surprisingly no Universal Audio Volt interface user here yet !!!

 

They look quite the same but the are not exactly.
That older one (UFX?) in your post has Firewire800 + USB2 while UFX+ has Thunderolt II and USB3.
Firewire has never been as stable on PC as on Mac, so for me as a windows user I needed Thunderbolt.

 

They look quite the same but the are not exactly.
Thanks for the correction

 

RME Babyface Pro FS. Totally worth the premium price for a smaller interface. Rock solid drivers, awesome converters. Very portable, I bring it everywhere.
I sometimes have a Presonus Digimax FS8 connected to it via ADAT.

 

thanks for your opinion

 

this isn't really true anymore, their new successor UFX III has USB 3.0 only (and retains all the connectivity including MADI, and without MADI is able to fuction in USB 2.0 mode no issues) because Thunderbolt is clunky and dead

 

Which audio interface are you using?
- Universal Audio Apollo Twin X

How long have you had your audio interface?
user for 8 years (mk1, mk2)

What advantages or disadvantages have you found with your audio interface?
Unison preamps, low latency

Are you professional or a hobby musician?
Hobby

 

@Alex Philipp
awesome, thanks for your opinion.

Universal Audio Apollo Twin X

 

Several RME Interfaces since 2001

PCMCIA, Firewire, USB, PCI and PCIe.
Even the oldest ones would still work with the newest drivers.
Some of my PCI cards run in a PCI->PCIe bridge without any Trouble.
Right now its mostly HDSPe AIO and HDSPe RayDAT

PLUS:
Never had ANY trouble
Driver support over decades, in house driver development (last ones besides Yamaha / Steinberg)
Built like a Tank, exceptional component quality.
Looks like pro gear, no fancy shenanigansc

NEG:
Expensive
Looks like pro gear, no fancy shenanigans
(Hey I just built a gaming PC for a friends kid, to some this is important-
my eyes still hurt from all that light)

I do this for a living.

 

It is interesting, every now and then I tried motu interfaces on my PCs and no matter which one I tried over the last 20 years, I always had that same problem. So it seems that Motu still is a MAC only company more or less, because mac users say it's rock solid.

 

@Plendix, awesome ....Thank you

 

when connected to my laptop with apple's stupid $35 adapter.

 

Wrong.
Thats why I said --> "...Thunderbolt because USB is by far not as stable as TB (says RME)"
https://archiv.rme-audio.de/download/fface_ufxplus_d.pdf
p. 114-116
Of course the UFX III is USB3 only and it now supports the full count of channels as UFX+ did from the beginning.
However, the problems with USB3 certainly hasn't resolved itself and the definition remains to be not strict enough and results in unreliable hardware combinations.
The fact that RME's UFX III is now USB3 only does not detract from their statement.

But feel free to contact & correct them if you think you know it better!

Fact is that RME UFX III is by far not compatible to all USB3 connections.
RTFM: https://www.rme-audio.de/downloads/fface_ufx3_e.pdf
p. 117-118
The warning about USB3 incompatibilities just travelled a few pages.

p.s.: Whether RME are doing themselves a good turn by selling something that they know will cause compatibility problems, I doubt.
That's my personal opinion on the subject.

 

Last edited: Dec 12, 2023

Is that latency you posted via USB or Thunderbolt?
I was looking at the MOTU before I purchased my Presonis 2626

 

we did and so did RME

 

I've read negative reviews about glitches, pops, electrical interference. I don't always know the specifications of these people's computers and perhaps some of them configure their computers incorrectly, especially under Windows. Maybe they're having trouble with their electrical installation.
If I had this kind of problem, I'd send the card back immediately.
There have been driver and firmware updates. Perhaps this has solved some of these people's problems.
What I can say is that the automatic gain setting is very conservative and forces you to raise the headphone level a lot, but the sound is very clean. This is a flaw that could be corrected in software, I think. But as I manage the headphone outputs via a mixer, it's not a problem for me.
We should be able to choose our input levels with automatic gain.
When it comes to audio, the whole chain has to be beyond reproach.
A bad cable, a faulty microphone, a poor PC configuration or electrical problems can cause a problem.
Let's just say that for the price, it's a good sound card.
I also have a Motu M2 and have never had any stability problems. I think Motu has taken this recurring driver problem into account, and the problems are gradually disappearing.
I'll add a video. I don't know if it's objective or a marketing-oriented test.

 

first of all, thank you for your opinion.

of course i also watch the youtube videos about it and read test reports and user experiences, but these are only points of reference for me and not a final decision.


so, in general, be careful with youtube videos and the like. especially since each of us has different preferences when it comes to gears, what is very important to me may be less important to you and vice versa.

 

Firewire was such a gigantic success ... everyone left it
Even Apple dropped it ... after pushing it for years ... alone.

I've even seen mac fanboys installing third party Firewire cards because Mac chips were flawed and not working right
Some examples :
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=1475
May be some ppl are happy with their firewire ... but some just dropped the ball WAY BEFORE Apple did it.

That's the difference between : it is working FOR ME and "it is working for ALL"
That's why we got USB 1,2,3.1 3.2 ... and Firewire is dead.
Even if USB sucks, firewire too.

And about Youtube vids, a lot pushed Scarlett line.
But frankly, i'm about to drop mine by the window when those sh*tty drivers crash

As we seen here, RME seems more stable than most. And a good price/quality ratio.
Audient too (i've seen ppl doing live with laptops and Audient).

Everything is up to you, at the end of the day.

 

I have Audient ID14 MK2. The sound is good. The drive power of the headphone amplifier is also excellent even though it is USB bus powered. However, Steinberg and Focusrite seem to be better drivers. (Stable, low latency performance) When I set it as a slave to an external clock, the ID control software crashes every time I power off the master side.

 

Merging Anubis since two years here. I also still have and use Apollo X8 Heritage. Comparing them, Merging conversion and headphones preamp are top class for mastering, Apollo is good but not on the same level.