollars, COVID is having them price-gauged. The UM2 is even less, at around 45.

But you do have a point about the rest of that. It's still overpriced as hell, I'd pay maybe 500 at most for it, but hey, businesses throw away money all the time on stuff, so. Not really much of a loss for them.

 

[ZeDestructor]

The UMC22 is normally about 70 dollars, COVID is having them price-gauged. The UM2 is even less, at around 45.

But you do have a point about the rest of that. It's still overpriced as hell, I'd pay maybe 500 at most for it, but hey, businesses throw away money all the time on stuff, so. Not really much of a loss for them.

In the grand scheme of things, $100 price difference when you're comparing 500+ outlay for the full setup doesn't change that much. Additionally, I have paid quite a lot for convenience or timeliness over years. $500 extra for a work tool that's going to get 2-12 hours a day of use, more or less 5 days of the week over 3 years is just not that much, no matter how you slice it. Not when you compare it to how expensive computers, camera(s) mic(s), room treatment, other software licenses (Adobe in particular) can get to at any rate.

 

[Madao]

Briefly had one of these https://mackie.com/products/onyx-usb-interfaces-1 (Artist 1•2)

Had a lot of issues with it and a Behringer Xm8500. Thought the device was faulty and had a replacement sent out same issue. Couldn't get it to a reasonable volume.

Kind of new to this stuff, but I tried everything I could think of even different computers and operating systems. I don't have the mic or the interface any more, but I wish I had just returned the mic and kept the interface as it was a really well built and quite heavy unit.

 

[Ellie]

Briefly had one of these https://mackie.com/products/onyx-usb-interfaces-1 (Artist 1•2)

Had a lot of issues with it and a Behringer Xm8500. Thought the device was faulty and had a replacement sent out same issue. Couldn't get it to a reasonable volume.

Kind of new to this stuff, but I tried everything I could think of even different computers and operating systems. I don't have the mic or the interface any more, but I wish I had just returned the mic and kept the interface as it was a really well built and quite heavy unit.

Dynamic microphones tend to be very, very gain hungry, so that problem would happen with any interface that doesn't seriously pump out gain. I personally prefer condensers, but they're also often more expensive, so.

 

[NDC]

Would love to see a review/measurements of the MOTU M2 / M4. And also the Solid State Logic SSL2. I’m really interested in the ADC stages. I know Julian Krause on YT has done some measurements but Amir’s methodology and equipment would give me a more consistent comparison with other options e.g. Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Would love to see a review/measurements of the MOTU M2 / M4. And also the Solid State Logic SSL2. I’m really interested in the ADC stages. I know Julian Krause on YT has done some measurements but Amir’s methodology and equipment would give me a more consistent comparison with other options e.g. Focusrite Scarlett Gen 3.

Loopbacks of the M4.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/motu-m4-loopback-measurements.10890/