I was going for the Motu M4 or the new Arturia MiniFuse4, but I'm thinking the Motu Ultralight MK5 might provide more inputs and dynamic range db, so a better investment for long term. Is the price difference worth it? How's the sound quality, headphone output, latency and interface easy of use?

https://motu.com/en-us/products/gen5/ultralite-mk5/

https://www.arturia.com/products/audio/minifuse/minifuse4
https://motu.com/en-us/products/m-series/m4/

Cheers.

 

Last edited: Oct 1, 2021

MOTU M2 USB-C Audio Interface - REVIEW and Measurements!

Motu M4 Audio Interface Review
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/motu-m4-audio-interface-review.15757/

MOTU M4 & M2 - SOS Review
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/motu-m4-m2

 

I bought a Motu 828es MK2 last year and its been rock solid for me. Ive had a lot of interfaces over the past 20 years, including UAD, Audient, Steinberg, NI, Roland, Mackie, Echo Audio... but this by far is my favorite audio interface Ive ever owned and used. I've had plenty of Motu stuff as well over the years, albeit mostly midi patchbays, and I have nothing but positive things to say about them. Motu gear may not be filled with tons of bells and whistles, but its no frills and gets the job done. I've never had a single issue with any of it.

 

Last edited: Oct 2, 2021

the. 828es MK2 is a different animal from the M2/4. The M2/4 run on Mac with just the driver, not the Motu Discovery/Audio Control Http based panel. The M/42 usb connection is USB-C in, while the 828es are either Thunderbolt2 or standard USB. They are bus-powered. I have not tested enough, but the M2 convertors do seem better at first impression. I have not tried the UltraLite.

 

Last edited: Oct 1, 2021

M2 user and happy!
have a great musical day.

 

Between Arturia and Motu I would always go for Motu.

Your screenshot is interesting, generally, however it misses several columns: driver latency [loopback latency], driver compliance, driver stability, CPU consumption. Without these being green you can wipe your behind with any hardware with great specs.

Motu's crosstalk figures aren't that great. My analogue mixer has much better crosstalk. What's up with that? Look at Audient's crosstalk figures.

 

Also, the 828es is in a different league:

Four times more expensive than the M4 and twice the price of the ultralite mk5.

 

For the last 12 years, I have only owned two audio interfaces from Motu, the Ultralite Mk3, and the Ultralite Mk4.

With the Mk3 i had a lot of problems with Windows, but with the Mk4 everything works perfectly and is rock solid, (due to the fact that they abandoned Cue Mix, to be controlled through WebApp, just like the AVB range)

One of the features that i most like and use to connect my hardware, is the internal routing through the WebApp, and that feature is just the one that has been removed from the Ultralite Mk5, since now it is again controlled with Cue Mix (the driver that causes many of the Mk3's problems)

If you really need internal routing, I would try to buy a used Ultralite Mk4 as it has been withdrawn from stores.
Because the new features in the Mk5 has not been so many, and really going from the Mk4 to the Mk5, is like to downgrade to a lower range.

I'm still waiting for the AVB series to be updated, as the Mk5 no longer belongs to Motu's Pro Audio range.

You can check the control of the Ultralite Mk4 in the attached images, and compare them with Cue Mix 5.

Motu has played a very dirty game to the Ultralite veterans.

 

LOVED my ultralite mk3 and 8pre. Got an mk4 ultralite soon after launch and had nothing but problems. The webapp was atrocious to me...HORRIBLY SLOW to interact with for such important features. Monitors sounded noticeably better, but that was the only positive - thing didn't even like logic pro. I returned it and found a brand new Apollo X for 500$ - not life changing, but I get some of the fuss. That being said their customer service was awesome, the mk3 was flipping amazing for 150$ used - cant belive I wasted money on a scarlett when these can be had so cheap.

I also normally trade in my old interfaces - but I will NEVER sell my Mk3 or 8pre. Motu is pretty solid in my books - just read up on reviews and don't jump the gun unless you can return it!

 

My first interface was the OG 828 FW mk1 (8 combo inputs with phantom power but no preamps, 48 kHz/24-bit) and that thing lasted for years. When it broke down, some seven years after I bought it (and way out of warranty), I contacted MOTU, who had me ship it to them for a $90 fee. A couple of weeks later, I received it back -- I think they just replaced it, rather than fix it. At any rate, it works to this day and I can completely endorse their customer service. I got sidetracked from buying more MOTU hardware, but I love their stuff in general; their hardware and drivers are rock-solid. To give you an example, my Avid MBox 3 Pro FW is already antiquated junk, as Avid decided to stop supporting it and never got around to making a 64-bit driver. It shows up as a CoreAudio device, so I can technically still record with it without the driver in macOS Catalina, but many of its features, like the internal patchbay and the built-in FX, can't be accessed in pure 64-bit. Meanwhile, the ol' 828 mk1, twenty years later, is still supported by MOTU and has 64-bit driver software.

I've had my eyes on a couple of 8pre-es' to replace my aging Avid MBox 3 Pro, but I can't figure out if the ESS Sabre32 output chips mean it can actually output to 32-bit playback (like the Apogee Ensemble that uses the same chip), especially since it's not mentioned anywhere on their site.

 

you probably missed the title of the spreadsheet: "Headphone Output Comparison" (i know i did at first). the columns that you mentioned would not be included in a comparison of the headphone output.